Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Philip Anschutz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Philip Anschutz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Philip Anschutz

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Philip Frederick Anschutz (pronounced ANN-shoots, born 28 December 1939 in Russell, Kansas) is an American entrepreneur. Anschutz bought out his father's drilling company in 1961, and earned large returns in Wyoming.[1] He then diversified his portfolio by investing in stocks, real estate, and railroads. He then began investing in entertainment companies, co-founding Major League Soccer as well as multiple teams, including the LA Galaxy, Chicago Fire, Houston Dynamo, San Jose Earthquakes, New York / New Jersey Metro Stars, and the Kansas City Wizards. In addition, Anschutz owns stakes in the LA Lakers, LA Kings, and venues including the Staples Center, The O2 Arena (London), and the Home Depot Center. Anschutz also invests in family films such as The Chronicles of Narnia. Forbes ranks him the 123rd richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $6 billion as of March 2010.[2]

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[edit]Early years

Anschutz's father was a land investor who invested in ranches in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, and eventually went into the oil-drilling business. Anschutz's grandfather, Karl Anschütz (born November 10, 1859, in the largely German region of Samara), emigrated from Russia and started the Farmers State Bank in Russell, Kansas. Anschutz grew up in Hays, Kansas, with part of the family located inWisconsin (the location of his father's oil-exploration business, Circle A Drilling, where he lived near Bob Dole). In later years, Anschutz contributed to Dole's political campaigns. He graduated fromWichita High School East in 1957, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Kansas in 1961, where he was also a brother of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.[3]
A member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, he is a conservative Christian. He and his wife, whom he met when he was 16, have three children. It has been reported that he owns an extensive collection of western art. It includes George Catlin's 1832 Bull Dance, George Inness's 1856 Afterglow on the Prairie, and important works by Georgia O'Keeffe, Frederic Remington, Fritz Scholder, andCharles Marion Russell.
Mr. Anschutz was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2002.[4]

[edit]Land ownership

In 1970 he bought the 250,000-acre (1,000 km²) Baughman Farms, one of the country's largest farming corporations, in Liberal, Kansas for $10 million. The following year, he acquired 9 million acres (36,000 km²) along the Utah-Wyoming border. This produced his first fortune in the oil business.[citation needed] In the early 1980s, the Anschutz Ranch, with its 1 billion barrel (160,000,000 m³) oil pocket, became the largest oil field discovery in the United States since Prudhoe Bay in Alaska in 1968. He sold a half-interest in it to Mobil Oil for $500 million in 1982.
For several years Anschutz was Colorado's sole billionaire. With his acquisition of land in other Western states, he is thought to own more farm and cattle land than any other single private citizen in the United States.[5]
He then moved into railroads and telecommunications before venturing into the entertainment industry. In 1999, Fortune magazine compared him to the nineteenth-century tycoon J.P. Morgan, as both men "struck it rich in a fundamentally different way: they operated across an astounding array of industries, mastering and reshaping entire economic landscapes."

[edit]Rail and petroleum businesses

In 1984 he entered the railroad business by purchasing the Rio Grande Railroad's holding company, Rio Grande Industries. Four years later, in 1988, the Rio Grande railroad purchased the Southern Pacific Railroad under his direction. With the merger of the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific Corporation in September 1996, Anschutz became Vice-Chairman of Union Pacific. Prior to the merger, he was a Director of Southern Pacific from June 1988 to September 1996, and Non-Executive Chairman of Southern Pacific from 1993 to September 1996. He was also a Director of Forest Oil Corporation, beginning in 1995. In November 1993 he became Director and Chairman of the Board of Qwest, stepping down as a nonexecutive co-chairman in 2002, but remaining on the board. He has also been a Director for Pacific Energy Partners and served on the boards of the American Petroleum Institute, in Washington, D.C. and the National Petroleum Council in Washington, D.C.
In May 2001, the Bush administration upheld Anschutz's right to drill an exploratory oil well at Weatherman Draw, in south-central Montana where Native American tribes wanted to preserve sacred rock drawings. Environmental groups, preservationists, and 10 Indian tribes had appealed the decision without success. In April 2002, the Anschutz Exploration Corporation gave up its plans to drill for oil in the area. They donated its leases for oil and gas rights to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which has pledged to let the leases expire, and the Bureau of Land Management said it had no plans to permit further leases there, and would consider formal withdrawal of the 4,268 acre (17 km²) site from mineral leasing in its 2004 management plan.
In May 2003 New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer reached a settlement with Phil Anschutz after he was found guilty of accepting IPO shares from Salomon Smith Barney in exchange for his firm, Qwest's, investment banking business. He was given $4.4 million penalty. According to the New York Daily News, Anschutz made payments of $100,000 to the New York branches of 32 nonprofits and $200,000 each to six law schools as a penalty.[6] The payment was roughly equal to his profit from the practice of IPO "spinning".
In February 2006, the Denver Rocky Mountain News reported that Anschutz would not stand for re-election to the boards of Qwest and Union Pacific, and would resign from the board of Regal Entertainment Group, so that he could focus on his other investments.[7]
On June 24, 2008, it was announced that Anschutz would buy Xanterra Parks and Resorts, which had purchased the Grand Canyon Railway in 2007. [8]

[edit]Anschutz Entertainment Group

[edit]Arenas

Anschutz's investment in the Millennium Dome in London, (through his company Anschutz Entertainment Group now The O2) has resulted in his involvement in controversy related to the possible influence of former British Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott in the award of the "super casino" license by the British government. Anschutz knows Prescott personally, having had him as a guest for a two-night stay at Anschutz's ranch in 2005 and footing the bill for hospitality and gifts.[9]
In January 2007, the "Super Casino" license was awarded to a group in Manchester, rather than to Blackpool or London.[10] Anschutz spent £50m on the MEN arena and the winner of the casino licence is a close ally of Anshutz, Sol Kerzner. [11] [12]

[edit]AEG & Michael Jackson at the O2 Arena

Anschutz's company, AEG, had booked Michael Jackson to perform at O2 Arena in 2009/2010. After Jackson's death, AEG offered to provide "souvenir" tickets to fans of the singer who waived refunds of the ticket price, although refunds of the approximately 750,000 tickets sold at £55-£75 each are available to customers that request them.[13] AEG also controls the rights to any material that forms a part of the "This Is It" concerts.[14]

[edit]Sports Ventures

[edit]Soccer

Anschutz was one of the co-founders and one of the lead investors of Major League Soccer. In 1996, through AEG, he became the investor/operator of the Colorado Rapids. Since 1996, AEG has held ownership in Chicago Fire, San Jose Earthquakes, New York/New Jersey MetroStars and D.C. United.[15] Currently, AEG is the investor/operator of both the Los Angeles Galaxy and Houston Dynamo(25% of Houston Dynamo is now owned by Oscar de la Hoya through Golden Boy Promotions).[16]
Anschutz was inducted in to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2006. Also in 2006, Anschutz received the National Soccer Medal of Honor, one of four recipients to ever receive the award.[15] In 2007, Anschutz and AEG played a vital role in bringing David Beckham to the United States. Beckham is now employed by Galaxy Media and plays for Los Angeles Galaxy.[17] In 2009, he joined USA Bid Committee Board of Directors who are preparing the US's application and campaign to bring the World Cup to the United States.
AEG also owns the NHL's Los Angeles Kings[17]; the AHL's Manchester Monarchs; the ECHL's Reading Royals and Ontario Reign; the Swedish soccer team Hammarby IF, Swedish hockey teamDjurgårdens IF; and the German ice hockey teams Hamburg Freezers and Eisbären Berlin;

[edit]Golf

In July 2010, it was announced that Xanterra Parks & Resorts, Inc. had entered into an agreement to purchase the Kingsmill Resort near Williamsburg, Virginia. [18] In 1968, Xanterra became the successor to the Fred Harvey Company initially established by entrepreneur Fred Harvey beginning in 1875. [19] One of Xanterra's more famous locations is located at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Xanterra (owned by Anschutz since 2008) has traditionally operated in national and state parks across the United States, especially in the Western regions. Other high profile operations includeYellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. [20] As of 2010, Xanterra was operating about three dozen hotels and lodges with more than 5,000 guest rooms combined, with over 8,000 employees. [21]
Beginning in the early 1970s, the Kingsmill Resort was developed by Anheuser-Busch (A-B) as a portion of the brewing company's development of diversified activities in the Williamsburg area, which grew to include not only the brewery, but the the Busch Gardens Williamsburg theme park, and large upscale developments of residential and office park properties. The St. Louis-based brewer invested in the area following negotiations held between August Busch, II and Winthrop Rockefeller, a son of Colonial Williamsburg's initial chief mentor, John D. Rockefeller, Jr.. Winthrop Rockefeller had been serving as both governor of Arkansas and chairman of Colonial Williamsburg in the 1960s and 1970s. (Water Country USA, a local water park, was acquired by A-B in the 1990s, and added to the company's theme park activities, which include a number of Sea World properties in other states as well).
Both Winthrop Rockefeller, who died in 1973, and August Busch II, who died in 1989 have been credited by some historians with helping develop the Greater Williamsburg area into one of the top tourism destinations in the world. They apparently felt that augmenting the attractions of the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia (Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, and Yorktown) with other attractions which would help draw future families to the region, as well as help balance out the local economy. Since their respective deaths, other family members of both the Rockefeller and Busch families have carried on much of those priorities, although as a brewer, A-B found itself increasingly in tough competition in an increasingly global market.
In 2009, after initially resisting an unsolicited stock bid, A-B announced it had reached an agreement to be acquired by the even larger Belgium-based InBev, the world's largest brewing company. The newer owners announced plans to sell-off the portions of A-B activities which were not part of the core beverage business as it worked to reduce debt incurred to fund the acquisition.
As A-B had been a major employer and strong community supporter for many years, there was widespread speculation and more than a little apprehension about who might ultimately acquire and control the theme parks, the resort, and other Busch developments in the region. Since then, the Blackstone Group acquired the company's 10 theme parks, including two near Williamsburg. [22] Many leaders and citizens of Williamsburg, as well as James City County and York County have expressed both relief and optimism at the selections of Blackstone and Xanterra to operate the theme parks and resort respectively. [23]
The world-renowned Kingsmill Resort has 425 rooms, five restaurants, 17,000 square feet of conference space, a spa and fitness center, marina, and 15-court tennis center. Three championship golf courses and an executive nine-hole course surround the resort. The location has hosted the LPGA and other premier golf events, as well as perennially hosting political conferences, such as national governors conferences and congressional caucuses. [24]
In an apparently unrelated matter, it has also been reported by newsmedia sources that Anschutz is currently in negotiations to buy the Silverado Golf Resort in Napa, California.

[edit]Other

Anschutz Entertainment Group also owns the Tour of California bicycling race.

[edit]Film

When filmmakers made a movie about Red Adair in 1967, Anschutz struck a deal with Universal Pictures to permit filming real fire fighters extinguishing a real oil blaze on his land for a $100,000 fee. The footage was used in the 1968 John Wayne movie Hellfighters.
Anschutz Film Group (formerly Crusader Entertainment, now known as Bristol Bay Productions and Walden Media). Involved in the production of the movie Atlas Shrugged, and Holes in 2003 and the commercially successful The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in 2005.

[edit]Other Business Ventures

  • Forest Oil
  • Pacific Energy Group
  • 17% stake in Qwest Communications, which became a Baby Bell upon the purchase of US West
  • Regal Entertainment Group, the largest movie theater chain in the world, with approximately 6,000 screens. Anschutz owns more than half of the company, which is a collection of former bankrupt chains.
  • Union Pacific Railroad (Anschutz is the company's largest shareholder, with a 6% stake.)
  • Clarity Media Group, a Denver-based Publishing Group which includes:[25]
  • The Oil & Gas Asset Clearinghouse, which is an auction company designed for the Oil & Gas Business
  • NRC Broadcasting, which owns a string of radio stations in Colorado.
  • The Anschutz Investment Company purchased LightEdge Solutions in February 2008. LightEdge is a business-to-business hosted services provider focused on Wide-Area-Networking, Voice-over-IP, Hosted Microsoft applications (Exchange, OCS, SharePoint), hosted servers/storage collocation cage and rackspace and Business Continuity Services. LightEdge Solutions
  • On June 17, 2009, The Washington Examiner confirmed that the Examiner's parent company Clarity Media Group has purchased the Weekly Standard.[27]

[edit]Political and Christian activism

Often identified as "Christian billionaire Phil Anschutz"[28], he is a Republican donor who supported George W. Bush's administration. He has been an active patron of a number of religious andconservative causes:

[edit]External links

[edit]References

  1. ^ http://billionaires.forbes.com/topic/Philip_Anschutz
  2. ^ Forbes topic page on Philip Anschutz. Accessed March 2010
  3. ^ Contemporary Honors Award Recipient Philip Anschutz, Kansas Business Hall of Fame, February 2000
  4. ^ Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame
  5. ^ CNN. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1999/09/06/265307/index.htm. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  6. ^ https://www.nydailynews.com/archives/money/2003/05/15/2003-05-15_4_4m_to_charities__spitzer_h.html
  7. ^ Rocky Mountain News : Denver News, Business, Homes, Jobs, Cars, & Information
  8. ^ Whitehurst, Patrick (2008-06-24). "New ownership for Xanterra, GC Railway". Williams News. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  9. ^ Philip, Sherwell (2006-10-07). "Prescott discussed entertainment complex at dinner with tycoon". London: Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-12-10
  10. ^ The REAL winner at the supercasino, Daily Mail, Jan 30, 2007
  11. ^ New owner for MEN Arena - News - Manchester Evening News
  12. ^ The REAL winner at the supercasino | the Daily Mail
  13. ^ "Tickets offered to Jackson fans". BBC News. June 30, 2009. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  14. ^ "Promoter discusses concert losses". BBC News. July 3, 2009. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  15. ^ a b http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Federation-Services/2009/08/MLS-Founding-Investor-Philip-Anschutz-Joins-Team-to-Bring-FIFA-World-Cup-to-United-States.aspx
  16. ^ http://www.mlsnet.com/about/
  17. ^ a b http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/10/billionaires-2009-richest-people_Philip-_DSAK.html
  18. ^ http://www.vagazette.com/articles/2010/07/14/news/doc4c3d000641d57625821183.txt
  19. ^ http://www.xanterra.com/our-fred-harvey-legacy-326.html
  20. ^ http://www.dailypress.com/news/williamsburg/dp-nws-kingsmill-sold-20100712,0,6001852.story
  21. ^ http://www.xanterra.com/
  22. ^ http://www.dailypress.com/news/williamsburg/dp-nws-kingsmill-sold-20100712,0,6001852.story
  23. ^ http://www.vagazette.com/articles/2010/06/21/news//doc4c0ed130c7d89636312497.txt
  24. ^ http://www.vagazette.com/articles/2010/07/14/news/doc4c3d000641d57625821183.txt
  25. ^ Clarity
  26. ^ Corcoran, Michael. The Weekly Standard’s War: Murdoch sells the magazine that sold the Iraq invasion. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. September 2009.
  27. ^ Weekly Standard sold to Washington Examiner parent company Washington Examiner
  28. ^ A billionaire and his dog, Jewish World Review, February 11, 2005.
  29. ^ Andrew, Buncome (2006-08-07). "Philip Anschutz: The Westerner". London: independent.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-03-31
  30. ^ a b Citizen Anschutz How the conservative Christian head of Regal Cinemas is trying to change how you see movies. Justin Clark. March 23, 2006 Nerve.com
  31. ^ Weekly Standard acquired by Washington Examiner parent company, Washington Examiner, June 17, 2009.
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