Startup Friendly New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker came under fire earlier this year when it was revealed he was a major stake holder in video startup WayWire. The spotlight was turned to WayWire when Booker threw his hat in the ring for a US Senate seat that vacated when five term Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg passed away in June. The election comes to a head Wednesday when New Jersey voters head to the polls for the special election.
Prior to his run for Senate not many were aware of Booker’s involvement with WayWire. Booker is known for using technology startups and supporting the efforts of young entrepreneurs. Booker is using St. Louis startup Givver to raise campaign funds via Twitter. He was also a featured speaker at many startup related events at the Democratic National Convention last year in Charlotte.
WayWire started as a video/studio platform aimed at millennials. They recently pivoted to a distribution/aggregation platform.
When it was revealed that Booker was a major stakeholder of the company it was believed that he had between $1 and $5 million dollars locked into the startup. He announced that his stake in WayWire would be donated to charity and AllthingsD’s Peter Kafka reported that the deal to do that closed last week.
Republican opponents of Booker’s were concerned that other backers of WayWire including Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, Oprah Winfrey and LinkedIn’s Jeff Weiner, may have only backed the startup as a way to support Booker. Of course this is all unbacked conjecture. At the time of these investments Booker was only the mayor Newark New Jersey and Senator Lautener was alive and well. It wasn’t until over a year later that Booker even had an opportunity to work in Washington.
Many news outlets reported a few months back that WayWire would need to continue to stay alive until the election was over to show that Booker’s involvement was not politically motivated nor was it a conflict of interest. However, it’s been reported this weekend that WayWire has been acquired by Magnify for an undisclosed amount of money.
WayWire had other turmoil of it’s own including the resignation of CNN President Jeff Zucker’s 15 year old son from the startups advisory board back in August. WayWire had some internal strife as well and now the only remaining member of the company’s founding team is Sarah Ross. Ross is set to become a member of Magnify’s advisory board.
While many speculate that this wasn’t a cash heavy deal, any proceeds Booker makes as a result of this deal will be donated to charity in accordance with the Mayor’s wishes. Many websites are reporting that Booker has a very good chance of winning this Senate seat. Other supporters suggest he could be the next to follow in Barack Obama’s footsteps.
