Former chairman Schmidt, famous for his “women’s power,” is said to have invested more than $100 million (about 130 billion won) in the company. Schmidt’s wealth was 19.2 billion dollars as of the 4th (local time), ranking 87th in the world. U.S. economic media Forbes recently reported that SteelPelot, a venture founded in 2021 by Schmidt and his girlfriend Michelle Ritter (29), has not found a new investment destination. SteelPelot is a company that analyzes and invests in projects such as artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency, and has more than 50 employees. So far, SteelPerot has invested $20 million in more than a dozen startups. SteelPelot reportedly requested about $2.5 million in support from Hillsfire, an investment company that manages Schmidt’s wealth, earlier this year, about a year after its launch. Sources said Hillsfire provided labor costs to SteelPelot. Schmidt is the chairman of the company and his girlfriend Michelle Ritter is the founder and CEO. Sources said Schmidt invested more than $100 million in the company. “The company has a number of investors as well as Schmidt,” Ritter told Forbes. “We are currently managing $450 million in funds from institutional investors and high-value asset owners.” However, when Forbes demanded specific information on investors, SteelPelot explained that it received letters of intent to invest “preliminary” from sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors. According to 11 former employees and officials involved in SteelPelot, Ritter cited leading business figures to promise excessive growth of the company. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and media tycoon Michael Bloomberg, for example, suggested they were involved in the project or said they had received business commitments from Middle Eastern investors, including UAE sovereign wealth fund Mubadala.
An anonymous employee criticized, “It was a project with empty hearts.” Bloomberg, Mubadala and Bezos did not respond in this regard. Ritter is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University in economics, international studies and political science, with a master’s degree from Columbia University’s law school. He worked at Stanford University’s Computer Engineering Research Institute and the Cyber Security Subcommittee of the Department of Homeland Security. Ritter and Schmidt watched British billionaire Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Group, go to space on Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft “VSS Unity” at Spaceport Space Center in New Mexico in July 2021, when he was graduating from graduate school. The two founded SteelPelot a few months after the event
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
