Fandango founder dies in fall from Manhattan skyscraper

J. Michael Cline, the co-founder of Fandango and multiple other startups over his multi-decade career, died after falling from a Manhattan hotel, New York’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information tells TechCrunch.

The New York Police Department responded to 911 calls from the Kimberly Hotel, a 30-story hotel on 50th street in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday morning. Upon arrival, “officers found an unconscious and unresponsive male with injuries indicative of a fall from an elevated position,” the Deputy Commissioner said in a statement emailed to TechCrunch. Cline fell from the 20th story of the hotel, according to The New York Times. Emergency medical services responded and pronounced the individual dead shortly after arrival, and an investigation remains ongoing. Police later identified the individual as James Michael Cline, 64-year-old resident of Palm Beach, Florida.

Cline co-founded Fandango, the popular online ticketing company that revolutionized how Americans purchased movie tickets, alongside his chief operating officer Art Levitt in 1999, according to his LinkedIn page.

After a decade-long battle with MovieTickets.com during the 2000s, Fandango emerged as the winner of the online movie ticketing space. Cline pioneered a digital empire by selling movie tickets online, charging processing fees and selling online ads to turn a profit. Fandango removed the need for people to wait in long lines at box offices, and paved the way for the $37 billion online ticketing industry.

He left the company in 2011, roughly four years after the company was acquired by Comcast. Some early investors in the online ticketing service were General Atlantic and TCV.

Cline was also managing partner of Accretive, a venture capital firm he founded in 1999. He built startups throughout his career, including R1 RCM, Accumen, Accolade, Everspring, Dresr and Insureon. Starting in 2018, Cline served as the executive chairman at the venture firm Juxtapose, which invests in technology businesses. During his time there, Cline enjoyed investing in healthcare companies, according to his staff page. Some of Juxtapose’s portfolio companies include Tend, Nectar and Great Jones.

Accretive, Juxtapose and Fandango did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.