General Atlantic - History

History

History of private equity
and venture capital

Early history
(Origins of modern private equity)
•
The 1980s
(LB The 1990s
(LBO bust and the VC bubble)
•
The 2000s
(Dot-com bubble to the credit crunch)

General Atlantic was founded in 1980 by secretive billionaire Charles F. Feeney to invest on behalf of the Atlantic Philanthropies, which he had endowed. The firm was initially headed by Edwin Cohen, who had previously been a partner of McKinsey & Company. Cohen was joined by Steven A. Denning as a founding member of the firm and as of 2012 has remained with the firm as GA's chairman. GA's current CEO is William (Bill) E. Ford. Denning and Ford also serve on the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council with Denning serving as Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

General Atlantic focused initially on investments in computer software, oil and gas exploration, real estate and retailing. Among the firm's first major investments was United Health Services which tripled in value in three years for the firm. By the late 1980s, General Atlantic began to expand its funding source to include other family offices, as well as foundations and endowments. In the late 1990s, media attention related to the sale of Duty Free Shoppers (DFS), for the first time drew attention to Chuck Feeney and General Atlantic not allowing him to maintain the level of anonymity that Feeney desired.

Coincident with General Atlantic's expansion of its funding source, the firm began exploring expanding its presence overseas. Starting in 2000, General Atlantic began to open offices in Europe and Asia and currently has 10 offices internationally.

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