William S. "Bill" Price III is an American businessman, investor, and winemaker. He is one of the three co-founders and a partner emeritus of TPG Capital, formerly known as the

Texas Pacific Group TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American investment company based in Fort Worth, Texas. The private equity firm is focused on leveraged buyouts and growth capital. TPG manages investment funds in growth c ...

, which is one of the largest

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

firms globally. He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Prior to co-founding Texas Pacific Group in 1993, Price was vice president of strategic planning and business development for GE Capital. Prior to this, Price was a partner and co-head of the financial services practice of

Bain & Company Bain & Company is an American management consulting company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm provides advice to public, private, and non-profit organizations. One of the Big Three management consultancies, Bain & Company was fou ...

. In 1993, Price teamed up with

David Bonderman David Bonderman (born November 27, 1942) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the founding partner of TPG Capital (formerly Texas Pacific Group), and its Asian affiliate, Newbridge Capital. He is also one of the minority owners of the ...

and James Coulter to complete the leveraged buyout of

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines, simply known as Continental, was a major United States airline founded in 1934 and eventually headquartered in Houston, Texas. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continental started o ...

. Price would be involved with all of TPG's investments, most notably Beringer,

, Petco,

Ducati Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. () is the motorcycle-manufacturing division of Italian company Ducati, headquartered in Bologna, Italy. The company is directly owned by Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini, whose German parent company is Au ...

and

Grohe Grohe is a German plumbing fixtures manufacturer with its registered office in Hemer and headquarters in Düsseldorf. Since 2014, Grohe has been part of the Japanese Lixil Group. The company generated consolidated sales revenues of in 2017. Gro ...

. In 2006, Price announced that he would scale back his work at TPG to focus on personal pursuits, including his holdings in wine vineyards. Price is currently proprietor of Classic Wines, LLC and Price Family Vineyards, LLC, which has invested in Durell Vineyard, Gap's Crown Vineyard, Walala Vineyard,

Kistler Vineyards Kistler Vineyards is a family-owned California winery located in Northern California's wine producing region of Sonoma County. According to ''Food and Wine Magazine'', their "biannual release of Chardonnay is one of the most sought after by wine en ...

, Three Sticks Wines and Lutum. Bill Price is currently chairman of Gary Farrell Vineyards & Winery, and was chairman of Kosta Browne from 2009 through 2015.

Political connections and fundraising controversy

The Intercept ''The Intercept'' is an American left-wing news website founded by Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, Laura Poitras and funded by billionaire eBay co-founder Pierre Omidyar. Its current editor is Betsy Reed. The publication initially reported ...

'' reported 'During the

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...

summer of 2020 Bill Price PAID, the then 44 year old, current

United States senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

from

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Kyrsten Lea Sinema $1,117.40 for a week long internship at his vineyard in Napa Valley.
Following the internship Bill Price supported a $5,000-a-ticket fundraiser that benefited both the Arizona senators' (Sinema and

Kelly Kelly may refer to: Art and entertainment * Kelly (Kelly Price album) * Kelly (Andrea Faustini album) * ''Kelly'' (musical), a 1965 musical by Mark Charlap * "Kelly" (song), a 2018 single by Kelly Rowland * ''Kelly'' (film), a 1981 Canadi ...

) campaign but also a

PAC Pac or PAC may refer to: Military * Rapid Deployment Force (Malaysia), an armed forces unit * Patriot Advanced Capability, of the MIM-104 Patriot missile * Civil Defense Patrols (''Patrullas de Autodefensa Civil''), Guatemalan militia and paramili ...

....' ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'' reported 'The vineyard fundraiser was a key stop on a Sinema summer 2020 tour that netted campaign cash from Price, his TPG Capital associates, and

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...

legends like billionaire

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

References

* * Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople American chief executives of financial services companies American financial company founders American financiers American investors American winemakers Private equity and venture capital investors TPG Capital people UC Berkeley School of Law alumni {{private-equity-bio-stub