The Yale graduate, 42, set to make as much as $11 BILLION the day Uber IPOs

He’s the Silicon Valley venture capitalist millionaire who was employee number seven at Facebook, helped to launch LinkedIn and now sits on the board of Instagram and Tinder. 

But for Matt Cohler, 42, the biggest windfall could still be to come as the Yale graduate looks likely to become an overnight billionaire – 11 times over – on the day Uber stocks go public. 

The ride sharing app filed publicly with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its initial public offering (IPO) Thursday, taking it a step closer to one of the largest technology stock listings of all time.

And that’s good news for Cohler, who is Uber’s largest shareholder with 11 per cent of the company. Estimates say he could be on track for up to $11 billion after the IPO. 

Not that Cohler doesn’t already have his fair share of wealth after being behind some of the most successful companies in the history of Silicon Valley.

The New Yorker, who once tried his hand at being a saxophonist and now lives with his Norwegian lawyer wife Pia Oien Cohler in San Francisco, made the Forbes The Midas List of top tech Investors in 2019, coming in at number 77. 

Matt Cohler now lives with his Norwegian lawyer wife Pia Oien Cohler, pictured together, in San Francisco. They live a charmed life after getting engaged in 2015 and married a year later

Matt Cohler (left) sits with Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, in their office in Palo Alto, California, August, 26, 2005. He was the seventh full-time employee of the site and became vice president of product management before leaving in 2008 to go to Benchmark

Matt Cohler (left) sits with Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, in their office in Palo Alto, California, August, 26, 2005. He was the seventh full-time employee of the site and became vice president of product management before leaving in 2008 to go to Benchmark

The couple are said to have bought a $47.5 million Belvedere mansion with 270-degree views of San Francisco, the Golden Gate and Bay bridges in 2015

The couple are said to have bought a $47.5 million Belvedere mansion with 270-degree views of San Francisco, the Golden Gate and Bay bridges in 2015 

In 2016 he beat the likes of Beyonce, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Floyd Mayweather to be named the 23rd richest entrepreneur under 40 in America, according to Forbes, and was said to be worth $700 million in 2015. 

His Twitter bio, where he has 40,000 followers, reads: ‘Did: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Uber, Tinder, Bitcoin. Didn’t: Airbnb, Square, WhatsApp, Pinterest, Stripe, Coinbase, etc. TBD: the rest.’ 

It all means that Cohler and wife Pia already live a charmed existence after getting engaged in May 2015 and married the following year. 

A 2015 Medium article said the couple bought a $47.5 million Belvedere mansion with 270-degree views of San Francisco, the Golden Gate and Bay bridges.

A year later The New York Times reported on the pair’s sale of a four-bedroom mansion overlooking Gramercy Park in New York, on the market for $16.25 million. 

The in 2018 they are said to have purchased a Manhattan penthouse listed for $35 million.  

Pia, a trained lawyer from Norway, left Paris to be with Cohler four years ago and soon set up a luxury retail store in their new home city. 

In 2018 the couple are said to have purchased a Manhattan penthouse listed for $35 million

In 2018 the couple are said to have purchased a Manhattan penthouse listed for $35 million

Pia, a trained lawyer from Norway, left Paris to be with Cohler four years ago and soon set up a luxury retail store in their new home city. They are said to enjoy karaoke, board games, and paintball in their downtime

Pia, a trained lawyer from Norway, left Paris to be with Cohler four years ago and soon set up a luxury retail store in their new home city. They are said to enjoy karaoke, board games, and paintball in their downtime

In 2016 Cohler, right, beat the likes of Beyonce, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Floyd Mayweather to be named the 23rd richest entrepreneur under 40 in America, according to Forbes , and was said to be worth $700 million in 2015. He is pictured here in 2005 with In 2016 Cohler, right, beat the likes of Beyonce, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Floyd Mayweather to be named the 23rd richest entrepreneur under 40 in America, according to Forbes , and was said to be worth $700 million in 2015. He is pictured here in 2005 with

In 2016 Cohler, right, beat the likes of Beyonce, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Floyd Mayweather to be named the 23rd richest entrepreneur under 40 in America, according to Forbes , and was said to be worth $700 million in 2015. He is pictured here with Facebook co-founders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz

She spoke with luxury magazine Haute Living about their life together in 2016 saying they would be spending Christmas ‘at home in Marin with our families, who will be flying in from New York and Norway’. The couple spent that New Year’s in Hawaii with friends, Pia said. 

They are said to enjoy karaoke, board games, and paintball in their downtime. And for Pia her drink of choice is ‘champagne, always champagne’, adding: ‘My favorite is Ruinart Blanc de Blanc.’

When she started her now defunct store, Pia the Store, in 2016 the couple counted Joshua Kushner and Dr. Priscilla Chan, who is married to Zuckerberg, among the guests there to wish them well at the opening party. 

The high fashion store closed in 2018 with Cohler reportedly planning to return to law in 2019 to work with the Innocence Project.  

The couple counted Joshua Kushner and Dr. Priscilla Chan, who is married to Zuckerberg, among the guests to wish them well at the opening party of Pia's luxury store

The couple counted Joshua Kushner and Dr. Priscilla Chan, who is married to Zuckerberg, among the guests to wish them well at the opening party of Pia’s luxury store 

His Twitter bio, where he has 40,000 followers, reads: 'Did: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Uber, Tinder, Bitcoin. Didn't: Airbnb, Square, WhatsApp, Pinterest, Stripe, Coinbase, etc. TBD: the rest'

His Twitter bio, where he has 40,000 followers, reads: ‘Did: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Uber, Tinder, Bitcoin. Didn’t: Airbnb, Square, WhatsApp, Pinterest, Stripe, Coinbase, etc. TBD: the rest’ 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel talks to Matt Cohler in 2013. The New Yorker, who once tried his hand at being a saxophonist and now lives with his Norwegian lawyer wife Pia Oien Cohler in San Francisco, made the Forbes The Midas List of top tech Investors in 2019

German Chancellor Angela Merkel talks to Matt Cohler in 2013. The New Yorker, who once tried his hand at being a saxophonist and now lives with his Norwegian lawyer wife Pia Oien Cohler in San Francisco, made the Forbes The Midas List of top tech Investors in 2019

Matt left Yale with a degree in music theory, computer science, and finance. His journey into Silicon Valley success started with a management consultant role at McKinsey in China. Cohler is pictured here with Rip Empson of TechCrunch in 2014

Matt left Yale with a degree in music theory, computer science, and finance. His journey into Silicon Valley success started with a management consultant role at McKinsey in China. Cohler is pictured here with Rip Empson of TechCrunch in 2014 

For Matt, who left Yale with a degree in music theory, computer science, and finance, his journey into Silicon Valley success started with a management consultant role at McKinsey in China.  

There, in 2002 and just two years out of Yale, he met former PayPal executive Reid Hoffman. 

The pair ‘hit it off’ and Cohler became Hoffman’s protégé, helping to launch his new start-up, LinkedIn, The New York Times reports.

It was there, in the Summer of 2004, that he would meet an entrepreneur named Mark Zuckerberg. He joined the company in 2005, the seventh full-time employee. 

He became vice president of product management for the social network before leaving in 2008 to become General Partner at Benchmark.

He remained a a ‘special advisor’ to Zuckerberg, who he calls ‘incredible’. Cohler said of the Facebook founder: ‘There’s nobody I’ve learned more from, and I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity.’

Now at Benchmark, where he became the youngest general partner, he has built a portfolio of businesses that include Quora and Tinder and he sits on the board of Instagram.

For Cohler the history of Silicon Valley 'has always been one generation of companies gives birth to great companies that follow'. He once said he was 'one of the luckiest people who ever lived'

For Cohler the history of Silicon Valley ‘has always been one generation of companies gives birth to great companies that follow’. He once said he was ‘one of the luckiest people who ever lived’

He took over colleague Bill Gurley’s board seat at Uber, following Gurley’s showdown with then-CEO Travis Kalanick in 2017.

Cohler took over colleague Bill Gurley’s board seat at Uber, following Gurley’s showdown with then-CEO Travis Kalanick in 2017.

Ousted co-founder Kalanick, who still owns 8.6 per cent of the company, was booted out two years ago.

But he doesn’t always get it write – when YouTube co-founder Steve Chen left Facebook to start the video sharing platform Cohler recalls: ‘Steve was one of the first people I hired when I joined Thefacebook. 

‘When he told me he was leaving to focus on a new startup he was calling YouTube, I told him that Thefacebook was going to be as important as any company in the history of Silicon Valley and he was making a huge mistake. 

‘At least I was partially right!’

But for Cohler the history of Silicon Valley ‘has always been one generation of companies gives birth to great companies that follow’.  

He is once said to have told The New York Times: ‘I am very aware that I’m one of the luckiest people who ever lived.’ 

And with a likely $11 billion fortune there aren’t many who would disagree. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk