Career
Patricof's first full-time job was at the investment counseling firm, Naess & Thomas, now part of Citigroup. That ended when he was drafted by the U.S. Army in March 1958 and reported to Fort Dix, New Jersey as Pvt. 1st Class Patricof. Following his deployment, he returned to New York where he went to work at the development capital firm, Lambert & Co. He was deployed a second time in 1961. At the end of his second tour as Corporal SP3, Patricof joined Central National Corporation (CNC) that managed the pulp and paper fortune of the Gottesman family.[1] While at CNC, the firm invested in New York Magazine which subsequently acquired the Village Voice and New West Magazine.[7] Patricof formed the holding company, Aeneid Equities, whose board he chaired, to manage all three publications. Aeneid went public in 1971. In 1977, Rupert Murdoch acquired all three publications in a hostile takeover.[8]
In 1969, Patricof formed Alan Patricof Associates (APA), with $2.5 million in assets under management and nine individual family management firms as clients.[1] In 1977, APA expanded beyond the U.S. forming venture capital firms in the UK, Alan Patricof Associates Limited, and in France, Alan Patricof Associé that in 1989, to denote the firm's cross border activities, were renamed Apax, as the firm is known today. Currently, Apax has $75 billion under management with stakes in 120 companies that over the years included AOL, Office Depot, Audible, and Apple Computer.[3]
In recognition of his early efforts in founding the first venture capital firm in France, Patricof was awarded the Légion d'honneur by its president in 2020.[9]
In 2001, Patricof stepped back from day-to-day management of Apax to foster entrepreneurship in the developing world, serving as an adviser to the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank, and joining the boards of nonprofits TechnoServe and the Trickle Up.[7] In 2007, the president of Nigeria appointed him to the country's Presidential Advisory Board.[10]
Returning to the private sector in 2006, Patricof formed Greycroft Partners with $75 million in funds under management. By 2022, that had grown to $3 billion under management with investments in The Huffington Post, Wondery, bought by Amazon in 2021, and Axios, bought by Cox Broadcasting in 2022.[11][12]
In 2019, Patricof founded Primetime Partners with Abby Levy, the former Senior Vice President of SoulCycle, to invest in early-stage start-ups that bring products and services to the 25 percent of the population over 60.[13]
