{"id":53050,"date":"2023-08-25T16:42:44","date_gmt":"2023-08-25T20:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/investing\/tiger-global-blames-disgruntled-former-employee-for-mystery-memo-sent-to-journalists\/"},"modified":"2023-08-25T16:42:47","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T20:42:47","slug":"tiger-global-blames-disgruntled-former-employee-for-mystery-memo-sent-to-journalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=53050","title":{"rendered":"Tiger Global Blames \u2018Disgruntled Former Employee\u2019 For Mystery Memo Sent To Journalists"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tiger Global responded on Friday to an anonymous memo circulating among journalists that makes a number of serious and unsubstantiated claims about the investment firm and its leadership.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In a letter sent to the firm\u2019s investors on Friday afternoon obtained by Forbes<\/em>, Tiger wrote that it was being \u201ctargeted with a series of information attacks\u201d propagated \u201canonymously using an encrypted messaging platform.\u201d \u201cWe strongly believe [they] were written and pushed by a disgruntled former employee with whom we parted ways,\u201d the letter, signed by \u201cThe Tiger Global Team,\u201d added.<\/p>\n

Tiger Global spokesperson Carolyn Sargent confirmed the letter\u2019s authenticity but declined further comment.<\/p>\n

In its letter, the firm said it has \u201cengaged with experts\u201d to develop a response to the \u201cmalicious attacks,\u201d which it claims have also reached many of its own clients. \u201cUnlike the anonymous coward spreading this false narrative on the internet, you know who we are \u2014 and we are here and ready to answer your questions,\u201d the company wrote.<\/p>\n

Tiger\u2019s letter is the firm\u2019s first external acknowledgement of an extraordinary situation that has simmered for months, and recently started to boil over. Industry insiders within the venture capital and private equity communities in which Tiger operates first received versions of a memo about Tiger as long as six months ago, several recipients said. Over the past several months, multiple Forbes <\/em>reporters also received the memo, sent in the form of a long message over the secure messaging app Signal from one-name accounts that were immediately deleted. Reporters at other publications have also said<\/a> they received a version of the memo.<\/p>\n

The memo criticized Tiger\u2019s financial performance and the behavior of members of the firm\u2019s leadership, and questioned its ability to operate moving forward. Forbes<\/em> has not substantiated any of those claims, which Tiger called \u201cpacked with lies\u201d in its letter, and thus will not publish their specifics at this time.<\/p>\n

More recently, another version of the memo claiming to be a draft article from The New Yorker<\/em> appeared to enter wider circulation among hedge funds and financial institutions. (The memo didn\u2019t appear to be written by a journalist, several sources noted, nor was there any suggestion the memo was a genuine draft by a media publication.)<\/p>\n

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Tiger\u2019s letter to its LPs comes days after The Information reported the firm was selling a stake in AI unicorn Cohere, after facing a liquidity crunch as its public equities take substantial losses. In June, Tiger raised $2 billion for a new venture capital firm, per a regulatory filing, well short of its reported intended target. Last October, Forbes<\/em> first reported that the partner behind many of Tiger\u2019s private startup investments, former Midas List member John Curtius, was departing the firm.<\/p>\n

In its note to investors, Tiger appeared to seek to reassure its backers about the firm\u2019s prospects: \u201cRest assured our team remains highly focused on our core business which has been performing well this year,\u201d the letter claimed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n