Foursquare cofounder says acquisition gave $0 to equity holders, leaving him 'heartbroken'

Foursquare cofounder Dennis Crowley wrote that "watching the company slowly decay has been a grind on my soul." Bloomberg/Getty Images Foursquare cofounder Dennis Crowley said the company's acquisition paid $0 to equity holders.

"I am sorry the Foursquare story ended in such a way," he wrote to employees.

Crowley said the company decayed after a private equity investment.

Foursquare's acquisition left its cofounder sad and angry.

Dennis Crowley helped launch the location technology company in 2009.

Seventeen years later, Foursquare was acquired by Infillion.

Crowley wrote on Substack that one point of the acquisition left him "heartbroken." Foursquare's acquisition earned equity holders exactly $0, Crowley wrote, with no money offered for preferred or common stock.

"To our ~1600 former employees over 17 years, I am sorry the Foursquare story ended in such a way that makes it seem like our collective efforts were worth… nothing?" Crowley wrote.

Crowley left the CEO role in 2016, though he continued to lead Foursquare's research and development lab through 2021.

After that, Crowley kept a seat on the board.

Foursquare raised capital from The Raine Group , a private equity firm, in 2019.

Less than two years later, Gary Little became CEO.

Little was one of The Raine Group's managing directors.

"Leadership was unable to preserve the value it inherited or create new value during those six years," Crowley wrote.