J. Michael Cline, co-founder of Fandango and several other startups over his decades-long career, has died after falling from a Manhattan hotel, New York’s deputy commissioner of public information told TechCrunch.
The New York Police Department responded to 911 calls from the Kimberly Hotel, a 30-story hotel on 50th Street in midtown Manhattan, on Tuesday morning. Upon arrival, “officers located an unconscious and unresponsive male with injuries consistent with a fall from an elevated position,” the deputy commissioner said in a statement emailed to TechCrunch. Cline fell from the 20th floor of the hotel, according to The New York TimesEmergency medical services responded and pronounced the individual deceased shortly after arrival, and an investigation is ongoing. Police later identified the individual as James Michael Cline, a 64-year-old resident of Palm Beach, Florida.
Cline co-founded Fandango, the popular online ticketing company that revolutionized the way Americans bought movie tickets, alongside COO Art Levitt in 1999, according to his LinkedIn Page.
After a decade-long battle with MovieTickets.com in the 2000s, Fandango emerged as the victor in the online ticketing market. Cline pioneered a digital empire by selling movie tickets online, charging processing fees and selling online ads to generate profits. Fandango eliminated the need for people to wait in long lines at the box office and paved the way for the $37 billion online ticketing industry.
He left the company in 2011, about four years after it was acquired by Comcast. Early investors in the online ticketing service included General Atlantic and TCV.
Cline was also a managing partner at Accretive, a venture capital firm he founded in 1999. He has built startups throughout his career, including R1 RCM, Accumen, Accolade, Everspring, Dresr and Insureon. Beginning in 2018, Cline served as executive chairman of venture capital firm Juxtapose, which invests in technology companies. During his tenure, Cline enjoyed investing in healthcare companies, according to his staff pageSome of Juxtapose’s portfolio companies include Tend, Nectar and Great Jones.
Accretive, Juxtapose and Fandango did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
