J. Michael Cline, a co-founder of Fandango and several other startups over the decades, has died after falling from a Manhattan hotel room, New York City's deputy public information officer tells TechCrunch.
The New York Police Department responded to a 911 call Tuesday morning at the Kimberly Hotel, a 30-story hotel on 50th Street in Midtown Manhattan. “Upon arrival, officers found an unresponsive male with injuries consistent with a fall from a height,” the deputy chief said in an emailed statement to TechCrunch. According to the New York Times, Klein fell from the 20th floor of the hotel. Emergency medical services responded and pronounced him dead on arrival, and the investigation is ongoing. Police later identified the individual as James Michael Klein, 64, of Palm Beach, Florida.
According to his LinkedIn page, Klein co-founded Fandango, a popular online ticket sales company, with Chief Operating Officer Art Levitt in 1999 that revolutionized the way Americans buy movie tickets.
In the 2000s, after a decade-long battle with MovieTickets.com, Fandango emerged as the winner of the online movie ticket sales. Cline created a digital empire by selling movie tickets online, charging processing fees, and selling online advertising to generate revenue. Fandango eliminated the need for people to wait in long lines at the box office, and paved the way for the $37 billion online ticket sales industry.
He left the company in 2011, about four years after it was acquired by Comcast. Some early investors in the online ticketing service included General Atlantic and TCV.
Klein 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. Klein has served as president of Juxtapose, a venture firm that invests in technology companies, since 2018. According to his staff page, while working there, Klein enjoyed investing in healthcare companies. Some 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.
