Helped by federal deregulation of radio ownership rules, the two were able to quickly amass a chain of more than 70 stations, which they sold in 1997 to a larger rival, Capstar Broadcasting, for $2.1 billion. In characteristic form, Sillerman wont give investors any firm commitments. [4] After graduating from the Collegiate School, he attended Brandeis University. 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, right, at the New York Stock Exchange in 1999 with its chairman, Richard Grasso, and the singer Rod Stewart shortly after stock in Mr. Sillermans company, SFX Entertainment, began being traded on the exchange. Sillerman was also a major shareholder of CKX Inc. [39], On November 24, 2019, Sillerman died at the age of 71 after a respiratory illness.[40]. ), Sillerman, who had extensive exposure to the rock & roll business as a radio executive and concert promoter, realized that owning the rights to a rock act could be a great business. Sillerman's net worth , money, salary, income, and . [13] The first product the company produced was called "Viggle", released in January 2012, which used a mobile app as its primary interface. When asked if Bob was dishonest about the companys health, Finkel told Billboard, It was more complicated than that. He was a good guy, but he knew he did bad things, Estopinal tells Billboard, noting that Sillerman was suffering from the complications of throat surgery through all of the SFX misadventure. Robert F.X. You either have to grow or go down. In other words, Elvis is a classic buying opportunity: The underlying fundamentals are sound, but current management has been unable to take the business to the next level. Ive tried to get him drunk to get him to tell me, says Brucie. As a business, though, Elvis has been stagnating. . Sillerman and Shelly Finkel, his close associate and SFX's eventual vice chairman, hardly listened to the music but saw the opportunity in what they believed to be the millennial generations rock and roll. So he offered investors a lower price, $12 a share, and the sale was extended even longer. When SFX began bursting at the seams, in no small part because of his mismanagement, Sillerman again reneged. ), Sillerman with Rod Stewart and Dick Grasso at the NYSE.Henny Ray Abrams AFP/Getty Images. Elviss legendary manager, Colonel Tom Parker (a.k.a. He can outlast and outtalk anybody. Says a close colleague: His BlackBerry messages start at 6 A.M. and never stop into the night. After selling SFX Entertainment, Mr. Sillerman pursued various entertainment projects. In just the past few weeks weve seen a flurry of deals by companies seeking to profit from this tumult: TV networks are offering shows for sale, AOL is selling vintage programs online, and cellphones and iPods can now deliver music, video, and TV. Capstar applied for and received permission to operate more than one class of radio station in the same market. Robert F.X. CKEs stock fell from a high of $28.80 in early May to a current price of $12 and change. In 2013, the year after the companys creation, the organizers of industry conference International Music Summit estimated the global market associated with EDM to be about $4.5 billion in sales. And the show garners the highest ad rates on network TV, between $660,000 and $705,000 for a 30-second spot, which is higher than CSI or Desperate Housewives. Its funny, when we needed money we had a difficult time raising it. CKX also gets royalty rights to 24 Elvis movies. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Lawsuits increasingly became a common part of his life, including a suit from a luxury real estate firm for breach of contract after he allegedly cut the firm out of a $114 million real estate deal withoutpaying their commissions. 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. 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. 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. On Jun 7, 2012, Function (X), Inc. was renamed Viggle, which changed the company stock listing to VGGL. Mr. Sillermans plan transformed the concert industry even as it drew complaints, which still linger, about rising ticket prices and the outsize power of a centralized super promoter. His timing seemed impeccable. The second floor boasts two main bedroom suites with ensuitemarble bathrooms, woodburning fireplaces and a large planted terrace. 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. There were people who told me, Im not doing a deal with this guy, hes going to die, Estopinal says. In May 2009, Credit Suisse filed a request for summary judgement in New York State Supreme Court, alleging Sillerman had failed to pay the . We've received your submission. Robert Sillerman stepped down as CEO of SFX Entertainment in February, but the story between them continues. SFX raised $260 million in its initial public offering. Says his longtime business partner, disc jockey Cousin Brucie Morrow: Bob is very exhausting to be with. FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Cirque du Soleil; Douglas Elliman, 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Inside the Hamptons trailer park thats become a playground for millionaires, Kevin Loves model wife goes house-hunting after Heat deal, See Ashton Kutchers Your Place or Mine building in NYC, Mark Wahlberg finally sells mansion after massive $32M price cut. Robert F.X. [33] In 2000, Sillerman donated a $15 million gift through the Tomorrow Foundation to extend the library and for marine science scholarships. And thats just part of the American Idol money train. Sillerman also bought the business of sports superagent David Falk (he repped Michael Jordan, among others) and other pieces of the sports world, such as figure-skating championships. What would be the ultimate winning scenario for Sillerman? Before 157 West 57th Street became One57, that glassy billionaire's priapism which has come to stand for a whole battery of class . There are so many ways to exploit that level of awareness. Mr. Sillerman called it an inside joke. Im also confident that we will create a better experience for the fans, Mr. Sillerman said in an interview with The New York Times. As the genre has grown in popularity, so too has the quantity of reports of drug-induced injuries and deaths at concerts. SFX CEO Entertainment Robert F.X. Robert F.X. Maglan Capital, an owner of roughly 1.5% of SFX Entertainment's outstanding stock, called Sillerman's $4.75 a share go private offer "a way low-ball bid." And the King is content! In 2011, he sold that company for $512 million and tried his hand at commercial real estate with decidely less luck, defaulting on a loan from Credit Suisse equalling $21.4 million. So, how much is Robert F.X. At first, advertisers and investors flocked to the new SFX. All these ballet dancers from Russia were huge Elvis fans, and [their handlers] were asking for our help to get them out of here and back to rehearsal. [36] Sillerman was also a donor and fundraiser for the Democratic Party in the United States. This is a long-term perspective, [but] a 10% return on equity from our perspective would be insufficient.. I ask Sillerman about his revenue and income projections for his Elvis and American Idol businesses. Anthony Effinger and Daniel Taub, "American Idol Sillerman Dealt Elvis Default Heartbreak in Vegas," Bloomberg.com, June 1, 2009. But he doesnt seem to be worried about anything of the sort. He just didnt a fabout anything, said one former business partner who did not want to share their name. That is, if SFX is still around in a year to run those events. The orginal goal was to buy Pasquale RotellasInsomniac, explained Estopinal. Think of how we can continue to expand the show, says Fuller. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice| Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information| Ad Choices In the sale, SFX kept two small concert promoters, and renamed the company SFX Entertainment (concert promotion, sports agencies), turning SFX Entertainment into the world's largest producer, promoter and presenter of live entertainment. 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. In some ways, thats good news for Sillerman and SFX: the cost of talent is no longer skyrocketing. This isnt the first time Sillerman has failed to live up to his word when trying to buy back a company he listed on the public markets. Early rewards included gift cards to retail establishments. Obviously the market had spoken loud and clear that it believed the five-and-a-quarter deal was never coming, said Sillerman in one of his first interviews since announcing the privatization plan. But Fuller had an even bigger idea, a kind of interactive on-air talent show. Entertainment mogul Robert Sillerman is facing foreclosure on his $16 million Upper East Side town house for defaulting on a $12.5 million loan since 2015, a new lawsuit claims. It comes with five bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. But the company had no serious strategy, a former employee told Billboard at the time, and Sillermans frequent misrepresentations angered investors, including a plan to take the company private in May 2015 that collapsed when it became clear that Sillerman didnt have the $700 million needed to finance the deal. CKX Inc. has been flying under the radar despite owning stakes in some of the biggest pop culture icons of our time, including "American Idol," Elvis Presley . SFX bought up enough stations to become the nation's seventh largest chain. Even more worrying, SFXs cash reserves dwindled to $38.6 million. The man who bought Elvis is Robert F.X. Robert F.X. Contestants on the new Fox hit So You Think You Can Dance.Jason Merritt FilmMagic/Getty Images, So why did Sillerman buy Fullers company? [6] Sillerman was married to copywriter Laura Baudo, whom he met at Ingalls. Robert, who grew up in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, was born on the third anniversary of the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his original middle name was a tribute to the former president. Take a walk through Elviss home with the throngs, and the feeling you get is reverential. 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. The house, formerly owned by Robert Sillerman, includes a 12,000. Robert Francis Xavier Sillerman was born on April 12, 1948, in the Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale in a very typical, liberal, educated Jewish household, according to the 2011 book Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalpedby Dean Budnick and Josh Baron, which secured an interview with Sillerman. We bought companies based on what we anticipated that we could bring in incremental sources of revenue.. Robert F.X. He declined to comment for this story via email. stand for? The suit alleges that Sillerman in emails promised a joint partnership in which the plaintiffs would receive 2.5 million "founders shares" of SFX, which never materialized. CKX already carries a load of goodwill, $14 million from the Presley deal, and $111 million from the 19 transaction. In addition to Mr. Sillermans brother, Ms. Baudo Sillerman survives him. That didnt work out, but when we started talking, Insomniacs acquistion price was $10 million, he said. The app will also display the social media activity for other shows at the same time, along with what rewards are available for changing the channel to competing programs. Within a matter of weeks it is likely that CKX will announce some sort of Elvis Presley or Graceland-themed casino in Las Vegas. A brash figure in the financial pages, he bought and sold lucrative radio and concert businesses and controlled the Elvis Presley estate. "Robert F. X. Sillerman," Wikipedia.org. The company that emerged would become Clear Channel, which is now known as iHeartRadio. His brother, Michael, confirmed his death but gave no other details. Few suggest the genre is decliningnot yet, anywaybut theres evidence that points to a plateau. 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. This is a BETA experience. A costly restaurant venture in Memphis went bust. Last month, the company reported a second quarter net loss of $48 million on revenue of $121 million, up 48% from the same period last year. Sillerman, a triathlete who loves vigorous games of volleyball and basketball, has recovered and now sports a yellow Livestrong bracelet. Despite having established brands, the festivals that were acquired by Sillerman's empire collectively moved in the opposite direction of what was expected. This year, he agreed to pay a $179,000 fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission for defrauding investors of another of his companies, Function(x). Once Morrow had a beef with the late-night deejay at their Middletown station. Meet the Women in Music Honoree Who Escaped the IronCurtain, Manson Accusers Recantation Cant Be Used for Now in Case Against Evan Rachel Wood, JudgeSays, Fadia Kader Joins Venice Music as EVP &GM. There is little profit to invest in potentially lucrative assets like the Heartbreak Hotel, across the street from Graceland. SFX now has a market capitalization of $88 million. Whether I will actually select one or more [equity partners] will depend on what the final price is, he said of any future bid. Then, Lisa says, the failure of the Elvis Presleys Memphis restaurant on Beale Street in 2003 made matters urgent. Some $124 million was in cash upfront and $31 million in stock, with the balance to be paid in cash or stock after Fullers company reports its year-end numbers. Money we had a difficult time raising it business, though, has! 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