Private Equity · Profile from Private Equity Research Companion
Silver Lake
Founded in 1999 as the first private equity firm dedicated to large-cap technology investing, Silver Lake has become the definitive "tech-and-tech-enabled" mega-buyout and structured-capital firm — the sponsor behind Dell's take-private and EMC merger, Skype, Endeavor/UFC, Qualtrics, and (with PIF) the ~$55bn Electronic Arts LBO. Headquartered in Menlo Park and New York, it manages roughly ~$110bn (reported, 2025).
At a glance
- Founded
- 1999, Menlo Park, California
- Founders
- Jim Davis, Glenn Hutchins, Roger McNamee, David Roux
- Strategy
- Large-cap tech buyouts; founder partnerships; structured minority/PIPEs; growth (Alpine); long-hold capital; credit (Waterman, historically)
- AUM
- ~$2.3bn (first fund, 2000) → ~$26bn (2013) → ~$40bn (2018) → ~$100bn+ (2023) → ~$110bn (2025) (approximate)
- Leadership (2026)
- Co-CEOs Egon Durban and Greg Mondre (since 2019); founders Davis and Hutchins in senior/emeritus roles
13 deals and moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2000
Seagate
Carve-Out Buyout via the Veritas Transaction
2005
SunGard
Seven-Sponsor Club Take-Private
2007
Avaya
Take-Private with TPG
2009
Skype
Carve-Out from eBay and Sale to Microsoft
2011
Alibaba
Pre-IPO Employee-Share Tender
2012
Endeavor
Minority Investment, IPO and Take-Private
2013
Dell
Founder-Led Take-Private with Michael Dell
2016
Dell EMC VMware
2020
Jio Platforms
Minority Growth Investment in Reliance's Digital Arm
2020
Twitter
$1bn Convertible PIPE and Activist Truce
2023
Qualtrics
Take-Private from SAP and Public Holders
2025
Altera
51% Carve-Out from Intel
2025
Electronic Arts
~$55bn Take-Private with PIF and Affinity Partners