a silicon valley venture capital firm has emerged victorious from a three year high profile case accusing executives of gender discrimination reddit interim ceo ellen pao, 45, sued her former employer kleiner perkins caufield & byers for four counts of discrimination after she was fired in a case that prompted a broad discussion about gender bias in the tech industry, pao painted the firm as sexist, crude, and quarrelsome on friday, a jury of six men and six women rejected every claim after less than 72 hours of deliberation in san francisco superior court scroll down for video  lost: ellen pao (pictured after the verdict) sued her former employers for four counts of gender bias after she was fired the reddit ceo claimed her career crumbled at kleiner after ending an affair with a partner  a jury of six men and six women rejected all of pao's claims in san francisco superior court on friday  over the course of three years, pao told the court her career at the silicon valley firm crumbled after she ended a brief affair with partner ajit nazre, and was fired in 2012 when she complained pao, who is married to wall street financier alphonse fletcher jr, said he 'falsely told her that his wife had left him' and 'engaged in offensive, obstructionist, and difficult behavior' until she 'succumbed' two or three times after she ended the liaison, he started to 'retaliate', she claimed at one point, she said, nazre appeared at her colleague's hotel room on a business trip wearing nothing but a bathrobe, carrying a glass of wine, according to testimony the court heard ray lane, a former partner, said the woman, trae vassallo, should have been 'flattered' kleiner countered that it investigated nazre after vassallo complained, after which he quickly left the firm pao's first claim, tabled in 2007, also accused senior partner randy komisar of giving her a leonard cohen book, book of longing, filled with sexually explicit drawings and poems later, he asked her to dinner adding that 'his wife would be out of town' the case played out as silicon valley saw a steady decline in the number of female venture capitalists recent figures collected by babson college show six per cent of the venture capital is female, down from 10 per cent in 1999 with that backdrop, pao's lawyers described kleiner as a pressure cooker that was hostile toward women one of pao's mentors testified that subpar performance meant she was not promoted, rather than gender  the firm disputed those charges, presenting evidence that kleiner went out of its way to hire women during the case, the court heard one partner, chi hua chien, said women 'kill the buzz' as he argued only men should be invited to a dinner with al gore john doerr, once pao's direct boss, told investigators she had 'a female chip on her shoulder' and senior partner ted schlein rebuffed the feminist rallying call from facebook's coo sheryl sandberg that women 'deserve a seat at the table' he said: 'i really don’t think it was a very big deal to us who sits at a table or who does not' specifically, pao alleged that:  the jury ruled against pao on the first three claims but was sent back to deliberate the fourth due to an apparent miscount two hours later, they emerged in favor of kleiner perkins the court requires a minimum of 9 3 votes to come to a conclusion but initially, the verdict stated that four jurors supported pao's view that she was fired because she sued for gender discrimination on the pivotal claim that pao was fired for being female, ten jurors ruled gender was not a substantial factor they came to their conclusion after completing this question and answer document according to wall street journal reporter jeff elder, pao looked down and forced a smile as the judge revealed she had lost some witnesses, including pao's onetime mentor john doerr, testified that pao's lack of advancement stemmed from subpar performance, not discrimination or retaliation however, pao's attorneys argued she played a pivotal role in the investment in rpx and twitter pao testified for five days and faced questions from jurors such as whether it was 'professional to enter into an affair with a married partner?' 'going back i would not have done it again, but i didn't think it was inappropriate at the time,' pao said following the verdict on friday, pao released a statement via twitter in nine tweets, she wrote: 'thank you, world 'i have been inspired by the thousands of people who have reached out to me over the past three years with support 'i’ve heard from people in kazakhstan, bangladesh, australia, malaysia, france, argentina, norway, tanzania, finland, and beyond 'because of social media and live reports, the problem of gender discrimination in venture capital has received attention around the globe  'while today’s outcome is a disappointment, i take consolation in knowing that people really listened  'if we do not share our stories and shine a light on inequities, things will not change  'hopefully my case will inspire the venture capital industry to level the playing field for everyone, including women and minorities  'to support the entrepreneurs of tomorrow, we need to show leadership today 'and thank you to the team and board @reddit for standing by me'
ellen pao kleiner, perkins, caufield byers silicon valley pao $16 million kleiner perkins
ellen pao sued kleiner, perkins, caufield and byers for four counts of gender discrimination . three year case has sparked wide discussion about silicon valley sexism . on friday jury ruled in favor of the venture capital firm on every count . pao was seeking $16 million plus damages from the firm . after verdict, jurors were ordered to deliberate one of the counts again due to an apparent miscount they eventually voted against pao . gender was a factor when kleiner perkins failing to promote her and terminated her employment . kleiner perkins retaliated against her when she accused the firm of gender discrimination . kleiner perkins failed to take  reasonable steps to prevent gender bias against her . the firm retaliated against her lawsuit by terminating her employment 