Sam Zell
One of America’s richest investors, Samuel Zell, maintains intercontinental holdings in real estate, finance, media, energy, transportation, and telecommunications. He currently heads Equity Group Investments as chairperson.
Jointly founded by Samuel Zell and Gary Garrabrant in 1999, the said firm established the largest real estate investment trust (REIT) for US apartments: Equity Residential Properties. It also sired Equity Lifestyle Properties, a REIT for manufactured houses. In addition, it runs a real estate finance company, Capital Trust; a cable and communications provider, Anixter; and an energy firm, Covanta.
Outside the United States, Samuel Zell invests in real estate businesses via Equity International, of which he is also chairperson. Equity International has a portfolio of publicly held companies, including giant homebuilders in China, Brazil, and Mexico (Xinyuan, Gafisa and Homex). It also holds the biggest retail chain in Brazil, BR Malls.
Until its $39-billion acquisition by Blackstone Group in 2007, Samuel Zell served as chairman of Equity Office Properties, yet another massive REIT. In fact, it was the largest REIT for offices in the US.
Later that year, Samuel Zell successfully took the Tribune Company private, via an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. The transaction—worth $8.2 billion—gave Samuel Zell ultimate leadership over Tribune’s empire of newspapers and radio and TV stations.
Samuel Zell first dabbled seriously in real estate during studies at the University of Michigan. He was then able to operate several apartments across the state. As his businesses diversified, he went on to procure a law degree from the university.
Many years later, the University of Michigan designated Samuel Zell a DeRoy Visiting Professor in Honors. With Robert Lurie, he created their eponymous Entrepreneurial Center at the university’s business school. He now serves on the university president’s advisory board.
Meanwhile, University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has a Real Estate Center, another endowment from Zell and Lurie. Samuel Zell also endowed Northwestern University’s Center for Risk Management. Moreover, he sits on the advisory boards of JPMorgan and Eurohypo.
Samuel Zell is fond of skiing and racquetball.