Sam Zell Popular Books

Sam Zell Biography & Facts

Samuel Zell (born Shmuel Zielonka; September 28, 1941 – May 18, 2023) was an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist primarily engaged in real estate investment. Companies founded by or controlled by Zell include Equity Residential, Equity International, EQ Office, Covanta, Tribune Media, and Anixter. Biography Early life and education Zell was born on September 28, 1941, in Chicago. His parents, Ruchla, later Rochelle, and Berek, later Bernard, Zielonka, were Jews who immigrated from Poland four months before his birth to escape the Invasion of Poland by the Nazis. In Poland, his father was a grain trader. They immigrated to the United States with their young daughter, Leah, via Russia and Tokyo, pretending to be tourists at the Bolshoi Ballet so as not to stand out. They then moved from Seattle to Albany Park, Chicago, where his father became a wholesale jeweler who also made successful investments in real estate and the stock market. In eighth grade, Zell took pictures at his prom and sold them. He later bought Playboy magazines in downtown Chicago and resold them to his classmates in Hebrew school for a 200% markup. When he was twelve, the family moved to Highland Park, Illinois, where he graduated from Highland Park High School. In 1963, Zell graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan, where he was also a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.While in school, Zell managed a 15-unit apartment building in return for free room and board. By the time of his graduation, he was managing several properties and was netting $150,000. Joined by his fraternity brother Robert H. Lurie, he won a contract with a large apartment development owner in Ann Arbor. In 1966, he graduated with a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. By that time, he and Lurie were managing over 4,000 apartments and owned 100–200 units outright. After school, he sold his interest in the management company to Lurie and moved to Chicago. Real estate investments After graduation, Zell worked as a lawyer for one week before deciding that the legal profession was not for him. With funding from one of the senior partners, Zell purchased a 99-unit apartment building in Toledo. In 1967, he purchased a profitable apartment complex in Reno, Nevada, later spending a lot of time in Reno, calling it a "hidden gem" from a real estate investment perspective. In 1969, he was introduced to Jay Pritzker, who provided him with funding. He acquired Arlington Towers, then the tallest building in Reno, for $9 million. To convince the owners to sell, Zell's brother-in-law conceived offshore transactions, the legality of which was described as "murky", to shield the sellers from tax liability; Zell reached a deal with the Internal Revenue Service to avoid prosecution in exchange for his testimony while Zell's brother-in-law served 2 years of jail time.In 1968, Zell founded the predecessor of Equity Residential and was joined a year later by his former partner, Robert H. Lurie. Lurie died of cancer in 1990 at age 48. During the 1973–1975 recession, Zell was able to acquire many bankrupt properties for almost nothing as lenders did not want to foreclose and Zell provided financial plans that would enable the lenders to be repaid. During the early 1990s recession, Zell had personally guaranteed $600 million in loans and was working 80 hour weeks to resolve them. He then pursued taking in more investors to spread the risk. In August 1993, after acquiring a large portfolio from Barry Sternlicht in exchange for a 20% stake in the company, the company became a public company via an initial public offering. At that time, the company owned 22,000 apartments.In 1976, Zell founded the predecessor to EQ Office to invest in office buildings. In 1988, he co-founded the first of four Zell/Merrill Lynch Real Estate Opportunity Partners Funds; these were consolidated into EQ Office in 1997. In 2006, The Blackstone Group acquired the company for $36 billion in the largest leveraged buyout in history at the time, then selling off the portfolio in pieces; both Zell and Blackstone had impeccable timing, selling just before the 2007–2008 financial crisis.In 1984, Zell founded Equity Lifestyle Properties. It owns more than 400 trailer parks or mobile home parks. Distressed investments In 1985, Zell acquired Itel Corporation, a diversified transportation and logistics company, shortly after it emerged from bankruptcy. In 1986, he acquired Anixter, remaining in charge until it was sold in 2020. In 2004, he acquired Covanta via a 363 bankruptcy sale process. Zell/Chilmark In 1991, in partnership with Chilmark Partners, Zell co-founded Zell/Chilmark, a $1 billion investment fund, to invest in distressed securities. That year, it acquired $550 million in junk bonds and vendor claims against Carter Hawley stores, the parent of Broadway Stores, eventually taking control; it was sold to Federated Stores (now Macy's, Inc.) in 1995. In 1992, the fund invested $250 million in drugstore Revco, then in bankruptcy; it received $363.8 million for its stake when Rite Aid acquired the brand in 1995. In 1992, it acquired an interest in Jacor, a radio broadcast group that included a television station, which was sold to Clear Channel Communications in 1999. It acquired Schwinn Bicycle Company from bankruptcy for $60 million in 1993; it was sold for $86 million in 1997. It acquired energy company Santa Fe Energy Resources in 1993. It also acquired mattress company Sealy Corporation. In 1994, it infused $25 million into Midway Airlines for a 90% stake. Tribune In December 2007, in a leveraged buyout, Zell acquired control of Tribune Media, owner of the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, Newsday, The Hartford Courant, and other newspapers as well as Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field. For the $8.2 billion acquisition, Zell only invested $315 million of his own money, all in the form of debt.In a decision sharply criticized by the employees, Zell immediately put Randy Michaels, a former radio executive and disc jockey with no newspaper experience, in charge. Michaels allegedly created a hostile workplace and culture promoting sexual harassment and debasement, with executives openly discussing the "sexual suitability" of employees in the office. He also oversaw 4,200 layoffs while giving large bonuses to the executives and hosting lavish beer-and-poker parties in the office of former publisher Robert R. McCormick, long considered a shrine. Michaels resigned in October 2010.In December 2008, less than a year after Zell acquired the company, due to the increased debt and the effects of the Great Recession, the company filed the largest bankruptcy in the history of the American media industry, listing $7.6 billion in assets against a debt of $13 billion.In January 2009, as part of the bankruptcy reorganization, Zell sold the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field, and the 25% interest in Comcast SportsNet Chicago to Joe Ricketts and .... Discover the Sam Zell popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Sam Zell books.