Tom Alberg was an early investor in Amazon and served on Amazon's board for 23 years.
Resolved true The record shows it happened or was so.
Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?
What would count as true or false
TRUE: Amazon's proxy statements, filings or official announcements show that Tom Alberg invested in Amazon in its early, pre-IPO period and sat on its board for about 23 years (joining around 1996 and leaving around 2019). MOSTLY TRUE: he was an early investor, but his board tenure comes to 22 or 24 years. MOSTLY FALSE: one element fails. Either he was not an early investor, or his tenure differs by more than about 2 years. FALSE: he was neither an early investor nor a long-serving board member.
Set before the research began.
Evidence (4)
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E1 AMAZON COM INC (AMZN) | DEF 14A | DEFINITIVE PROXY MATERIALS | Period: 1999-05-20 | Filed: 1999-04-07 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (filed by Amazon.com, Inc.) · 7 April 1999
“Tom A. Alberg, age 59, has been a Director of the Company since June 1996.”
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E2 It's Been an Incredible Experience - 23 years on the Amazon Board Madrona Venture Group · 11 April 2019 Own record
“Managing Director, Tom Alberg, announced today that after 23 years on the board of Amazon.com he intends to step down in May of 2019.”
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E3 It's Been an Incredible Experience - 23 years on the Amazon Board Madrona Venture Group · 11 April 2019 Own record
“Alberg first invested in Amazon.com in the company’s Series A financing in 1995 and is the longest serving member of the board after CEO and founder, Jeff Bezos.”
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E4 Early Amazon investor Tom Alberg to leave board, 23 years after betting on Jeff Bezos’ little startup GeekWire · 11 April 2019
“Alberg, along with Kleiner Perkins chairman John Doerr (who stepped down in 2010), would later join Bezos on Amazon’s new board after the company raised its only venture round before going public in 1997.”
Reasoning
Amazon's 1999 proxy statement says Alberg had been a director since June 1996 (E1). GeekWire reports that he joined Amazon's board after the company's only venture round before its 1997 IPO (E4), and Madrona says he first invested in Amazon's 1995 Series A financing, so he was a pre-IPO investor (E3). Madrona's April 2019 announcement says he invested in the 1995 Series A and would leave the board in May 2019 after 23 years (E2, E3). Serving from June 1996 to May 2019 comes to about 23 years, which meets the TRUE criteria.
Cite this claim
Jeff Bezos, “Tom Alberg was an early investor in Amazon and served on Amazon's board for 23 years.” (said 6 August 2022). Verdict: resolved true. Reliability API, claim c_852b17dada42, method 0.1.0+c876030c, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_852b17dada42
This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.
Reply to this claim
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Verdicts are made automatically; how verdicts are made.