Close to Silver, wanted by Putin: Meet the intended investor of Maccabi Tel Aviv
Eirik Schtilman revealed on the "Double Dribble" podcast that one of the investors he plans to bring to Maccabi Tel Aviv is billionaire David Fialkow. Worth over $10 billion, he is known as a "collector of great talent" and an Oscar-winning producer of the film "Icarus."
Alongside the improved offer to purchase the Recanati family's shares, Eirik Schtilman revealed yesterday (Sunday) on the Walla! Sport podcast "Double Dribble" that one of the investors he will bring to Maccabi Tel Aviv is David Fialkow, a billionaire who owns a venture capital fund and is one of the most powerful people that Vladimir Putin, the ruler of Russia, wants to kill.
In 2018, a film project produced by Fialkow exposed Putin and the Russian Federation's state-sponsored doping program in international sports. Fialkow was a co-producer of the Oscar-winning documentary "Icarus," a project that the Russian government loathed long before it was released.
The film exposed the scandal of cheating and widespread use of banned substances, and Fialkow, together with the film's creator Bryan Fogel, managed to outsmart Putin and his intelligence agency, the FSB. It is likely that Putin's desire to get rid of Fialkow only increased following another film Fialkow produced about Alexei Navalny, Putin's opposition leader who was murdered.
Fialkow, who according to his biography is Jewish, only started producing documentaries as a hobby. He is a co-founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm General Catalyst from Cambridge, Massachusetts. From a young age, he acted as a diligent entrepreneur, working as a broom salesman, bartender, and washing UPS trucks to support himself.
Fialkow accumulated his vast wealth mainly through successful entrepreneurial exits, followed by decades as a leading venture capitalist. In 2000, Fialkow and Joel Cutler co-founded General Catalyst, which grew into one of the most prominent technology investment firms in the world and currently manages assets worth over $40 billion.
He has led and invested in high-profile companies, including Airbnb, Stripe, Warby Parker, HubSpot, Samsara, and Canva. Fialkow has also invested in Israeli companies, including Sheba Medical Center, Rapyd, Melio, Apiiro, Aidoc, Empathy, Superplay, and vgames.
David Fialkow is known today as one of the wealthiest people in the Boston area, with a personal net worth estimated at over $10 billion. It is very likely that if Schtilman recruits him to purchase Maccabi Tel Aviv, he will arrive with sums high enough to maintain a very good team in the EuroLeague.
Furthermore, there is a relationship between Fialkow and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. Both are involved in several initiatives, including signing the "We Stand for Democracy" open letter in 2021 and appearing on donor lists for institutions like the Council on Foreign Relations.
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans should hope that Schtilman brings Fialkow with him, because he is a serious man who treats his projects at the highest level. His special interest in the plot of "Icarus" was distinctly personal; he is an avid sports fan and cycling enthusiast, serving as chair of the Pan-Mass Challenge, a fundraiser for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
"The idea of cheating in sports just repulses him," said his partner Cutler. Fialkow's success as a producer is linked to his talent for connecting people and deploying capital effectively. Bryan Fogel noted: "David is someone who empowers people to do their best work and he is someone who will fight for you. He is truly inspiring and one of a kind."
