July 17, 2024
Business entrepreneur James Michael Cline, who co-founded the online movie ticket/streaming platform Fandango in 1999, died July 16 after reportedly jumping from the 20th floor of the Kimberly Hotel in New York City. He was 64.
Cline, who was dubbed a “serial entrepreneur” for his numerous business ventures and tech start-ups, remained with Fandango until 2011, four years after the platform and website were acquired by Comcast. The media giant had hoped to meld the service into Fancast.com, an aborted online platform that sought help consumers search and manage their home entertainment across myriad devices, including the television, personal computers, packaged media and wireless services.
Fandango, which is co-owned by NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery, recently acquired the Vudu movie streaming platform from Walmart, and rebranded it Fandango at Home.
In addition to Fandango, Cline started R1 RCM, Accolade, Insureon, Everspring and Accumen, among others. Before founding Accretive, he was GM at General Atlantic. He received his BS from Cornell University and his MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar. He was chairman of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and served on the Harvard Business School Rock Center for Entrepreneurship.
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