Silicon Valley Exec Shelby Bonnie Joins Allen & Co.

Longtime Silicon Valley executive Shelby Bonnie started off his career as a financial analyst. He may wind up finishing it that way, too. According to his LinkedIn profile, Bonnie has just joined Allen & Co. as a managing director in the investment firm’s San Francisco office.

I’ve reached out to Bonnie for an interview and will update this post if I hear back. But on its face, the union would appear a natural fit.

Allen & Co. has, of course, deep ties to a wide number of media companies, and its yearly Sun Valley gathering of technology and media magnates is among the hottest tickets in the world. It’s no surprise that the firm would be drawn to Bonnie, who started his career as a junior analyst at Morgan Stanley and famously went on to cofound CNET Networks with entrepreneur Halsey Minor in 1993. (Bonnie continued to run the business as its CEO until 2006. After errors were discovered in how CNET accounted for stock-option expenses, Bonnie stepped down from his role.)

Bonnie more recently joined forces with several CNet alums to cofound San Francisco-based Whiskey Media, which built community-driven, wiki-like content including ComicVine, the gaming site GiantBomb, and the anime site AnimeVice. The five-year-old company wound up raising roughly $4 million, mostly from Bonnie and other angel investors, and its sites were sold in February for an undisclosed amount to BermanBraun, an L.A.-based entertainment company, and another undisclosed company.

No doubt Bonnie’s experience with startups, as well as in running a publicly traded media company, made him an attractive candidate to Allen & Co., whose most recent annual gathering Bonnie attended in July.

His board experience — including  as a director on the boards of IAB and Warner Music Group — along with his reputation as a straight shooter and someone who is adept with the press — were likely selling points, too.

Photo: Image courtesy of LinkedIn