By Jeff Elder
A San Francisco jury Friday found that venture-capital firm
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers did not discriminate against
former partner Ellen Pao on nearly all counts, in a closely watched
case that raised questions about the treatment of women in Silicon
Valley.
The six-man, six-woman jury deliberated for three days, after a
four-week trial. Jurors had to work through 14 pages of
instructions and a seven-page verdict form with 30 questions to
formulate its verdict on two charges of gender discrimination and
two charges of retaliation.
At least nine members of the jury had to agree on each of the
four counts. The jury found for Kleiner Perkins on three of the
four counts but were ordered to resume deliberations by the judge
because it only had eight members on the count related to if the
firm retaliated by firing her.
Ms. Pao, who worked at Kleiner Perkins from 2005 to 2012,
claimed the firm assigned her menial tasks, denied her promotions,
and then retaliated, including firing her, after she complained
about her treatment. Kleiner Perkins said Ms. Pao didn't advance
because of her own shortcomings and misrepresented key incidents at
the firm.
The trial drew international attention because of the claim that
one of oldest and best-known firms in Silicon Valley, an early
backer of companies including Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc., had
stymied the career of a promising woman. It followed other recent
allegations of unfair treatment at other tech firms, and reports
showing few women in management or high-prestige tech jobs at
companies like Google, Yahoo Inc., Apple Inc. and others.
Dating app Tinder in September settled a sexual-harassment suit
by a former executive who claimed the company's co-founders
subjected her to "horrendously sexist, racist and otherwise
inappropriate comments." Women in the videogame industry have been
threatened and attacked online, in a continuing affair known as
Gamergate.
At Google, women fill 48% of non-tech jobs, such as marketing
and human resources, but just 17% of the software engineering,
database analysis and other tech jobs.
Nationally, women's representation in those high-paying tech
jobs has declined in the past 25 years, according to the U.S.
Census. Just over a quarter of computer professionals are women,
down from 34% in 1990.
In venture capital, the numbers are even lower. The share of
women partners in venture-capital firms declined to 6% in 2014,
from 10% in 1999, according to a study from Babson College.
The trial offered titillating details of real and attempted
romantic trysts in parking lots and hotel hallways. Ms. Pao was
involved in a consensual affair with a married Kleiner Perkins
partner for a time, and claimed that he retaliated against her
after she ended the affair.
Other testimony about behavior at the firm seemed to describe
another era, before antidiscrimination laws and workplace
sensitivity training. Ms. Pao says a Kleiner Perkins partner
discussed porn stars and the Playboy mansion on a partner's private
jet. A married partner gave Ms. Pao a book of erotic poetry on
Valentine's Day. Another male partner asked her to take notes at a
meeting. When an investigator hired by Kleiner Perkins asked for
the firm's antidiscrimination policy, executives couldn't produce
it.
Write to Jeff Elder at jeff.elder@wsj.com
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