Doerr is chairman and co-founder of Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, the closely held venture capital company that has invested in Google, Twitter and Amazon. The Menlo Park, California-based group operates 22 funds with more than 1,300 investments. The billionaire has a 0.4% stake in Alphabet, the owner of Google.
Doerr's fortune is derived from the returns his venture capital investments have accrued during his more than 30 years at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. About $165 million of the firm's $13 billion in open funds belongs to Doerr, according to an analysis of the firm's 2023 Form ADV filing which assumes about one-third of insider assets belong to him. It operates 22 funds with more than 1,300 investments, according to research service Crunchbase in August 2023.
Returns from liquidated funds are credited to cash and other investable assets.
The billionaire controls about 39 million shares of Alphabet, the holding company that owns Google, according to 2023 SEC filings. Proceeds from share sales are based on the stock price on the date he sold his stake, according to SEC filings.
Doerr also owns stakes in chemical-maker Amyris, food-delivery company DoorDash, and online education provider Coursera.
Representatives of Kleiner Perkins didn't respond to requests for comment on the net worth calculation in August 2021.
Doerr was born in St. Louis, Missiouri, one of five children. He studied Electrical Engineering at Rice University and graduated from Harvard Business School with an MBA in 1976.
He joined Intel in 1974 where he was a salesperson. In 1980 he was offered a position with Kleiner Perkins, which also backed two start-ups that he co-founded, Silicon Compilers and @Home.
Doerr was instrumental in decisions to back many of Kleiner Perkins most profitable investments, including Compaq, Netscape, Symantec, Sun Microsystems, Amazon, Google, and Intuit.
He stepped down from an active leadership role at Kleiner Perkins in 2016.