Apple, Google, YouTube Early Investor Michael Moritz to Leave Company

Chairman of Sequoia Capital USA

The global venture capital (VC) firm Sequoia Capital in the United States announced that Chairman Michael Moritz (68) is leaving the company.

On the 19th (local time), Sequoia Capital explained in a letter sent to investors that Chairman Moritz will step away from Sequoia Capital-related duties and focus on Sequoia Heritage starting from that day. Sequoia Heritage is a separate entity from Sequoia Capital, launched in 2010 as an asset management fund with $15 billion (approximately 19 trillion KRW) in assets.

Chairman Michael Moritz. [Image source=Bloomberg]

The letter included the message, "We are very grateful for Michael Moritz's dedication," and stated, "He helped grow Sequoia Capital into the world's leading technology investment group." Moritz's departure from Sequoia Capital comes after 37 years since he joined in 1986.

The news of Chairman Moritz's retirement came after Sequoia Capital announced last week that it would separate its China and India businesses. The VC had previously announced a business restructuring plan to split the company into three independent entities in the US, India, and China by March next year amid escalating US-China tensions.

Founded in 1972, Sequoia Capital made significant profits by investing early in companies such as Apple, Google, YouTube, Airbnb, and Instagram when they were established. As of last year, its total assets amounted to $85 billion (approximately 107 trillion KRW).

Meanwhile, Moritz, born in Wales, worked as a San Francisco correspondent for the US newsweekly Time in the early 1980s, covering companies like Apple at the time. Later, he gained attention with his book Little Kingdom: The Private Story of Apple Computer, which compiled his reporting and revealed behind-the-scenes stories about Apple's growth and Steve Jobs.

During this time, Moritz met Don Valentine, the founder of Sequoia Capital who had made an early investment in Apple, which led him to enter venture capital two years later.

Since then, he invested in Google, Yahoo, PayPal, YouTube, LinkedIn, and others, achieving success and earning the nickname "the Midas touch" of Silicon Valley.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.