August 16, 2013
Mark Stevens Joins Golden State Warriors Ownership Group
Longtime Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Joins Team As Executive Board Member
Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, the Co-Executive Chairmen of the Golden State Warriors, announced today that longtime Silicon Valley venture capitalist Mark Stevens has purchased the equity interests of the team that were previously held by Vivek Ranadive and joined the team’s ownership group as an Executive Board Member. The terms of Stevens’ acquisition were not released. Ranadive was required to relinquish his stake in the club after leading a group that purchased a controlling interest in the Sacramento Kings on May 31, 2013.
“We’re extremely excited about the addition of Mark to our ownership group,” said Lacob. “He brings an incredible track record of success in the business world, primarily as a venture capitalist in the Bay Area, and his expertise on many levels will certainly aid us in our quest to become a World Class organization. We’ve managed to take a step closer to that goal today with Mark’s arrival.”
“Mark will prove to be a tremendous asset to our organization as we strive to become one of the model franchises in professional sports,” said Guber. “We’ve managed to build a strong and well-rounded ownership group in which each individual contributes to our success, and Mark is no exception. He’s an ideal fit.”
Currently the managing partner of S-Cubed Capital in Menlo Park, CA, Stevens is also a special limited partner and former managing partner at Sequoia Capital, a global venture capital firm based in Menlo Park. He joined Sequoia in 1989 as an associate and became a partner in 1993. During his tenure at Sequoia, his investment focus areas have been in semiconductors, networking systems, software and energy. Stevens has been responsible for numerous, successful Sequoia investments including: Aspect Development, AtWeb, Billpoint, Commquest, Documentum, Mobile Peak, MP3.com, Nvidia, Pixelworks, Quicklogic, Quickturn, Stratum One, Summit Design and Terayon Communications.
“This is an incredible opportunity for me,” said Stevens. “Under the guidance of Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, the Warriors have established themselves as a top flight organization in a very short time. The future of this team and franchise is unbelievably promising and I’m looking forward to contributing my part to help us achieve our goals.”
Stevens, who was advised by Game Plan LLC in connection with his acquisition of Ranadive’s equity interests, currently serves on the Board of Directors of Nvidia and has served on the Board of Trustees of the University of Southern California since 2001 (co-chair of the Investment Committee and member of Finance and Executive Committees). He is also a member of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Board of Councilors, is the founder and chairman of the USC Stevens Center for Innovation, and serves on the Advisory board of the Harvard Business School’s California Research Center. Stevens, who is a part time lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and B.A. in Economics (both magna cum laude) from the University of Southern California in 1981, an M.S. in Computer Engineering from USC in 1984 and an MBA from Harvard University in 1989.
The Golden State Warriors ownership group consists of leaders in a wide variety of fields including: sports, entertainment, e-commerce, mobile technology, communications and venture capital.