William S. "Bill" Price III is an American businessman, investor, and winemaker. He is one of the three co-founders and a partner emeritus of theprivate equity firmTPG Capital, formerly known as theTexas Pacific Group.
Price was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Hawaii.[1]
He received his bachelor's degree fromStanford University in 1978, and hisJuris Doctor degree from theUniversity of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1981.[2]
After completing law school, in 1981 Price joined the Los Angeles law firmGibson, Dunn and Crutcher,[3] where he specialized in corporate securities transactions.[2]
In 1985, he joinedBain & Company,[2] where he rose to become partner and co-head of the financial services practice.[3]
He left Bain in 1991,[2] to work briefly atGE Capital, as vice president of business development and strategic planning.[3]
In 1992, he left GE Capital to co-found theprivate equity firmTexas Pacific Group (nowTPG Capital), withDavid Bonderman andJames Coulter.[4] In their first major deal, in 1993 they completed theleveraged buyout ofContinental Airlines.[5]
During his tenure, Price was also involved with all of TPG's subsequent investments, most notablyBeringer,Petco,Ducati andGrohe.[6]
In 2006, Price announced that he would scale back his work at TPG to focus on personal pursuits, including his holdings in wine vineyards.[7]
Price is currently proprietor of Classic Wines, LLC and Price Family Vineyards, LLC, which has invested in Durell Vineyard, Gap's Crown Vineyard, Walala Vineyard,[8]Kistler Vineyards, Three Sticks Wines and Lutum.[7][9] He is currently chairman ofGary Farrell Vineyards & Winery, and was chairman of Kosta Browne from 2009 through 2015.[10]
Price lives inSonoma, California.[1] He is married and has three children.[1]
In the summer of 2020, Price contributed to the political campaign of Arizona SenatorKyrsten Sinema, who had promised to oppose any tax increases on either corporate or personal rates, by giving Sinema a week-long paid internship at his Sonoma, California winery, and by hosting a fundraiser at the winery that benefitted her campaign committee and a leadershipPAC for fellow congressional moderates.[11][12]