As of 2003, Sequoia was struggling to prop up a venture fund that had lost around 50 percent of its value; the partners felt honor-bound to plow their fees back into the pot to eke out a return of 1.3x.64 The equivalent Kleiner Perkins fund performed even worse, never making it into the black. Masayoshi Son, who had briefly become the richest person in the world, lost more than 90 percent of his fortune.
