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Brad Chernin advises a broad range of public and private companies and entrepreneurs with respect to mergers and acquisitions, venture capital investments, strategic investments, joint ventures, licensing and general corporate matters. His clients include internet, social networking, digital media, financial technology, software and SaaS, online gaming, life sciences and clean technology companies.
Mr. Chernin has a particular interest in corporate acquisitions involving SaaS, gaming, digital media and technology. Prior to attending law school, Mr. Chernin taught middle school students in New York City through the Teach for America program.
- Tencent Holdings Limited in connection with its acquisition of a controlling stake in Supercell for $8.4 billion.
- Microsoft in various strategic transactions, including:
- its $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia’s Devices and Services Business;
- its $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype;
- its patent monetization transaction with Nokia and Core Wireless involving 2000+ wireless patents;
- its $1.1 billion acquisition of 800 patents from AOL, and its $550 million sale to Facebook of the rights to acquire a portion of the AOL portfolio; and
- in advising on various licensing issues surrounding mobile application marketplaces.
- Tencent Holdings Limited in connection with its acquisition of Riot Games as well as in multiple minority strategic investments.
- A Medium Corporation (medium.com) in connection with its acquisitions of Superfeedr and Embed.ly, in multiple rounds of venture financing and other corporate matters.
- Prosper Marketplace, Inc., in its acquisitions of American Healthcare Lending and Billguard., in multiple rounds of venture financing worth over $70 million and other corporate matters.
- A Fortune 100 company in connection with numerous acquisitions of privately held software companies.
- Samsung Electronics Corporation in connection with its acquisition of PrinterOn.
- Sanofi in connection with the Onduo joint venture with Verily Life Sciences (formerly Google Life Sciences) regarding high-tech devices to improve diabetes care.
- JD.Com in connection with its investment in and joint venture with ZestFinance, Inc.
- Salesforce.com in connection with multiple minority strategic investments.
- Illumina in connection with the Helix joint venture with Warburg Pincus and Sutter Hill Ventures regarding a custom genomics program.
- Sanofi-Genzyme BioVentures and its affiliates in investments in several venture-backed biotech companies, including Edimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Immune Design Corp. and Ultragenyx.
- Sanofi in its purchase of a medical diagnostics and device manufacturer through bankruptcy proceedings.
- TrioMed Innovations (formerly BioStar Innovations, Inc.) in its acquisition of Safe Life Corp.
- BBVA in connection with multiple minority strategic investments.
- Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation in its role as lead investor in Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc.’s Series B financing.
- MedImmune Ventures in its role as lead investor in G1 Therapeutics’ Series A financing.
- Solazyme in a collaborative research, development and license agreement.
- Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in connection with various manufacturing development and supply arrangements.
- Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in connection with various clinical and other related services agreements.
Pro Bono
- Camp Phoenix, an organization that empowers low-income children to overcome the summer learning gap through joyful academic learning, enrichment, and community building, in connection with its tax-exempt status and employment matters.
- Accountability Counsel, an organization that assists communities to defend their human and environmental rights through complaints to the accountability offices tied to projects that cause harm, in connection with its general corporate matters.
Previous Experience
- Teach for America, Special Education Teacher (2004-2006)
November 1, 2018
NEW YORK—Covington advised Illumina, Inc. in its announced $1.2 billion acquisition of Pacific Biosciences. Illumina is a leading developer, manufacturer, and marketer of life science tools and integrated systems for large-scale analysis of genetic variation and function, and the company’s products are used for applications in life sciences, oncology, ...
October 3, 2018, Covington Alert
On September 30, 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 826 into law making California the first state to require corporations to include women on their boards of directors.
Law360 Names Attys Who Moved Up The Firm Ranks In Q4
January 30, 2018, Law360
Law360 highlights the promotion of Covington's newest partners, including John Balzano, Lindsay Burke, Bradley Chernin, Christopher DeCresce, Guy Dingley, Matthew Dunn, Laura Flahive Wu, Pamela Forrest, Alexa Hansen, Megan Keane, Sam Pyun, Kyle Rabe, Ansgar Simon, Andrew Soukup, Emily Ullman, and Mark Young.
December 26, 2017
SILICON VALLEY—The Financial Times has recognized Covington among the most innovative firms in 2017 in the category of "Enabling Business Growth," for advising "Tencent in its acquisition of a $8.6bn majority stake in Supercell, the Finnish gaming company, while maintaining Supercell’s creative culture and retaining its employees by introducing incentive ...
Covington Promotes 16 New Partners
October 2, 2017
WASHINGTON—Covington has promoted 16 lawyers to its partnership. “It’s a great tribute to the firm’s vibrancy that we’re continuing to build an exceptional pipeline of new partners from within our ranks,” said Timothy Hester, Covington’s chair. “We’re confident that all 16 will add importantly to the firm’s strengths and will drive further expansion of core ...
Covington Represents Tencent in $8.6 Billion Acquisition
June 21, 2016
SILICON VALLEY—Covington advised Tencent Holdings Limited, a leading provider of internet service in China, in connection with its acquisition of a majority stake in Supercell from SoftBank. A consortium established by Tencent will acquire up to 84% of Supercell for $8.6 billion in a transaction valuing Supercell at approximately $10.2 billion. Supercell is a ...
October 8, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC, October 8, 2015 — Covington advised Prosper Marketplace, a leading online marketplace that connects borrowers and investors, in its acquisition of BillGuard, a personal finance analytics company. The financial terms of the deal were not announced. According to the company’s press release, the acquisition will enable Prosper Marketplace to offer ...
April 13, 2015
SAN FRANCISCO, April 13, 2015 — Covington advised Prosper Marketplace, Inc. in its $165 million Series D financing. This round was led by Credit Suisse NEXT Investors, part of Credit Suisse Asset Management, and included J.P. Morgan Asset Management, SunTrust Banks, a subsidiary of USAA, BBVA Ventures (BBVA’s representative office in San Francisco), Neuberger ...
Covington Advises Samsung in PrinterOn Acquisition
September 19, 2014
REDWOOD SHORES, CA, September 19, 2014 — Covington & Burling advised Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. in its acquisition of Canadian cloud-printing firm PrinterOn. The acquisition is expected to enhance Samsung’s mobile cloud services to the business-to-business market. Under the terms of the agreement, Samsung purchased all outstanding stock from the current ...
August 8, 2014
SAN FRANCISCO, August 8, 2014 — Northern California Super Lawyers named Tammy Albarrán one of Northern California’s “Top 50 Women” lawyers and Robert Haslam one of the region’s “Top 100” lawyers. The publication selected 33 Covington & Burling lawyers for its 2014 list of top legal talent. Super Lawyers selects no more than five percent of the total lawyers who ...
5/7/2014
SAN FRANCISCO, May 7, 2014 — Covington & Burling advised Prosper Marketplace, Inc. in its $70 million Series C financing. The round was led by new investor Francisco Partners and also included Institutional Venture Partners and Phenomen Ventures. Covington advised on the structuring and execution of the transaction. Prosper Marketplace, headquartered in San ...
September 3, 2013
SAN FRANCISCO, September 3, 2013 — Covington & Burling is advising Microsoft Corp. in its purchase of substantially all of Nokia’s devices & services business. Under the transaction, Microsoft will also license Nokia’s patents, and license and use Nokia’s mapping services. The total transaction price is EUR 5.44 billion in cash — or more than $7 billion. The ...
April 23, 2012
SAN FRANCISCO, April 23, 2012 — Covington & Burling advised Microsoft Corp. in negotiating a definitive agreement with Facebook that assigns the social networking company the right to purchase a portion of a patent portfolio that Microsoft recently purchased from AOL Inc. Under the agreement, announced today, Facebook will pay $550 million in cash. Covington ...
November 2, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO, November 2, 2011 — Covington & Burling LLP represented Microsoft Corporation in the sale of its minority interest in ContentGuard Holdings, Inc. to Pendrell Technologies LLC. ContentGuard, based in El Segundo, Calif., is a leading inventor, developer and licensor of digital rights management (DRM) and related content distribution patents and ...
Covington Advises Microsoft in Standards-Essential Wireless Patents Portfolio Transaction with MOSAID and Nokia
September 2, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO, September 2, 2011 — Covington & Burling LLP represented Microsoft Corp. in a patent monetization transaction involving the acquisition by MOSAID Technologies Incorporated of Core Wireless Licensing S.a.r.l., a Luxembourg company that holds a portfolio of 400 patent families, consisting of approximately 2,000 wireless patents and patent ...
Covington Advises Prosper Marketplace in Funding Round
June 8, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO, June 8, 2011 — Prosper.com, a social lending marketplace that brings together creditworthy borrowers with individual and institutional investors, has raised over $17 million in funding from new investors, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Crosslink Capital. Covington & Burling LLP advised Prosper on the transaction. Existing investors, Accel Partners, ...
Covington Advises Microsoft in $8.5 Billion Skype Deal
May 10, 2011
WASHINGTON, SAN FRANCISCO, BRUSSELS, AND LONDON, May 10, 2011 —Covington & Burling LLP is advising Microsoft Corp. in its acquisition of Skype Global S.à.r.l., the leading Internet communications company, for $8.5 billion in cash. Microsoft’s purchase of Skype from the investor group led by Silver Lake is expected to increase the accessibility of real-time ...
- Northern California Super Lawyers, Mergers & Acquisitions and Business/Corporate "Rising Star" (2013-2016)