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George N. Gillett Jr.

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George N. Gillett Jr. (born 1938) is an American businessman.

Building his fortune through sports franchisee's and meat production, Gillett and his wife Rose live in Vail, Colorado and have four sons: George III, Andrew; and twins Alexander and Foster (the later the only son not involved in the family business)<ref>http://www.cobizmag.com/articles.asp?id=191</ref>.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Gillett attended Amherst College and is a graduate of Dominican College in Racine, Wisconsin.

After training at McKinsey & Company, aged 27 he phoned NFL commissioner Pete Roselle and asked if there were any ownership opportunities in the league? Roselle, believing the young caller was from the Gillette razor empire, talked at length with Gillett and gave him a lead on a new American Football League expansion franchise, the Miami Dolphins. Gillett negotiated a 22% holding, selling it before the Dolphins made NFL history with their perfect season in 1972.

In 1967 along with John Kluge and a third partner they bought the bankrupt Harlem Globetrotters from the estate of the famous clowning basketball team’s deceased founder Abe Saperstein<ref>http://www.ketupa.net/storer.htm</ref>

In 1976, after selling his interest in the Harlem Globetrotters, in his position with McKinsey he was summoned by the Wisconsin governor to figure out what was ailing Green Bay’s largest employer, Packerland Inc.. Gillett reported back that Packerland’s chief problem was that the meat used was mostly dairy cattle and thus poorly marbled and that the meat was unacceptably lean by grocers’ standards. Gillett bought the company in 1978, and rather than dump inventory changed the customers: he created a marketing campaign around “lean beef,” a category that didn’t exist in the ’70s.

In 1979 he launched Gillett Communications by buying three small television stations. Three years later he bought the WSM television station in Nashville. In 1984 Gillett acquired Post Corporation's eight television stations, 22 newspapers and associated plant; the non-broadcast assets were sold to Thomson Corporation and other buyers. In 1987 he acquired Storer Broadcasting using Kohlberg Kravis Roberts junk bonds, after the FCC lifted restrictions on ownership.

In 1985 Gillett acquired Vail Associates' Vail and Beaver Creek ski resorts, creating a new era with focus on customer service, Gillett redefined the ski experience and what it meant to be a world class resort. George would often ride chairlifts and greeting guests, and launched a massive installation of high-speed detachable chairlifts thereby kick-starting the growth that would put Vail on the map as America's number one ski destination. Gillett also supported major alpine ski events at a time when most ski areas in American declined to host international races, starting with the 1989 World Alpine Ski Championships, and through his support hosted the 1999 World Alpine Ski Championships<ref>http://skimuseum.net/2005induction.html</ref>.

Gillett's companies sought Chapter 11 protection in 1992 as higher interest rates penalised junk bond issuers. Gillett's media arm was reorganised as New World Communications under the control of Ronald Perelman.

[edit] After Junk Bonds

After resultantly declaring bankruptcy, but remaining on the payroll of Vail Resort at $1.5 million a year, Gillett walked away with $32.1 million to restart his business empire when Vail floated on the NYSE the following year<ref>http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=4646</ref>. In 1995 he repurchased Packerland undertaken by Booth Creek Management Corp., a company created to oversee the acquisitions and management of interests of the Gillett family from that point forwards, and of which Gillett remains Chairman.

In 1996 he formed Booth Creek Ski Holdings Inc., acquiring or building a range of ski resorts in New Hampshire, California, Washington and Wyoming. He later bought Grand Targhee Ski and Summer Resort, together with several golf courses.

From 1997 he extended his meat interests by building Corporate Brand Foods America (which included Iowa Ham, Jordan Meats and Wright Bacon), latterly bought by Iowa Beef Processors for US$550 million. Gillett and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst then bought ConAgra's beef operations - Swift and Company - for US$1.4 billion in 2001<ref>http://www.meatnews.com/mp/northamerican/dsp_article_mp.cfm?artNum=337&issueMonth=6&issueYear=2002</ref>. This also controls:

  • Petaluma Poultry - natural and organic chicken products
  • Snowball Foods - food processor of turkey and chicken products
  • Kings Delight - food processor of turkey and chicken products
  • B3R Country Meats - processes fresh and frozen natural beef
  • Coleman Natural Products - processes fresh and frozen natural beef and lamb
  • Gerhard’s Napa Valley Sausage - a producer of gourmet sausage products made primarily from poultry

Gillett's other business interests include:

From October 2006, he has been one of the parties interested in a proposed takeover of English Premiership football side Liverpool<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/sport/2006/11/16/sfnbos216.xml</ref>

[edit] Awards and Recognition

In 1999 Ski magazine voted Gillett as one of the "100 Most Influential Skiers of All Time." Gillett's innovative thinking and passion for redefining the ski industry left such a lasting mark on Colorado's skiing community, that in 2005 he was inducted into the Colorado Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame<ref>http://skimuseum.net/2005induction.html</ref>

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

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