Mike Ilitch

Mike and Marian Ilitch founded Little Caesars Pizza in 1959.

Michael "Mike" Ilitch (born July 20, 1929, in Detroit, Michigan) is an American entrepreneur and owner of the Detroit Red Wings and the Detroit Tigers. In addition to his sports ownerships, Ilitch is the founder and owner of Little Caesars Pizza since 1959, which has become an international fast food franchise. He has been at the center of Detroit's downtown redevelopment efforts when he purchased and renovated the Fox Theatre, and relocated his headquarters into its offices. Several vacant buildings under his ownership, such as the Madison-Lenox Hotel, have been demolished for 'new development'; the site of the historic Madison-Lenox for example, now serving the City of Detroit as a parking lot. Mike Ilitch is a first-generation American of Macedonian descent and is married to Marian Bayoff Ilitch.

Family business concept

A graduate of Cooley High School, Mike Ilitch entered the U.S. Marine Corps for four years. After his return home to Detroit, the Detroit Tigers offered him a $5,000 bonus if he would sign to play baseball, but Ilitch turned down the offer. Instead, he would go into the pizza business. With the help of his wife, Marian, the Ilitches opened Little Caesars Pizza Treat in Garden City, Michigan, the first of what would become many thousands of restaurants through franchising.

Today, the family's entities remain privately held. In 1999, the Ilitches established Ilitch Holdings, Inc. to provide their various enterprises with professional and technical services. They hold the titles of Chairman and Vice Chairwoman, respectively. The combined total revenues for these enterprises in 2004 reportedly exceeded $1 billion. Mike Ilitch has routinely shown up on Forbes Magazine's annual list of the 400 Richest People in America, but in 2005 he slipped off the list.

Marian Ilitch reportedly divested herself of any personal interest in the Detroit Tigers organization in 1998 to pursue interests in Detroit's emerging casino gambling industry. She acquired a significant interest in the Motor City Casino and, in 2005, purchased sole controlling interest. She independently pursues other gambling interests doing business as Gateway Casino Resorts, LLC and Barwest, LLC among others names.

The pair have seven children. They appointed two of their children co-presidents of Ilitch Holdings, Inc. in 2000: son Christopher Ilitch and daughter Denise Ilitch, an attorney. After a well chronicled four year struggle for control between the pair of siblings, in July 2004, Christopher Ilitch was named to the new post of CEO and president. Denise Ilitch, left the privately held company "to pursue other opportunities."

Little Caesars, despite its unique marketing and advertising success, has shrunk by more than 2,000 stores since the early 1990s and slipped from being number three in the pizza industry to number four, behind Pizza Hut, Domino's and Papa John's. Still, restaurants are located in cities across the United States.

In his hometown of Detroit, Mike Ilitch and his family own a number of abandoned buildings in the downtown area. He is pushing to demolish most of the structures he owns, and successfully, though controversially [1], gained the demolition of the Madison-Lenox Hotel in May 2005.

Sports ownership

Detroit Red Wings

In 1982, Mike Ilitch bought the Red Wings from Bruce Norris for $8 million USD, and eventually turned the team into a contender for the Stanley Cup. After building the team with the help of Jim Devellano, the Red Wings won back-to-back championships in fifteen years since his purchase. The Detroit Red Wings' success would include another championship in 2002. Prior to the 2004-05 NHL lockout, Forbes Magazine ranked the Red Wings as the fifth most valuable franchise in the NHL despite a $16 million operating loss.[2]

Detroit Tigers

Ilitch purchased the Detroit Tigers in 1992, for baseball was a sport that he had played as a youth. However, under his ownership, the Tigers have logged losing records in twelve out of thirteen seasons. Forbes Magazine ranked the Tigers #22 out of 30 teams on its 2005 list of most valuable teams. The Tigers franchise is highly leveraged fincially with only two other teams carrying higher debt to value ratios on their ledgers.[3] Ilitch moved the struggling team from Tiger Stadium into newly-built Comerica Park. He financed approximately 50% of the $350 million facility and the taxpayers of the greater Detroit-Wayne County and federal grants covered the balance. Various Ilitch Holdings, Inc. enterprises manage and operate Comerica Park and its concessions. In 2005, the Detroit Tigers hosted MLB's 76th All-Star Game at Comerica Park. All-Star Week in Detroit produced the highest grossing revenue in the history of the All-Star Game.

Detroit Drive

Ilitch was one of the founding team owners in the Arena Football League, starting up the Detroit Drive in 1988, somewhat as a filler team for summer dates in the Joe Louis Arena, although Little Ceasars was also one of the major sponsors of the AFL during the time Illitch owned the Drive. The Drive were one of the first successful teams in the AFL, both on and off the field. They got excellent attendance (although much of that was cheap/giveaway tickets), and the Drive were in the ArenaBowl in every year of their 6 year existance (going 4-2 in the title games). After Ilitch bought the Tigers in 1993 though, he decided he didn't want to own another franchise that would take away fans from the Tigers, so he sold the team off and they moved to Worchester, Massachussetts.

Criticism

Unfortunately, his success in hockey has not translated into success in baseball. Some have stated that it is due to the fact that Illich is unwilling to spend money on two franchises. This claim is supported by the fact that the Tigers started to spend real free agent money only during the 2004-05 NHL lockout. Others state that he is out of his depth as a baseball owner, a claim supported by the fact that he held on to Randy Smith for so long. Smith is universally regarded as the worst baseball general manager in recent history, as well as the architect of the 2003 Tigers, which almost broke the modern record for most losses. Still another opinion is that he didn't even try to field a competitive team during the Red Wings glory years.

Hockey Hall of Fame

Mike Ilitch was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003 as well as the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004.

In Stanley Cup history, only eight women have had their names engraved on the trophy; Marian and their three daughters have each had their names engraved on the Cup three times.

Civic and philanthropic activities

Ilitch Charities for Children (ICC), is a charitable foundation established by the Ilitch family. Among other things, the ICC sponsors Little Caesars AAA Hockey Scholarship to encourage amateur sports.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, reports required by the Federal Elections Commission from 2002-2005 indicate Ilitch Holdings, Inc. members and business partners have contributed more than $500,000 to political campaigns and PACs.[4]

Ilitch family

Marian and Mike Ilitch have seven children: son Christopher Ilitch (born June 1965) is CEO and President of Ilitch Holdings, Inc.; daughter Denise Ilitch (born November 1955) is an attorney and former co-President, with her brother, of Ilitch Holdings. Other children are Ron Ilitch (born June 1957)(Father of Ronnie Ilitch), Michael Ilitch, Jr. (born July 1958), Lisa Ilitch Murray (born October 1966), Atanas Ilitch (born July 1963), and Carole Ilitch Trepeck (born January 1967).

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