Robert F. X. Sillerman

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Robert F X Sillerman (born New York in 1949) is a wealthy American businessman who made his fortune through building and selling companies in the media industry. Once on the Forbes 400 list, he also briefly owned the WLAF's New York/New Jersey Knights.^[1]

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Business 1.2 Southampton College 2 Personal life 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Biography

Sillerman grew up in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. He sold greeting cards door-to-door in middle school and dissatisfied with the margins set up his own corporation, buying in bulk and getting friends as a commissioned sales force.

After his father went bankrupt in the pioneering of Keystone Radio Network, Sillerman attended Brandeis University. By day he majored in political science, while by night in 1966 he launched Youth Market Consultants, offering fellow students discount magazine subscriptions while advising marketers on how to target the teen set. He sold the company in 1972 to Boston's Ingalls ad firm.^[2]

[edit] Business

In 1978 Sillerman and oldies deejay Bruce "Cousin Brucie" Morrow bought two radio stations in upstate New York for $1.875 million. They acquired additional radio and TV stations, powered by Sillerman's sales prowess and frat boy humour, including awarding gold sales pins with the letters SLS for "Sell Like Shit". The Sillerman Morrow group of stations eventually included WALL and WKGL in Middletown, New York; WJJB (now WCZX) in Hyde Park, New York; WHMP in Northhampton, Massachusetts; WOCN in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts; WRAN in Randolph, New Jersey; WPLR in New Haven, Connecticut; and television station WATL in Atlanta, Georgia.

In 1993 Sillerman agreed to a deal to buy out Morrow and formed a partnership with radio industry guru Steve Hicks to take several stations public under SFX Broadcasting. When the United States Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowed for ownership of multiple stations in single markets, they bought up enough stations to become the nation's seventh largest chain.

In 1996 Hicks left to become president of Capstar Broadcasting and with backing from his brother Tom at Texas buyout firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Hicks bought SFX Broadcasting 71 radio stations for $2.1 billion in 1998. The transaction netted Sillerman $250 million.

Sillerman used this cash to build SFX Entertainment (concert promotion, sports agencies) into Europe, making money on Broadway with "The Producers", and turning SFX Entertainment into the world’s largest producer, promoter and presenter of live entertainment ^[3]. He then sold the company to Clear Channel for $4.4 billion in 2000.

In addition, through Flag Luxury Properties LLC, Sillerman invested disastrously in a proposed resort/real estate development on the Caribbean Island of Anguilla, originally slated to be named the Temenos Anguilla, a St Regis resort, and incorporating a Greg Norman golf course to be opened in 2007. Way over budget and suffering quality problems, St Regis pulled out. Sillerman attempted to rebrand the project as a Baccarat Hotel but this also failed. In May 2009 Credit Suisse filed a request for summary judgement in New York State Supreme Court, alleging Sillerman had failed to pay the outstanding balance due under a credit agreement with Flag Luxury Properties LLC and that Sillerman has defaulted on a series of payments due since April 2008 totalling $21.4 million. The bank alleged subsequent payments due also remained unpaid and the outstanding principal due under the first lien credit agreement was $137.2 million. The project has now closed down and the golf course is inoperative. Purchasers of villas at the project have lost millions, damaging Sillerman's reputation for business acumen. In July 2009 in an interview with the New York Post Sillerman admitted failure, stating with reference to the Flag project: 'I think I have shown conclusively I'm not knowledgeable enough about the real estate business'.

His latest vehicle is CKX, Inc., which has already bought majority rights to Graceland, the Elvis Presley estate ^[4]; as well as the assets of Simon Fullers 19 Entertainment, whose assets include TV hit "American Idol".

[edit] Southampton College

From 1993 Sillerman served as the Chancellor of the Southampton College of Long Island University, replacing Angier Biddle Duke. Sillerman took the job on two conditions: that the college scrap ill defined liberal arts programs and focus on marine science and creative writing and that he be allowed to handle publicity. In that spirit, he named Kermit the Frog as the 1996 commencement speaker: 31 newspapers picked up the story, a free marketing bonanza that raised the college's profile and drew hundreds of new admissions. However, after cessation of an agreed capital investment plan by Long Island University, the school closed its doors in May 2005.

[edit] Personal life

Married to copywriter Laura Baudo, whom he met when she came to pitch her musical card to him in college,^[2] Sillerman and his wife have one child. The couple live on a 15-acre (61,000 m²) beachside estate in Southampton, Suffolk County, New York; and have a resort in Anguilla. When they celebrated their 25th anniversary in February 1999, Sillerman rented Irving Plaza and headline act Willie Nelson, and presented Laura with $100 million to launch the Tomorrow Foundation, a charity to be run by her.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Bio in the 2005 Forbes 400, in which he was Number 375
• Bio at CKX
• New York Metro interview while building SFX Entertainment