Antone F. Johnson

For more than two decades, Antone Johnson has served as a business and technology lawyer representing emerging growth tech 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 startup 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 valuable perspective on strategic matters that lie at the intersection between business, law, public policy, technology and media.

Prior to founding his own practice, Antone served as VP, Legal Affairs and Corporate Secretary at eHarmony, Inc., where he built the in-house legal function from scratch to serve the rapidly evolving needs of a growing, profitable $200+ million international business.  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 content and community sites.  Key accomplishments included forging strategic partnerships; completing four website 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 Corporate Counsel to pioneering broadband Internet content and access provider ExciteAtHome from 2000 to 2002 and media, entertainment and technology company Gemstar-TV Guide from 2002 to 2004, and as Assistant General Counsel at Intermix Media, Inc., which operated MySpace during its period of hyper-growth and global expansion, culminating in the company's $650 million sale in 2005 to Fox Interactive Media.  Antone learned the ropes in private practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the world's preeminent technology law firm, as well as Wall Street firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, where he represented emerging growth technology companies and financial institutions in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, joint ventures, technology and content licensing transactions and general corporate matters.  He 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.