Antone Johnson has more than 13 years experience as a business lawyer representing technology and media companies, entrepreneurs and investors in a wide range of corporate, commercial and intellectual property matters. Growing up in Menlo Park and Palo Alto, California, he came to respect the unique culture of innovation that characterizes Silicon Valley, the world's leading center of technology entrepreneurship. Supplementing this background with years of experience in Wall Street dealmaking and the creative environment of Hollywood, Antone has developed a valuable perspective on strategic matters that lie at the intersection between business, law, public policy, technology and media.
Prior to founding Bottom Line Law Group, Antone served as Vice President, Legal Affairs at eHarmony, Inc., where he built the in-house legal function from scratch to serve the rapidly evolving needs of a growing, profitable $200+ million international business. For three years, he directed the company's internal and external legal and government affairs teams, including more than a dozen law firms across five countries, to support the worldwide operations of its flagship eHarmony® dating service and its network of "Web 2.0" content and community sites. eHarmony is the Internet's #1 trusted relationship service, with more than 20 million registered users, and is responsible for more than 2% of all new marriages in the United States. Throughout his tenure at eHarmony, Antone served as primary legal advisor to the senior management team and Board of Directors in corporate and commercial transactions, corporate governance, shareholder relations, litigation strategy, crisis communications and risk management. Key accomplishments included forging strategic partnerships; completing four website acquisitions; supporting major product launches; expanding and enforcing a valuable portfolio of patents, trademarks and domain names; reaching a landmark settlement with the New Jersey Attorney General to resolve a controversial, politically charged discrimination complaint; and leading litigation teams in several complex cases including patent infringement, consumer class action and employment litigation.
Antone has deep roots in the consumer Internet and digital media industries, having served as Corporate Counsel to pioneering broadband Internet content and access provider Excite@Home (Nasdaq: ATHM) from 2000 to 2002 and entertainment guidance technology leader Gemstar-TV Guide (Nasdaq: GMST) from 2002 to 2004. He joined Intermix Media, Inc. (AMEX: MIX) as Assistant General Counsel in 2004 and served as Director of Business & Legal Affairs at its MySpace.com subsidiary during its period of hyper-growth and global expansion, culminating in the company's $650 million sale to Fox Interactive Media. Prior to Excite@Home, Antone spent four years in private practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the world's preeminent technology law firm, and the Los Angeles office of Wall Street firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP. He represented emerging growth technology companies and financial institutions in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, joint ventures, technology and content licensing transactions and general corporate matters.