Your daily dose of photovoltaic technology developments and solar news
Chip Shots > Tags > John Walton
The Chip Shots blog channels the observations of Fabtech's and PV-Tech/Photovoltaic International's Senior Contributing Editor--USA, Tom Cheyney, a 20-year veteran of semiconductor, advanced micro/nanoelectronics, and solar manufacturing trade journalism. For 15 years, Tom was editor in chief of MICRO (the original home of Chip Shots) until it ceased publication in July 2006. Tom calls Los Angeles home. Share and shares alike: John Walton’s legacy unloads millions of First Solar shares
Without John Walton and his generous funding, there might not be any First Solar--at least in its current form. The son of Sam (Walton, that is) parlayed a chunk of his multibillions in Wal-Mart wealth, via his True North Partners VC firm, and made a sizeable bet in February 1999 on what was then a thin-film PV start-up known as Solar Cells Inc., or SCI. After sinking somewhere north of $150 million over the next six years to turn the renamed First Solar's cadmium-telluride technology into a volume manufacturable process and put the firm on the path to success, Walton met an untimely end in late June 2005, when the plane he was piloting crashed in Jackson, WY. Because of Walton's indispensable role in keeping the company alive--and no doubt some shrewd lawyering and deal-making--his estate and trusts hold more First Solar stock than any other entities, individual or institutional. But since April 30, that huge portfolio has been steadily shrinking.
Cart
There appears to be nothing in your cart!
