Ion Țiriac
Ion Ţiriac (born 9 May 1939 in Braşov) is a Romanian former tennis player and businessman. He is now one of the wealthiest men in Romania according to the 2005 number of Capital Top 300 wealthiest men in Romania where he occupies the top spot.
Sports career
Ţiriac first appeared on the international sports scene as an ice hockey player on the Romanian national team at the 1964 Winter Olympics. Shortly after that, he switched to tennis as his main sport. With fellow Romanian Ilie Năstase he won the men's doubles in the 1970 French Open and reached the Davis Cup finals several times in the 1970s[1].
In 1983, he became a tennis manager; above all, he managed Boris Becker from 1984 to 1993. In 1998 he became president of the Romanian National Olympic Committee.
Ţiriac has held the licence for the "BCR Open Romania" tennis tournament since 1996. The 10th annual tournament (September 2005) offered €302,000 in prizes. Florent Serra won the Trophy, and a check worth €44,100.
Business career
After his retirement as a professional tennis player, Ţiriac became a businessman in Germany.
Following the collapse of communism in Romania, he started numerous businesses and investments back home. In 1990, he founded Banca Ţiriac, the first private bank in post-Communist Romania. Between that and several other enterprises (retail, insurance, auto leasing, auto dealerships, airlines, etc...), his fortune was estimated at over USD $900 million as of 2005.
Ion Ţiriac became the first Romanian[2] to enter the Forbes The World's Billionaires list in the 2007 Forbes rankings, placing number 840 in the world. His wealth was estimated at $1.1 billion as of 2007, according to the magazine.
Companies
- Tiriac_Holdings_Ltd.
- TiriacAIR
- HVB Tiriac Bank
- Allianz-Tiriac Asigurari Romania
- TiriacAuto
- Tiriac Leasing
- Tir Travel (formerly Tiriac Travel)
References
- Personal Tennis Scorecard
- Forbes World's Billionaires #840
- his CV (in Romanian, with picture)
- http://www.capital.ro (in Romanian, source of Top 300, requires subscription)
- Alexandru Gugoasa, „Generatia Asteptata“ urca in „Top 300“, ("The Awaited Generation Rises in Top 300) Cotidianul, undated but appears to be November 2005 (there is a response dated 16 Nov 2005). Retrieved 23 Nov 2005.
- Cei mai bogati 10 romani ("The 10 richest Romanians", on biz.hotnews.ro; Microsoft Word document). Apparently uses data from 2005 Top 300.