Apax rejected Zeev's attempt to take Audible private before Amazon sale
Oren Zeev · Oren Zeev: Why AI Growth Expectations Are BS & Won't Last? Why GPs Shouldn't Tell LPs Their Strategy · Feb 2, 2026 · at 1:08:16
Oren Zeev reflects on his early investment in Audible while at Apax Partners, which was later acquired by Amazon.
“I try to convince the partnership to buy, I made the investment in Audible was my first big home run, and then it went public, and it was a good, a great, we sold not all the shares, but enough to make it the home run and then the stock price dipped, and it was obvious to me that it's temporary, and I wanted to basically take it private, and I couldn't, you know, and I could have, because the founder was totally on board, because he didn't like being public, And I couldn't get it approved.”
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