Michael Moritz

Sir Michael Moritz KBE (born 1954) is a Welsh-born American billionaire venture capitalist and philanthropist best known for his 38-year tenure at Sequoia Capital, where he spearheaded early investments in transformative technology firms including Google, PayPal, and LinkedIn.

Educated at Christ Church, Oxford (BA) and the Wharton School (MBA), Moritz began his career as a journalist, serving as bureau chief for Time magazine in San Francisco, before joining Sequoia in 1986 and rising to partner. His prescient backing of internet pioneers yielded enormous returns, cementing his reputation as one of Silicon Valley's most astute investors and contributing to Sequoia's management of over $53 billion in assets.

Michael Moritz was born on September 12, 1954, in Cardiff, Wales, to Jewish parents Ludwig Alfred Moritz and Doris Rath, both refugees who had fled Nazi Germany prior to World War II. His father's escape as a teenager from persecution, followed by resettlement in Britain, exemplified the determination that characterized their household, where survival depended on adaptation rather than reliance on external aid.