Global Crossing Co-Founder Moves On to Quieter, Smaller Venture

Abbott Brown, co-founder of Bermuda-based telecom behemoth Global Crossing Ltd., quit three weeks ago to devote his full energy--and about $100 million--to Ridgestone Corp., a Westwood-based venture capital firm he created in 1997.

After helping the transoceanic fiber-optic company grow to 12,000 employees and a market capitalization of $40 billion, Brown says he is pining for quieter--if not greener--pastures. “Global Crossing is becoming a very large company, and I’d like to go back to operating with a small group of people,” he said. “I want to do my own thing.”

Brown said he will diversify the venture capital firm’s investments in other Southern California entertainment, telecom and new-media companies.

Brown named Stephen Antion, a former partner in Los Angeles law firm O’Melveny & Myers, as Ridgestone’s president. Ridgestone has a “core group” of employees but is still hiring staff at the Wilshire Boulevard office.

Brown said he was unfazed by the beating high-tech stocks took last week and was upbeat about Ridgestone’s prospects and his timing. “There are tremendous growth opportunities for these companies in the future,” he said.

Brown said he is planning to take a more active management role than many venture capital firms do. “Ridgestone will have a fewer amount of transactions but will have more of a role in those companies,” he said. “It will be similar to a historical merchant bank or a traditional private equity firm.”

Before Global Crossing, Brown was managing director and chief financial officer of Pacific Capital Group Inc., a large venture capital firm headed by Gary Winnick. Brown has also held a number of top posts at Sony Pictures Entertainment and other entertainment companies.

A Long Island native, Brown began his career in 1965 as an accountant for Price Waterhouse.

“I came out to California with one knapsack,” he said. “This place has been very good for me.”