John Doerr Said that Not Investing in Tesla Was 'probably the worst investment decision of all time'

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Not investing in Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) was “probably the worst investment decision of all time,” said investor and venture capitalist John Doerr. He admitted that he missed the opportunity to invest in Tesla in 2007, choosing to invest in its competitor, which later went bankrupt.

The billionaire investor, who in February 2009 was appointed a member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide the President and his administration with advice and counsel in trying to fix America's economic downturn, John Doerr, told Bloomberg that he missed the opportunity to invest in Tesla in 2007. It became one of his biggest regrets, he admitted.

“The conventional wisdom was that venture capitalists thought not to invest in electric vehicle companies and not new car companies at all,” Doerr told Bloomberg Television. “We had the choice of backing a brilliant car designer by the name of Henrik Fisker or an ambitious, slightly crazy entrepreneur by the name of Elon Musk with Tesla and we made the wrong decision,” he added.

In 2008, Kleiner Perkins invested over $10 million in Fisker Automotive, which filed for bankruptcy about five years later. In 2007, Tesla was going through difficult times, but after Elon Musk became CEO in 2008, the company began to develop much more actively and more purposefully. Today, Tesla's market capitalization is estimated at nearly $1 trillion.

“That's probably the worst investment decision of all time,” Doerr said on “Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein.” “I don't obsess on these [regrets], but I won't ever forget,” the billionaire added.

H/T @SawyerMerritt/Twitter

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