JPMorgan to Start Social Media Fund

Hoping to seize upon investor excitement over social networking companies like Facebook, JPMorgan Chase is planning to start a new fund to invest in an array of Internet and new media companies, people briefed on the matter told DealBook on Sunday.

The proposed fund, which will be run by JPMorgan’s asset-management unit, is seeking to raise between $500 million and $750 million from wealthy investors to put into privately held technology companies like Twitter and Groupon, these people said.

The idea is to place bets on companies with established business models and steady revenue before they go public in widely anticipated stock sales.

Several popular social media companies, including the professional social network LinkedIn and the Internet radio company Pandora, have already filed to go public. Those filings presage even more eagerly anticipated stock sales by Groupon and especially Facebook.

JPMorgan plans to buy and sell shares in these companies on behalf of clients, and will not directly invest the firm’s own money, one of these people said. But simply having a ready base of retail investors could give JPMorgan’s investment bank a competitive edge in winning business from the fledgling technology firms.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/jpmorgan-to-start-social-media-fund/?nl=business&emc=dlbka9