YouTube payoff benefits array of Sequoia investors

Surprising profiteers from the sale of YouTube include angel investor Ron Conway; talk show host Maury Povich; Yahoo Inc. co-founder Jerry Yang; The San Francisco Symphony; Netscape Communications Corp. co-founder Marc Andreessen, and about 70 others who invested in a venture fund managed by Sequoia Capital, according to a detailed regulatory filing.

Such investor information is usually closely guarded by venture firms, and Sequoia prefers to keep much of its activities close to the vest, but the firm may not have had a choice since it was Google Inc. that filed the regulatory document last week. Google agreed last fall to pay $1.5 billion in stock purchase for video sharing website YouTube, which raised $11.5 million in VC financing over two rounds from Sequoia and San Francisco-based hedge fund Artis Capital Management.The list of Sequoia LPs who received stock payouts reads like a Who’s Who of Silicon Valley. In addition to universities and foundations, among the biggest winners were former entrepreneurs, such as Yang and David Hitz, founder of Network Appliance. Each received 340 Google shares, which comes to about $160,000 (based on a sale price of about $470 a share) for their participation in Sequoia Technology Partners XI.

TV personality Povich, former NBC news anchor Forrest Sawyer and angel investor Conway each got shares worth $80,000 for their participation.

Network Appliance CEO Dan Warmenhoven is due to take home nearly $160,000 worth of Google stock, as are Autodesk CEO Carol Ann Bartz and Cypress Semiconductor Corp. founder and CEO T.J. Rodgers. Other Sequoia beneficiaries of note include Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Partner Michael Marks and Greylock Partners VC Asheem Chandna, who each received shares worth $120,000 for investing in the Sequoia fund. The venture fund, which invested in YouTube, raised $12 million in 2003.

Of course, Sequoia’s biggest LPs took in sizeable amounts of Google stock. The Ford Foundation received $11.8 million, HarbourVest, Princeton University and the University of Notre Dame du Lac each received $9.3 million. Other notable beneficiaries of Sequoia’s main fund include the San Francisco Symphony, which received Google shares worth $80,000.

Funds-of-funds took in $72 million, or more than 16% of Sequoia’s stake. Universities and their related funds made $114 million. Leading the way was Harvard University, which made $8.5 million, and Duke University, through its endowment, employees’ retirement plan and the Duke Management Co.’s Gothic Corp. received $11.8 million.

A bevy of Silicon Valley law firms in Sequoia’s Technology Partners fund include Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, which took home Google shares worth $800,000; Gunderson Dettmer, which got shares worth $319,000; Heller Ehrman, which got shares worth $280,000; Fenwick and West, which received shares worth $200,000; Latham & Watkins, which got shares worth $80,000; and Perkins Coie, which got shares worth $60,000.

In addition, Wilson Sonsini earned nearly $3.2 million through its role as YouTube’s attorney, bringing its total take to $4 million.

Other winners from the YouTube sale not paid through Sequoia include venture leasing firm Triplepoint Capital, which earned $6.5 million and Keith Rabois, vice president of LinkedIn. He earned more than $4 million for his role in reportedly referring the deal to Sequoia’s Roelof Botha.

Not surprisingly, YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim together received more than $715 million worth of Google stock, with Hurley and Chen each taking home a payday of about $326 million. Artis Capital received $60.5 million for investing in YouTube.