Antone Johnson Profile - Tech General Counsel: Startups, Transactions, Social Platforms - Bottom Line Law Group

Antone Johnson has two decades experience as a business lawyer representing technology and media companies, entrepreneurs and investors in a wide range of corporate, commercial, product 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.

In a rapidly evolving, technical field where no single person can be an expert in all specialties, Antone views the role of general counsel as analogous to that of the prized “full-stack developer” in software engineering. 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 with more than 20 million registered users. For 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 related online communities. 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 strategic partnerships and acquisitions, supporting major product launches, managing its intellectual property portfolio, reaching a landmark state attorney general settlement to resolve a controversial, politically charged product challenge, and leading litigation teams in several complex cases including false advertising, patent infringement and consumer class action.

Antone has deep roots in the consumer Internet and digital media industries, having served as in-house counsel to pioneering search engine and broadband ISP 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, a division of News Corporation. 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 equity, convertible debt 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.

Lauded by Venture Hacks as a recommended “social startup lawyer,” Antone has represented startups and growth companies backed by many of the nation’s leading venture capital funds including Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, Greylock Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures; prominent angel investors, seed funds and venture accelerators such as Tech Coast Angels, Y Combinator and 500 Startups. A recognized expert in social media product legal, risk and privacy matters, he has spoken at conferences and panel discussions organized by Stanford Law School, the University of Southern California, New York University, the Association of Corporate Counsel, Beverly Hills Bar Association, the State Bar of California, Law Seminars International and the Social Media Club, among others.

Antone Johnson 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 is a prolific commentator, contributing to The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and TechCrunch, among others; serving as an expert resource to journalists in traditional and online media; blogging at Techlexica; and microblogging on subjects related to social media, entrepreneurship, and the intersection of people, capital, technology, and creativity. Antone also serves on the Board of Directors of Data4America and enjoys performing and recording indie rock as an occasional guilty pleasure.

For a list of representative current and past clients, click here. See our Resources and News & Events pages for information on speaking engagements, articles, and materials written by Antone.

Connect with social media lawyer Antone Johnson on Mastodon or Bluesky Social.