Antone Johnson has more than fifteen years experience as a business lawyer representing technology and media companies, entrepreneurs and investors in a wide range of corporate, commercial and intellectual property matters.
Growing up in Menlo Park and Palo Alto, California, he came to respect the unique culture of innovation that characterizes Silicon Valley, the world’s leading center of technology entrepreneurship. Supplementing this background with years of experience in Wall Street dealmaking and the creative environment of Hollywood, Antone has developed a unique perspective on strategic matters that lie at the intersection of business, law, public policy, technology and media.Prior to founding Bottom Line Law Group, Antone served as Vice President, Legal Affairs at eHarmony, Inc., where he built the in-house legal function from inception to serve the rapidly evolving needs of a growing, profitable $200+ million international consumer Internet business. For more than three years, he directed the company’s internal and external legal and government affairs teams, including more than a dozen law firms across five countries, to support the worldwide operations of its flagship eHarmony® dating service and its network of Web 2.0 content and community websites. eHarmony is the Internet’s #1 trusted relationship service, with more than 20 million registered users, and is responsible for nearly 5% of all new marriages in the United States. Throughout his tenure at eHarmony, Antone served as primary legal advisor to the senior management team and Board of Directors in strategic transactions, corporate governance, shareholder relations, litigation strategy, crisis communications and risk management. Key accomplishments included forging strategic partnerships; completing four acquisitions; supporting major product launches; expanding and enforcing a valuable portfolio of patents, trademarks and domain names; reaching a landmark settlement with the New Jersey Attorney General to resolve a controversial, politically charged discrimination complaint; and leading litigation teams in several complex cases including patent infringement, consumer class action and employment litigation.Antone has deep roots in the consumer Internet and digital media industries, having served as in-house counsel to pioneering broadband Internet service provider Excite@Home (Nasdaq: ATHM) from 2000 to 2002 and entertainment guidance technology leader Gemstar-TV Guide (Nasdaq: GMST) from 2002 to 2004. He joined Intermix Media, Inc. (AMEX: MIX) as Assistant General Counsel in 2004 and served as Director of Business & Legal Affairs at its MySpace subsidiary during its period of hyper-growth and global expansion, culminating in the company’s $650 million sale to Fox Interactive Media. Antone began his career in private practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the world’s preeminent technology law firm, where he closed many seed stage, convertible debt bridge and late-stage venture financing transactions and IPOs, and worked on larger institutional deals with the Los Angeles office of Wall Street firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP.Listed as one of Venture Hacks‘ recommended “social startup lawyers,” Antone is a recognized authority on legal, risk and privacy matters in social media, location-based services and related subjects, having been invited to speak at conferences and events organized by Stanford Law School, the University of Southern California, New York University, the Association of Corporate Counsel, the State Bar of California, Argyle Executive Forum, and the Social Media Club, as well as major international law firms in the US and UK. Antone holds a J.D. from Columbia University, where he earned the honor of Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and a B.A. cum laude in Economics from Williams College. In addition to practicing law, he blogs at Mashtag and tweets daily on subjects related to social media, entrepreneurship, and the intersection of people, capital, technology, and creativity. Antone has also provided pro bono legal services to Crisis Commons to support its CrisisCamp initiatives. When time permits, he enjoys performing and recording indie rock, most recently with Man And The Motorcar.
For a list of current and past clients, click here. See our News and Resources page for information on speaking engagements, articles, and materials written by Antone.
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Revised January 11, 2012
