Attracting funds, at least at this point, wont be a limitation. Anyone can read what you share. (Per capita, Canadian Idol is much bigger than its U.S. He wa Besides buying Elvis Presley Enterprises from Lisa Marie Presley last February, Sillerman and his lieutenants have purchased the smash-hit TV show American Idol and other properties from a company called 19 Entertainment, which was owned by British pop impresario Simon Fuller. We were misinformed by an SFX spokesman. And $6.5 million went to Priscilla Presley for use of the family nameeven though Sillerman wasnt legally obligated to pay her anything, since Priscilla and Elvis were divorced, and Elviss estate went to Lisa Marie. Sillerman, poses after ringing the Nasdaq closing bell on Oct. 9, [+] 2013, the day his company went public. Sillerman already has 18 acres on the Strip through MJX, a real estate company he controls. He also carried heavy personal pain after the suicide of his 18-year-old daughter Mackinley in 2012, losing his only child in the home he shared with his wife Laura Baudo Sillerman. Mr. Sillerman had recently been living in Hinsdale, N.H. For decades, Mr. Sillerman was a regular in the headlines of the financial press, buying and selling numerous media and entertainment businesses, often at a huge profit, and presenting a brash public persona that sometimes rivaled those of the celebrities he dealt with. 19 did some $92 million in revenues last yearwith about a third coming from the Idol showsand earned $12.6 million. With Finkel by his side and Estopinal giving the pair needed credibility, Sillerman set out to once again consolidate the dance music business by buying up dance promoters in Europe, Asia and North America. Mr. Sillerman called it an inside joke. Why? Sillerman Net Worth. He sold the company SFX Entertainment to Clear Channel for $4.4 billion in 2000. Sillerman was a significant player on Broadway. There is little profit to invest in potentially lucrative assets like the Heartbreak Hotel, across the street from Graceland. On Jun 7, 2012, Function (X), Inc. was renamed Viggle, which changed the company stock listing to VGGL. When SFX began bursting at the seams, in no small part because of his mismanagement, Sillerman again reneged. Could it be that Sillerman didnt fully understand this--or just how skittish it would make brands? Capstar applied for and received permission to operate more than one class of radio station in the same market. It comes with five bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. During its public run, the company also sold $295 million debt to finance additional acquisitions and fund operating losses. As of December 2013, Viggle companies had a combined 17 million monthly users. Sitting kitty-corner from Graceland across Elvis Presley Boulevard, it is a 128-room boutique property with a small pool and a tiny bar, perennially packed to the gills with Elvis fans. Brandeis University Recent News and Activity Funding Round Sep 16, 2014 The prior owner, ex-HBO CEO Richard Plepler now founder and CEO of Eden Productions had once listed it for $18.5 million in 2008 after buying it for $2.33 million in 2002. As the genre has grown in popularity, so too has the quantity of reports of drug-induced injuries and deaths at concerts. Few suggest the genre is decliningnot yet, anywaybut theres evidence that points to a plateau. So in the middle of one night, Bob and I took off all of our clothes and ran back and forth in front of the glass naked. The massive property that was assembled from four different plots of land has just hit the market for a staggering $150 million. And because Sillerman was known as a savvy business mogul within the entertainment industry, his faith in the Company was interpreted as evidence that SFX was in fact valuable, even if that value was not yet reflected in the Companys financial reports, McMahon wrote. Former SFX Entertainment founder Robert Sillerman has agreed to pay a $179,000 fine after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged the businessman with fraud and illegally diverting fund SFX bought up enough stations to become the nation's seventh largest chain. He was also starting to run afoul of the SEC an audit by the firm BDO of his company Function(x)found that Sillerman allegedly broke the law when he transferred $6.1 million into his own personal account and withdrew $500,000 in cash with no explanation and no supporting documentation. Sillerman settled the case with the SEC in June, agreeing to a $179,000 fine and a ban from holding an officer or director role at any public company. To Sillerman, Elvis is an underexploited asset, like a poorly managed textile company or a baseball team without a marketing department. Unable to issue new debt without breaching bond covenants, SFX sold stock before the quarter's end to raise collateral that its banker, Barclays, had demanded in order to borrow from the companys credit line, a rainy day source of cash. I also thought she was shrewd and perceptive. Another show with legs? A crucial part of his strategy was using the nationwide audience at SFXs shows to lure sponsorship deals by big consumer brands like Smirnoff and Levis. Their daughter, Mackinley, died in 2012. Sillerman, Concert Industry Consolidator, Dies at 71 Roy Trakin November 26, 2019, 6:02 PM Click here to read the full article. SFX, however, had problems from day one. CKX raised $251 million at its IPO earlier this year, which it used to pay back $150 million in loans from Bear Stearnsthe rest it paid directly to 19 Entertainment or kept as capital. Sillerman was born into a media household, raised in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, and attended top private schools in New York City. But if you walk down the street, youll be hard-pressed to find somebody who doesnt know what it is. The hotel, Sillerman and Soden say, is just screaming to be expanded, upgraded, and replicated in other locations. He passed away in his sleep on Sunday at the age of 71. He is from USA. (Photo: Robin Marchant/Getty Images). Contestants on the new Fox hit So You Think You Can Dance.Jason Merritt FilmMagic/Getty Images, So why did Sillerman buy Fullers company? Mr. Sillerman was the founder, a major shareholder and served as Executive Chairman of SFX Entertainment from its inception in 1997 until its sale to Clear Channel Communications in August 2000. We cured him. By 1985 the pair had accumulated some 70 stations, which they sold for some $50 million. He loves to party. F Former SFX Entertainment founder Robert Sillerman has agreed to pay a $179,000 fine after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged the businessman with fraud for illegally. Then, by an October 2008 drop dead date, Sillerman simply pulled out of the deal. Sillermans new frontier was to be EDM, a genre whose live events like Electric Daisy Carnival and Belgiums Tomorrowland were drawing millions of neon-wearing, glow stick-flashing young adults to festival grounds around the world. I have never had one single boring day., CKX has a 90-year lease on Elviss home.Richard Berkowitz Getty Images, Soden, who will continue running EPE in the new company, enhanced the Elvis business by expanding into merchandising and licensing. They said music doesnt work on TV in America. Steve Hicks left to join another radio venture after a few years, and in 1997, Sillerman sold SFX, which then owned some 70 radio stations, to Hicks Muse for $75 a share, or $2.1 billion. Ive tried to get him drunk to get him to tell me, says Brucie. Im also confident that we will create a better experience for the fans, Mr. Sillerman said in an interview with The New York Times. Yes, Elviss core fans are aging, but young people still are drawn to the man with the oversized Q-rating. Despite this, the 67-year-old CEO said that he is the right man to run the troubled business and that he still wants to own the company even though he reneged on a plan to take it private earlier this month. An entrance foyer leads to a chefskitchen, while a double-wide staircase leads upstairs to the first floors entertainment spaces: a living room, wood-paneled library, formal dining room, serving kitchen with a dumbwaiter and three of seven woodburning fireplaces. Between Elviss legendary free spending and the fact that he didnt own his songs, the situation was dire. Earlier this month in Los Angeles county, two female attendees of Live Nation-run event HARD Summer died of apparent drug overdoses. 2023 Fortune Media IP Limited. While he pointed to lucrative deals with Anheuser Busch, MasterCard and T-Mobile and those companies increased yearly ad spend, the SFX CEO admitted that his earlier business models anticipated greater participation from brands. What would be the ultimate winning scenario for Sillerman? His brother, Michael, confirmed his death but gave no other details. And game shows are the longest-lasting shows on TV. And get this zinger from Reids report: CKX apparently has the right to shut down impersonator shows. (Say it aint so!) In February 2016, SFX filed for bankruptcy, brought down in a cash crunch that Estopinal now partially blames on overpaying for the assets that came to make up SFX. Beyond the lawsuit, questions have also been raised about the fundamentals of a business that some analysts said relied on what they deemed a cultural fad. He replied with an email that said, Can I borrow a dollar? Estopinal said. (Hicks Muse agreed to spin this business off to SFX shareholders.) Only Mike Darnell [at Fox] got it straight away., Man in the middle: Simon Fuller (in back) with Idol stars Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, and Fantasia Barrino.Ray Mickshaw WireImage/Getty Images. This ultimately led to the Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowing for ownership of multiple stations in single markets Capstar merged with Command Communications, another radio group Sillerman founded, ultimately changing its name to SFX Broadcasting. SFX Entertainment is likely well-managed on the festivals and business unit level and the companys shortcomings, in our view, appear to be with holding company management and its board of directors, which have arguably destroyed shareholder value, said analyst Richard Tullo of Albert Fried. So what he said so eloquently, I say, Foff.'. What was most impressive about his $389 million deal with Westinghouse (which was convinced that it needed to become a big player in the business) in 1989 wasnt that it was his biggest score ever; it was the fact that the market for radio stations tanked soon after. On Wall Street they like to say that Bob Sillerman hardly knows failure, but he saw it firsthand growing up. In June 2007, Sillerman told investors of CKX--a Nasdaq vehicle hed created with intellectual property rights to American Idol, Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali--that hed pay $13.75 a share to take the company private. All Rights Reserved. So what if the next Elvis is discovered on American Idol? At Ingalls he met a young copywriter, Laura Baudo, who would become his wife. First, understand that Sillerman actually owns very little of Elviss music. The man who bought Elvis is Robert F.X. By then Sillerman was already toiling away on his next project, SFX Entertainment, a company that would own concert venues and other media properties. Billionaire entertainment mogul Robert F.X. Eight years later he unloaded a bunch of stations to Hicks Muse for $2.1 billion. As for spinoffs, did we mention that another smash hit on Fox, So You Think You Can Dance, is produced by Fuller too? Despite having established brands, the festivals that were acquired by Sillerman's empire collectively moved in the opposite direction of what was expected. (A hip-hop-style remix of A Little Less Conversation was a No. When Sillerman offered to take SFX private this spring, his board (which included many holdovers from CKX) allowed him to float a bid without having financing or equity partners lined up. A megayacht-turned-ultra-luxury cruise ship is heading for Once a dining hotspot, this shuttered NYC restaurant owes the city $32M in rent, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's 'It Takes Two' abandoned mansion demolished, Inside the 1,700-acre Murdaugh family murder farm now on sale for $3.9M, Fking heartless Kristin Cavallari admits to recently dumping guy via text, The Selena Gomez and Kylie Jenner eyebrow drama, explained, Lisa Hochstein confirms shes dating great Jody Glidden amid Lenny divorce, Good luck 'worming' your way out of this one, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry have first night out since bombshell 'Spare' released, 11-year-old reads aloud from 'pornographic' book he checked out from library at school board meeting. We had to do something right away to make money, and that something was to open up Graceland for tours., On the first day Soden and Elviss ex-wife, Priscilla, opened up the Memphis mansion, 3,024 fans filed in, paying $5 each. [4][5] His father founded the Keystone Radio Network. SFX raised $260 million in its initial public offering. Earlier this year Sillerman settled with the SEC for $179,000. I have a million ideas all the time, says Fuller, but before I could only do one a year. But the companys performance was weak, and its stock price eventually plunged by more than 95 percent. FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. He also acquired a majority of the Presley estate, with the right to operate Graceland, the Presley home in Memphis; took over the company behind the long-running television hit American Idol; and acquired the rights to Muhammad Alis name and likeness. Sillerman has a $1 billion plan to conquer the world of dance music, read the publications cover line. You may find him a bit quirky. In 19, Sillerman saw a small but dynamic media company with one of the hottest TV shows on the planet. Sillermans actions signaled to the market that he saw significant value in SFX. Sillerman with Rod Stewart and Dick Grasso at the NYSE. CKX also gets royalty rights to 24 Elvis movies. 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. In a July 2009 interview with the New York Post Sillerman admitted failure, stating with reference to the Flag project: "I'm not very knowledgeable about real estate. The third and fourth floors boast a bedroom with 20-foot ceilings, a woodburning fireplace, two bathrooms one of which has another woodburning fireplace and two dressing rooms. In 2001, Britains ITV put Fullers baby, Pop Idol, on the air. How big will CKX become? He died on November 24, 2019 in Hinsdale, New Hampshire, USA. All Rights Reserved. His timing seemed impeccable. So far Idol stars like Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken have sold over 14 million albums. In the mid-1980s the Federal Communications Commission was beginning to loosen its restrictions on the number of radio stations that could be owned by a single operator. Working with Steve Hicksbrother of Tom Hicks, the head of Texas buyout firm Hicks MuseSillerman embarked on a dizzying run of acquisitions, creating one of the largest radio station companies in the country. We dont have enough time on this call to talk about the mistakes I made, said Sillerman during a 30-minute phone conversation from his New York City home, his voice gravelly and occasionally interrupted by a breathing apparatus due to a past bout with tongue cancer. Sillerman attempted to rebrand the project as a Baccarat Hotel but this also failed. That show is American Idol, and as with Elvis, Sillerman is convinced he can make it an even bigger deal than it already is. Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, The Price Is Rightthese shows go on for decades. This past season American Idol ratings averaged over 27 million viewers per episode, up 5% from last season. Elvis's 37-year-old daughter and heir, Lisa Marie, has been unhappy . Sillerman, the former CEO of Function (x), Inc., with orchestrating an offering fraud and diverting offering proceeds to repay loans he had previously made to the company. I dont want to be like Martha Stewart and talk about what I shouldnt, Lisa says with a chuckle. In September 2012, Sillerman announced his biggest project to date on the cover of Billboard, sporting a black leather jacket, a global-shaped disco ball and a handkerchief in his pocket that famously read FOff., Its a universal statement, Sillerman told Billboard writer Kerri Mason. Some people loved Bob and some people hated him, there was no middle ground, said James Disco Donnie Estopinal, a New Orleansdance promoter now living in Puerto Ricowho served as Sillermans deal maker and helped bring in the dance promoters that would come to form the new SFX Entertainment. ), Sillerman with Rod Stewart and Dick Grasso at the NYSE.Henny Ray Abrams AFP/Getty Images. I ask Lisa about Sillermans plans. What kind of person would grow up to have business dreams like these? Industrial Media. The CK stands for content is king, while the X is a reference to one of his middle initials (they are F.X., and he wont tell anyone what they stand for). 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