(Bloomberg) — Social Capital, the enterprise capital agency led by podcaster and former Fb govt Chamath Palihapitiya, fired two of its companions, citing an undisclosed “state of affairs,” in response to a letter despatched to its buyers that was reviewed by Bloomberg.
Most Learn from Bloomberg
Palihapitiya mentioned that Jay Zaveri and Ravi Tanuku have been each terminated after the agency turned conscious of the state of affairs final week. The corporate employed the regulation agency Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and subsequently fired the 2 companions over the weekend. Palihapitiya knowledgeable buyers of the transfer Tuesday through e mail.
“We turned conscious of a state of affairs final Tuesday and after probing internally, retained Wachtell Lipton to analyze the matter on Thursday,” Palihapitiya wrote. “On Sunday night time we terminated Jay Zaveri and Ravi Tanuku.”
Whereas the agency has declined to elaborate on the explanations for the firings, one particular person acquainted with the matter mentioned that it stemmed from perceived breaches of firm coverage.
The state of affairs is said to the AI startup Groq Inc., in response to one particular person. Groq was backed by Social Capital in 2017 and 2018, and has since surged in worth, reaching a $1.1 billion valuation in 2021, in response to PitchBook information. Zaveri is on the board of Groq in response to his LinkedIn profile. A consultant for Groq didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. The Monetary Instances earlier reported Groq’s involvement.
In a put up on X on Tuesday, Social Capital wrote, “We’ve terminated the employment of two of our workers because of employee-specific circumstances. We’ve no additional feedback presently.”
“Mr. Zaveri’s firing was unfair and undeserved,” a spokesman for Zaveri mentioned. “The agency’s management accredited and took part within the funding that’s now getting used as a pretext to fireside him. Mr. Zaveri stands by his 28-year observe file of integrity and appears ahead to the reality popping out.” Tanuku didn’t reply to requests for remark.
In his letter, Palihapitiya added that Social Capital is “working with the CEOs of all of the portfolio firms on whose boards Jay sat to impact an orderly transition and we don’t foresee any main points.”
In a associated transfer, the agency mentioned that Steve Trieu will function its world chief monetary officer on an interim foundation, “overseeing all finance points of the group.”
Trieu, who was concerned with Social Capital’s special-purpose acquisition firms, stepped again from the agency in Might 2021, in response to his LinkedIn profile.
Social Capital spent latest years on the forefront of the SPAC growth. The technique offered startups with an alternate path to preliminary public choices or direct listings, usually permitting firms to go public sooner than they may in any other case be capable to. His early and prolific involvement earned Palihapitiya the nickname the “SPAC King.” Nonetheless, among the firms his SPACs merged with — together with Opendoor Applied sciences Inc. and Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. — took a dive after going public.
(Updates with Zaveri’s response in seventh paragraph. A earlier model of this story corrected Trieu’s title.)
Most Learn from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
