EGON DURBAN

Durban is a Texas native who joined Morgan Stanley's investment banking division early in his career. He came to Silver Lake in 1999 as a founding principal, when the tech-focused private equity firm was brand new.

He rose to become its dominant dealmaker and eventually co-CEO. His breakout was Skype.

In 2009 Silver Lake led a group that bought about 70% of Skype from eBay in a deal valuing it at $2.75 billion, then sold the whole company to Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion. He then engineered one of the biggest tech deals ever, helping Michael Dell take Dell private in 2013 and pull off the roughly $67 billion merger with EMC in 2016.

He owns an estimated 17% of Silver Lake and has sat on the boards of Dell, Twitter, Waymo and UFC.

Silver Lake, Dell Technologies, Skype, Twitter (board), UFC (board), Waymo (board)

Durban does not diversify his way to safety. He makes a small number of gigantic, high-conviction bets and swings hard when he believes in a deal.

His aim, in his own framing, is to be the best risk-adjusted tech investor in the world by placing one or two all-in bets a year. He gravitates toward big, out-of-favor, cash-generating technology companies rather than expensive startups, because he thinks the market misprices boring, durable software and hardware.

He takes a long view, buying into complicated situations others find too hard to understand, then working closely with management over several years to unlock value. It is a concentrated, hands-on style that lives or dies on being right about a few things.

Skype is the textbook Durban win. In 2009 Silver Lake led a group that bought about 70% of Skype from eBay at a $2.75 billion valuation, when many thought the business was going nowhere.

Under 18 months later, in 2011, they sold the entire company to Microsoft for $8.5 billion, roughly tripling the money in record time. His Dell saga was arguably even bigger.

Silver Lake backed Michael Dell in taking the company private in 2013, merged it with EMC, and rode the relisting into one of the most profitable private equity bets in history.

Durban's concentrated style cuts both ways, and Twitter is where it got messy. Silver Lake put $1 billion into Twitter in 2020 and Durban joined its board, then became a central figure in Elon Musk's chaotic $44 billion takeover.

In May 2022 Twitter shareholders actually voted against re-electing Durban to the board, and only kept him because the board refused his resignation, an unusual public rebuke for a dealmaker of his stature. Rivals have long warned that his all-in habit could someday backfire badly.

The lesson is the flip side of his edge. When you concentrate this hard, a single bad seat at the table becomes very visible.

Durban believes the biggest money is made by having a differentiated view of how an industry will look in three, four or five years, then betting heavily on it before others see it. He prefers cash-generating businesses from large, unloved tech companies, which he considers better risk-adjusted opportunities than hyped-up unicorns.

He is comfortable with complexity, viewing deals that look confusing to outsiders as a source of edge rather than a warning sign. He thinks in years, not quarters, and partners closely with CEOs to build value over time.

In short, concentrate, take the long view, and buy what others find too hard to understand.

Durban keeps his family life largely out of public view, which is consistent with his generally private profile. Confirmed personal details are limited in reliable public sources.

Durban studied at Georgetown University before beginning his finance career at Morgan Stanley. His early banking training gave him the deal-structuring skills he later used to engineer some of the largest technology transactions ever completed.