Tom Perkins, a founding partner in one of Silicon Valley’s most successful venture capital firms, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, sparked outrage with his stunning “Letter to the Editor” in the Wall Street Journal . The firm distanced itself from Perkins in a tweet Saturday afternoon.
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Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of the most successful venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, distanced itself from a controversial "Letter to the Editor" in the Wall Street Journal one if its founders published today.
In the letter, Tom Perkins, a founder of the KPCB, compared the current wave of ostracism towards the uber-rich to attacks on Jewish people by the Nazis during World War II. Perkins, of course, is a member of the ultra-wealthy club, with an estimated net worth of $8 billion and ownership of a San Francisco penthouse he spent $9 million to construct.)
"Writing from the epicenter of progressive thought, San Francisco, I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its 'one percent,' namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the 'rich,'" Perkins writes in the letter, entitled "Progressive Kristallnacht Coming?"
He continues: "From the Occupy movement to the demonization of the rich embedded in virtually every word of our local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, I perceive a rising tide of hatred of the successful one percent... This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendent "progressive" radicalism unthinkable now?" (the full letter to the editor is embedded below.)
Kleiner Perkins, as the firm is often referred to in the media and conversation, has been a major Silicon Valley player for more than three decades. The firm's past and current investments include: Amazon, Google, Facebook, Flipboard, GroupOn, Nest (which Google just acquired for $3.2 billion), Zynga, Twitter, Spotify, and hundreds more.
Though the firm says in its tweet that Tom Perkins "has not been involved in KPCB for years," he is still listed as a "Partner Emeritus" on its webpage.
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