After Facebook deal, Winklevoss twins get back in the social media swim
The Winklevoss twins, who lost the tug-of-war over Facebook to Mark Zuckerberg, are back in the social media swim — with a social network for professional investors, called SumZero.
Winklevoss twins: 'We'll roll our sleeves up"
With at least $65 million from settling their fight with Zuckerberg and Facebook ,the Wall Street Journal reports that Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss are backing Divya Narendra, their ally in the Facebook fight, in the investment website.
The Winklevosses have put $1 million into SumZero, which was founded by Narendra and another Harvard alum Aalap Mahadevia, in 2008.
"The band is back together," Tyler Winklevoss told the WSJ.
The Winklevosses and Narendra were featured in the 2010 film "The Social Network," on the founding of Facebook and the legal disputes between Zuckerberg and his early collaborators.
It was Almost 10 years ago that the twins and Narendra met in a dorm room at Harvard to discuss Harvard Connection, an idea for an earlier social network. The name was changed to ConnectU - and they hired Zuckerberg to help design it in late 2003.
Early in 2004, Zuckerberg formed Facebook and parted ways with the group, sparking the battle over Facebook ownership rights .
Last December, the twins - world-class rowers - decided not to go for the London Olympics and in a final Facebook settlement were awarded $20 million in cash and $45 million in private Facebook stock. At that time the company was valued at $15 billion. Today, Facebook is worth $47.1 billion.
The twins declined to discuss the terms of the settlement with the WSJ.
In February the brothers formed Winklevoss Capital and their first investment in June was SumZero.
The SumZero.com site has an air of exclusivity. It allows investors to become members only if they work on the "buy side." . Analysts from the "sell side" such as Wall Street banks aren't allowed. The appeal for members is being able to read ideas from other investors, but also to spread the word about investments they already have.
The four-year-old site has about 7,500 members. The Winklevosses plan to be more than passive investors, they told the WSJ. "We want to get involved and really roll up our sleeves," Tyler Winklevoss said.
SumZero will move into a Manhattan office next month..