Booker prize to now be sponsored by Silicon Valley billionaire Michael Moritz

Nearly a month after the Man Group declared that it had ended its 18-year long sponsorship for the Booker prize, author Michael Moritz and his wife Harriet Heyman’s charitable foundation has been announced as the new backer for the prestigious award for literary fiction, the Guardian reported.

Following the end of its sponsorship term, the report quoted chief executive of the Man Group, Luke Ellis as saying that while it had been a privilege to sponsor the Booker, “following a careful review of our funding initiatives” it would be focusing its resources elsewhere.

Moritz, a venture capitalist, and his wife’s organisation, Crankstart, has entered into an initial five-year exclusive funding term with an option to renew it for another five years. After 18 years of being referred to as the Man Booker Prize, the award will now once again be recognised as the Booker prize from 1 June, when the Man Group’s sponsorship ends.

According to a report in the BBC Moritz said about the prize , “Just like The Booker, I was born in Britain and before coming to America was reared on English literature. Harriet and I feel fortunate to be able to support prizes that together celebrate the best fiction in the world.”

The Booker Prize Foundation stated that the winner’s purse of £50,000 or its decision to include any English-language novel published in the United Kingdom will remain constant. Furthermore, the prize for literature in translation will be known as the International Booker Prize starting June and will be awarded its dedicated sum of £25,000 to the winning author and translator, each.

The Silicon Valley billionaire and writer Heyman had established Crankstart in 2000. Moritz, who was born in Wales and attended Oxford University and Wharton School had previously worked as a journalist for Time magazine. Among his literary works includes one of the first biographies of Apple and its co-founder, Steve Jobs, titled The Little Kingdom. He turned to technology investment soon after and has been a partner at Sequoia Capital since 1986.

The change in funding for the Booker comes at a time when several literary awards including the Women’s prize for fiction, previously sponsored by Orange, Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction, previously the Samuel Johnson prize, and the Folio prize have witnessed substantial upheaval in sponsorship and funding.