Monday, January 27, 2020

Bryant Stibel's Kobe Bryant Dies In Helicopter Crash

Kobe Bryant, the basketball legend who also was one half of Los Angeles private equity investment firm Bryant Stibel, is dead at the age of 41, after a tragic helicopter crash in Calabasas took his life, the life of one of his daughters, and seven others. Bryant and his other passengers were on a helicopter traveling from John Wayne Airport, on the way to a basketball tournament for his daughter, which was being held at the Mamba Sports Academy in the Thousand Oaks area, and were inbound over the 101 freeway near Los Virgenes Road when, for some unknown reason, the helicopter they were flying in plunged into the side of a hillside at around 10am. Firefighters arriving on the scene found a small brush fire and remnants of the Skikorsky S-76E helicopter. Among the other victims were Gianna Bryant, Bryant's oldest daughter; the pilot, Araya Zobayan; John Altobelli; Alyssa Altobelli; Keri Altobelli; Christiana Mauser; Payton Chester; and Sarah Chester, all of whom were involved as teammates and parents on Gianna Bryant's basketball team. John Altobelli was coach of Orange Coast College's baseball team. Kobe Bryant, although best known for his time on the basketball court, was half of Bryant Stibel, a $100M investment fund run in conjunction with startup veteran Jeff Stibel; both Bryant and Stibel had been angel investors in a significant number of startups, even before formally creating the fund in 2016, investing in such companies as Ring, LegalZoom, Tile, and many others. The crash site where Bryant and the others crashed is within view of a cluster of business parks, which houses some of the high tech companies along the 101 corridor.