Aviv "Vivi" Nevo (Hebrew: אביב נבו; born 1965[1]) is an Israeli-American venture capitalist. He is a major shareholder in Time Warner[2][3] and other companies, having built his fortune up from an initial $10 million inheritance.[1]

Biography

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Nevo was born in Bucharest in Communist Romania in 1965. As an infant, he moved to Tel Aviv, Israel with his parents.[4] His father, a chemical engineer and his mother, an anesthesiologist, eventually divorced. Nevo is an only child. He is Jewish.[5]

Business career

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Stan Berk, a former hedge fund manager who hired Nevo in the 1980s after they met at a Los Angeles gym, said Nevo worked for him from 1985 to 1988, and then "just disappeared." After a certain time period, they met again, and "Nevo had befriended billionaires and media titans.[6]

According to an anonymous business associate of Nevo, with an inheritance of around $10 million, Nevo set about investing and networking. The New York Times reported that Nevo "opened trading accounts at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, as well as Allen & Co., which eventually won him an invitation to Sun Valley... Through diligence and hard work, the right contacts and a lot of the right trades during the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, he turned his inheritance into a sizable fortune ... Later on, Nevo began sprinkling money around in private companies, many of which were new media ventures."[4]

His venture capital firm, NV Investments, invests in technology companies worldwide, and is said to have been an early backer of The Weinstein Company,[7] and the largest individual shareholder in Time Warner.[1]

Personal life and reputation

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Nevo is said to be averse to publicity: He has consistently refused requests for interviews, and was referred to by friends as an "international man of mystery."[4]

In July 2008, Nevo said that long-running rumors of an engagement to Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi were true.[8] The couple separated in 2010.[9]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Arango, Tim (2008-07-28). "Behind the scenes, a force in the media world". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  2. ^ Johnnie L. Roberts Crunch Time Newsweek, August 22, 2005.
  3. ^ Kwong, Peter (2007-07-18). "Zhang Ziyi vs. Confucius". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
  4. ^ a b c Arango, Tim (July 27, 2008). "Behind the scenes, a force in the media world". The New York Times. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  5. ^ "Chinese Women Western Men Celebrity Couples". Love Love China. Archived from the original on September 2, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
  6. ^ Waxman, Sharon (July 21, 2010). "Vivi Nevo Revealed: 'Attention of a Hummingbird on Crack'". TheWrap. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  7. ^ "The power 50". Details. 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-06-08.
  8. ^ 'Crouching Tiger' actor Zhang Ziyi says yes to boyfriend's drone proposal Rachel Clun, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 February 2015
  9. ^ Ward, Vicky. "Veni, Vidi, Vivi". The Hive. Retrieved 2017-06-19.