Childhood & Early Life
Bonderman was born on November 27, 1942, into a Jewish family in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
He graduated from the 'University High School,' in West Los Angeles, a district in Los Angeles.
In 1963, he graduated “Phi Beta Kappa” from the 'University of Washington,' located in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.
Three years later, in 1966, he graduated “magna cum laude” from 'Harvard Law School,' the law school of 'Harvard University,' in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and became a 'Doctor of Jurisprudence.'
At 'Harvard Law School,' he was a member of the 'Harvard Law Review,' which was published by the school's independent student group. He was also a recipient of the 'Sheldon Fellowship.'
He wanted to specialize in Islamic legal jurisprudence and law and thus left for Cairo, the capital of Egypt. He also learned modern standard Arabic during his stay in Egypt.
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Career
In 1967, he began teaching at the 'Tulane University Law School,' situated on the university's uptown campus in New Orleans, Louisiana. He served in this position until 1968.
From 1968 to 1969, he was the special assistant to the 'United States Attorney General.'
In 1971, he began working with the law firm 'Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP,' which was operating as 'Arnold & Porter' in Washington, D.C. He grew quite fast in the organization. He soon became one of its partners. He also turned into an expert in securities, corporate law, bankruptcy, and antitrust litigation.
In 1983, he joined the 'Robert M. Bass Group, Inc.' and rose to the position of the company’s chief operating officer.
In 1992, along with his long-time friend James Coulter and William S. Price III, he co-founded the private equity investment company 'Texas Pacific Group,' which is now called 'TPG Capital.' They set up its office at Mill Valley, California. He now works as a chairman of the firm, from Fort Worth.
In 1993, Bonderman and his partners made their first significant investment in the then-bankrupt 'Continental Airlines' and turned it into a profit-making company. He also served as the director of the company.
In 1994, as part of ‘TPG,’ he partnered along with 'Blum Capital Partners' and 'ACON Investments' and created another private equity investment company, 'Newbridge Capital.' This firm focused on Asian and Latin American markets.
In 1996, ‘TPG’ invested in 'Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A' and 'Beringer Wine Estates.' He was a director in both these companies.
As his company grew, Bonderman served as a director in a lot of other companies, including 'Bowe Bell & Howell,' 'Credicom Asia,' 'The National Education Corp.,' 'Carr Realty,' 'Virgin Cinemas,' 'CoStar Group,' 'Gemalto,' 'Ryanair DAC,' 'Washington Mutual, Inc.,' 'American Savings Bank,' 'Denbury Resources,' 'Burger King,' and 'Uber.'
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He has been serving a member of the boards of a lot of non-profit organizations, too, such as 'The Wilderness Society,' 'The World Wide Fund for Nature,' 'The University of Washington Foundation,' ‘The Grand Canyon Trust,' and 'The American Himalayan Foundation.'
In 2008, he was appointed as one of the investors of what later came to be called the 'T-Mobile Arena.'
In 2015, he became the chairman of 'TPG Capital.' Over time, the company grew to own assets worth $108 billion.
He partly owns the ‘Boston Celtics,' an American professional basketball team, which is a member of the 'National Basketball Association' and competes in the league's 'Eastern Conference Atlantic Division.'
He is the co-founder and the majority owner of the professional ice hockey team known as the ‘Seattle NHL.’ He formed the team after his application for a 'National Hockey League’ (NHL) expansion team was approved by the 'NHL Board of Governors’ on December 4, 2018. The team is scheduled to participate in the 'National Hockey League' season of 2021–2022.
As of October 2019, his net worth was $3.7 billion.
Controversy
In June 2017, Bonderman was forced to step down from the board of ‘Uber’ due to a sexist remark, which he had made as a response to his colleague Arianna Stasinopoulou Huffington.
Apparently, when Huffington had commented "There's a lot of data that shows when there's one woman on the board, it's much more likely that there will be a second woman on the board," Bonderman had responded, "Actually, what it shows is that it's much more likely to be more talking."
Family & Personal Life
Bonderman is married to Laurie Michaels, and they have five children.
They stay in Fort Worth, Texas.
The 'University of Washington' started the 'Bonderman Travel Fellowship' in 1995.
In 2013, Bonderman's daughter Samantha created a similar fellowship, named the 'Bonderman Fellowship,' at the 'University of Michigan.'
On the occasion of his 60th birthday, he threw a lavish party at 'The Joint,' a 4000-seat showroom in 'Hard Rock Hotel and Casino' in Las Vegas, Nevada. Artists such as 'The Rolling Stones,' John J. Mellencamp, and Robin Williams performed and entertained the guests at the event. The event cost Bonderman $7 million and became one of the most expensive private concerts in history.
Ten years later, in 2012, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, he hosted a party for 1,020 invitees at ‘Wynn Las Vegas.’ While Robin Williams entertained the guests with his comic acts, Paul McCartney, former bandmember of 'The Beatles,' enchanted the audiences with his melodies. Bonderman gave away $1000 to the charitable organizations chosen by each of his guests.
