Stock Guru’s Rumored Move Denied
In the latest testament to the lure of venture capital’s big bucks, prominent Internet stock analyst Mary Meeker might be about to leave Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to join Pasadena business incubator Idealab--if you believe Red Herring magazine, that is.
Or she may be joining the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers--if you believe the New York Post.
But Morgan Stanley said Meeker is staying put.
“Mary has assured us she has no plans to leave,” Jeanmarie McFadden, a spokeswoman for the Wall Street firm, said Monday.
Meeker, 40, has been with the firm eight years. She could not be reached for comment.
Idealab spokeswoman Theresa Bridwell said the business incubator isn’t expecting Meeker to move to Pasadena.
“She is not planning to come,” Bridwell said.
Nonetheless, the rumors are complimentary to Idealab.
“Of course it’s flattering,” said Bill Elkus, managing director with Idealab Capital Partners, the Pasadena-based venture capital firm associated with the incubator.
Idealab insiders point out that investment bankers frequently visit the Pasadena-based incubator, and Meeker has been among them. But that’s a far cry from jumping ship and relocating 3,000 miles away.
Meeker, the top-ranked Internet and new-media analyst in Institutional Investor magazine’s latest annual survey, wouldn’t be the first well-known Net analyst to become a venture capitalist in recent months.
Bill Burnham left Credit Suisse First Boston for Softbank Capital Partners, and Keith Benjamin joined Highland Capital Partners from BancBoston Robertson Stephens.
Red Herring, citing an unidentified source, reported Saturday that Meeker would join Idealab.
Founded in 1996, Idealab owns stakes in more than 20 start-ups and has backed firms including GoTo.com, EToys and CarsDirect.com. In September, Idealab announced plans to open an office in Sunnyvale, Calif., 400 miles north of its headquarters.
The Kleiner Perkins rumor began Friday when Post gossip columnist Chris Nolan wrote that Meeker bought a home in the Silicon Valley community of Woodside and may be considering joining the company. That firm’s partners could not be reached for comment Monday.
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No Ugly American
Shares of leading Internet search directory Yahoo, which got a boost from Monday’s report on European Web use, have surged 196% in the last year. Weekly closes since December 1998 and latest:
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Monday:$280.81
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Source: Bridge News
