Married billionaire and former Google chairman Eric Schmidt reportedly launched a $100 million company with entrepreneur Michelle Ritter while the two were dating.
The 66-year-old married man has committed at least $100 million to Steel Perlot, of which he is the executive chairman alongside the company’s 29-year-old CEO, Michelle Ritter, who he has been dating, according to a report by Forbes.
Barack Obama speaks with Google CEO Dr. Eric Schmidt at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Notably, Schmidt’s involvement with Steel Perlot appears to be the first time the former Google CEO has publicly entered into a major business partnership with someone he is dating while also being married to Wendy Schmidt, his wife of more than 40 years.
While Schmidt is typically quiet about such matters, Steel Perlot is the exception, Forbes noted. The billionaire has even reportedly “made it clear” to employees that the company is Ritter’s, and that she has full autonomy to run it.
In her role at Steel Perlot, Ritter appears to have “overstated financial commitments and overhyped involvement from industry leaders” in…
