Today, Malcolm Glazer has a bit of a mixed reputation. On the one hand, he was respected for going from nothing to having a literal empire, on the other hand, how he handled his sports teams has made him one of the most hated figures in business ever.
Getting his start as a businessman at the age of 15, with a mere $300. Over the next 70 years, Glazer would make a series of smart investments that turned his inital $300 into a $4 billion fortune at the time of his death!
Early Life
Beginning in 1880, Jews from the Russian Empire would begin emigrating from Russia to the US en masse due to how the Russian government mistreated them. Among those would be Julius Hammer, father of oil tycoon Armand Hammer.
As a Lithuanian Jew (who’d been Russian subjects since 1795), Abraham Glazer left Lithuania for a better life in the United States. Arriving at Ellis Island, Abraham would soon make his way to Rochester, New York.
Here, Abraham would meet and fall in love with Hannah Gennis, with the couple marrying quickly. Settling down, Abraham would establish himself as the local jeweler and watch repairman, which wasn’t particularly profitable.
It was into this family where Malcolm Irving Glazer would be born on August 15 1928, the fifth of seven children.
To help make money for his family, Malcolm (as the eldest boy) would begin working in his father’s shop from the age of eight, often helping his father on minor jobs that paid quickly and easily to get money for food.
However, on November 11 1943, at the age of 48, Abraham Glazer would die, leaving Malcolm (then only 15 years old) as the man of the house and head of the family.
As head of the family, Malcolm Glazer would inherit his father’s jewelry and watch repair business, as well as the $300 (a mere $4,700 adjusted for inflation) the business had in cash.
Whilst a devastating loss for the Glazer family, Malcolm would famously say of his father’s death years later: “[it] was probably the most tragic thing that ever happened in my life, but it was good in one way” because “it made me a man.”
Getting a Start
To make ends meet, Malcolm would drop out of school to sell watches door to door.
Despite having dropped out of school at the age of 15, Malcolm was able to attend Sampson College in Romulus, New York, just over an hour away from his native Rochester.
At Sampson College, Malcolm would get good grades. However, the family’s financial situation hadn’t gotten much better, with Malcolm still being forced to work as a watch repair and salesman after school to help support his family.
Within only a few months, Malcolm began to realize that most of his business came from the nearby Sampson Air Force Base – then a basic military training center for the USAF Air Training Command.
Realizing that if he dropped out of school, he would make far more money to support his family, Malcolm would drop out after only a few months at the college, dedicating himself full-time to jewelry and watch repair.
It would not be long until Malcolm had turned his jewelry and watch repair business into one of the most successful in the local area, with Malcolm being able to fully support his family thanks to his business.
However, Malcolm’s fortunes would take a nosedive after Sampson Air Force Base closed in 1956, with his business losing almost all of its business in an instant.
Rebuilding
It’s safe to say that this was a blow to Malcolm. Yet, he wouldn’t let it define him…
Using the money the business had generated, Malcolm would begin acquiring residential and commercial real estate in and around the Rochester area.
Beginning with single family homes, Malcolm would soon begin acquiring duplexes and commercial real estate such as office buildings too.
Here, Malcolm made a habit of buying the cheapest possible real estate and renovating it, often forcing tenants out to do the latter. Perhaps not surprisingly, local media began to catch on, writing scathing articles about the man they called the local “slumlord”.
It would also be here where the local press would give Malcolm the nickname of the “leprechaun” owing to his short stature and red hair. This nickname would stick with him for the rest of his life, being used by local and international media outlets alike!
Over time, Malcolm would use the money he generated from the rent these real estate properties, Malcolm Glazer would begin to acquire more properties across the state of New York, before owning property across the country.
Unlike many other landlords, Malcolm knew just to extract the most amount of money from his properties. During the renovation process, Malcolm would buy everything from a cost-effective standpoint, thus gaining the most rent for as little upfront investment as possible.
Plus, he’d only fix something if it was completely broken, instead preferring to jury-rig things than replace them entirely, thus saving him millions of dollars per year!
Expansion
Indeed, Malcolm would grow his real estate empire so much and save so much money, that he’d begin to diversify his portfolio. To that end, Malcolm would acquire the struggling, upstate New York-based National Bank of Savannah in 1963.
Although the acquisition wasn’t particularly notable at the time, Malcolm would use his business savvy to grow the bank considerably, with it soon having branches and offices across the state of New York.
Over the few decades, the National Bank of Savannah would be Malcolm Glazer’s go-to place for capital, with it later playing an instrumental role in his business success!
In particular, it would help him finance his acquisition of mobile home parks across Florida, which would compliment his residential and commercial real estate (however, this didn’t help his reputation for being a “slumlord”).
A decade later, funded partly through loans from the National Bank of Savannah, as well as other banks, Glazer would acquire his first nursing home, the Hartford-Connecticut-based West Hill Convalescence Center.
Expanding once again, Malcolm Glazer would acquire the three largest local TV stations in Columbus, Georgia (included the famed WRBL channel) for a staggering $20 million in 1976.
Within a few months, Malcolm would expand his real estate business into the Columbus area, continuing to acquire real estate which garnered him the reputation for being a “slumlord”.
This time, however, his ownership of the main TV stations in the area managed to keep this under wraps, thus giving him a mostly positive image in the city of Columbus, Georgia on the surface of things.
First Allied Corporation
Throughout his business career, Malcolm had owned his various enterprises personally. Whilst it made sense for him when he only had a small empire, by the early 1980’s, Malcolm Glazer was worth several hundred million dollars.
Wanting to protect himself financially, Glazer would incorporate First Allied Corporation in 1984. Incorporating the company through a Los Angeles-based law firm, First Allied Corporation would be based in Glazer’s hometown of Rochester, New York.
Serving as the company’s president and CEO from 1984 until his death three decades later, Malcolm would transfer all of his business holdings to First Allied, which essentially acted as the Glazer family’s holding company – one that’s still used today.
Not long after being incorporated, Glazer would begin to aggressively acquire more companies. To that end, Glazer would make a bid to buy Conrail – then a government-owned railroad company – in 1984, bring Malcolm to national attention.
Here, his bid of $7.6 billion was larger than the bids from other bidders, including a bid from a consortium led by hotelier, J. Willard Marriott, and was on the brink of being accepted by the US government.
Despite this, a last-minute bid from one of Conrail’s main competitors, Norfolk Southern Railway, would see them become the new owners of Conrail, not Malcolm Glazer.
Even More Expansion
Even in spite of this, Malcolm would continue to use his First Allied Corporation to acquire more companies, acquiring the likes of Houlihan’s Restaurant Group, Tonka Toys, Specialty Equipment and Omega Protein in 1984.
In 1988, First Allied Corporation would acquire a 10% stake in kitchen designer, Formica, becoming the company’s single largest shareholder. Once here, Malcolm would seem as though he was about to launch a takeover.
Not surprisingly, this caused the company’s stock price to double in a matter of months. Instead of taking over the company as many expected him to, Malcolm sold his entire stake for a huge profit, netting him billions in the process.
Using this money, First Allied would acquire a 6.9% stake in motorcycle manufacturer, Harley-Davidson, the following year. Here, he’d do the same as he’d done at Formica, appearing to launch a takeover, only to dump his shares, making a killing in the process.
In 1994, Malcolm Glazer would acquire struggling oil company, Zapata Corporation, a company that had been founded by future President George H. W. Bush in 1953.
Taking control of the struggling company, Glazer would pay off the company’s debt, expand its oil operations before selling them off. Here, it would position itself as a major player in the internet media industry, before its stock crashed during the dot-com crash.
As time progressed, Malcolm, through First Allied Corporation, would acquire more companies in new industries, this time buying Caribbean supermarkets and fish protein companies.
Playing The Stock Market
Having played the stock market in the early 1980’s to make huge fortunes from both Formica and Harley-Davidson, the 1990’s would prove to be even better for Malcolm and his games on the stock market.
You see, in June 1990, the stock market would crash.
Although only a minor recession, the crash would wipe billions from the US economy, with many people’s investments being wiped out in the process.
Due to his diversification, however, First Allied Corporation had been protected like a bomb shelter against the crash. In fact, First Allied actually made more money during the recession than before it!
With this extra cash, combined with a depressed market saw Malcolm Glazer buy billions of dollars worth of junk bonds – essentially the radioactive waste of the bond market.
You see, junk bonds were corporate bonds for companies that the recession had hit particularly hard. As such, very few people expected these companies to be able to repay their bonds.
Malcolm Glazer, on the other hand, saw an opportunity and took it.
Seeing their depressed value, Glazer bought them when their price was at their lowest. Within a few months, the economy had begun to recover and these companies became profitable once again.
The market realized this, with the price of these junk bonds skyrocketing in a few months. Having already been paid the annual interest payment, Glazer would add to his profits by flooding the market with them, doubling his initial $80 million investment.
Acquiring The Tampa Bay Buccaneers
On August 26 1994, owner and founder of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL franchise, Hugh Culverhouse, died of cancer.
In the coming weeks and months, issues surrounding his death and ownership of the franchise would destabilize the team, with it looking likely that the team would have to move to another city.
At the insistance of his children (particularly Joel, Edward and Bryan), Malcolm would offer the buy the team for $192 million – then a record for an NFL team – which was an outrageous sum given that the team had never won a Super Bowl!
Financed primarily through debt, Malcolm Glazer would acquire the team on January 16 1995.
Taking ownership of the club, Joel, Edward and Bryan Glazer would become co-chairmen of the club. Under Glazer ownership, the Buccaneers would see a hike in ticket prices, which were then used to acquire better players.
On top of this, Malcolm secured $168.5 million in taxpayer dollars to build a brand new stadium (the Raymond James Stadium), which seats over 65,000 and produced thousands of jobs in the local area.
Although many didn’t like the use of taxpayer money to fund the stadium and the hike in ticket prices, all was forgiven when the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003.
This was good for the Glazers too.
Under their ownership, the value of the franchise has trebled, going from a second-rate team at best, to one of the best teams in the NFL (although after the Super Bowl victory, the team would begin to revert to its pre-Glazer state).
Whilst many sports owners often keep quiet about the amount of money they make, Malcolm was the opposite. If you asked, he told. And this made him many allies in Tampa Bay – if team does well financially, it does well on the field too!
Acquiring Manchester United
Having just won the Super Bowl, Malcolm’s oldest son, Avram, began looking to invest in European football (soccer in the US). After looking at several teams, Avram set his sights on Manchester United, one of the most valuable teams in the world.
Valued at $800 million, the team was looking for a new shareholder to stabilize the club. Forming a holdings company called Red Football, Malcolm and Avram Glazer would spend £9 million acquiring a 2.9% stake in the club on March 2 2003.
Over the next two years, the Glazers would slowly acquire a 98% stake in the company, which allowed them to delist Manchester United from the London Stock Exchange.
Under British law, however, the Glazers had to buy the remaining 2% of shares, giving them total ownership of the club on June 29 2005. This move gave the club a total valuation of £790 million ($1.5 billion at the time).
Much like their acquisition of the Buccaneers, the Glazers financed their acquisition through huge debts tied to the club itself.
To help pay off these debts, Glazer once again raised ticket prices, which also helped them acquire new players.
However, the anti-Glazer sentiment at Manchester United (or Man United for short) was stronger than at the Buccaneers, with many fans using the slogan “Love United Hate Glazers” when demanding the Glazers to sell the team.
You see, fans hated the high use of debt (as the club had ben debt-free for decades), they also hated the rise in prices, not to mention the fact that Malcolm Glazer had never watched the team play – and never did in his nine years of ownership.
Even today, years after Glazer’s death, most Man United fans still hate the Glazers, and Malcolm Glazer especially!
Legal Troubles
Yet, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Malcolm Glazer. Over the course of his business career, he has been involved in a number of mostly minor, yet incredibly bizarre (even by American standards!) legal disputes.
Even as he had his own family to look after (his eldest son, Avram, was born in October 1960), Malcolm continued to support his mother financially. Indeed, he also taught her how to invest her money so that her money made more money.
Due to this, Hannah Glazer had an estate worth $1 million at the time of her death, which she willed to Malcolm as a “thank you” for supporting her all these years. When she died in February 1980, Malcolm inherited everything.
His four remaining siblings, however, didn’t think this was fair. After all, Malcolm was a mulitbillionaire, surely he didn’t need the money (or so they argued anyway.
After a decade-long legal battle, Malcolm would eventually come out on top.
Years later, after his takeover of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, tenants in his Florida trailer parks would sue Malcolm and First Allied for illegally charging them extra fees, such as $3 for each resident beyond the first two or $5 for keeping a pet.
Eventually, Malcolm would drop these extra charges, but only begrudgingly, and after a legal battle that took him into the mid-2000’s.
Death
In spite of his business successes, Malcolm wasn’t invincible.
In April 2006, Malcolm would suffer a near-fatal stroke, which left him with speech difficulties and loss of movement on the right side of his body. After being rushed to hospital, doctors were initially hopeful that he’d make a full recovery.
However, a month later, Malcolm would suffer a second near-fatal stroke. Whilst not nearly as dangerous as his first one, it did leave Malcolm Glazer unable to properly run his empire, thus setting off a chain reaction within First Allied.
Wanting to get his affairs in order, three of Malcolm’s sons, Avram, Bryan and Joel, were all given extra responsibilities in the day-to-day operations of First Allied, with Malcolm stepping down in all but name.
Despite this, Malcolm would continue to do odd jobs for First Allied from his Palm Beach, Florida, home until his death on May 28 2014, at the age of 85.
His death would be announced by his team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with many in the Tampa Bay area mourning the loss of a man who’d almost single-handedly revitalized the entire area.
In his will, Malcolm would dictate that his business holdings should be split equally between his wife, Linda Glazer, and six children (five sons and one daughter).
Legacy
Despite it having been several years since their father’s passing, all six Glazer siblings and their mother still have their holdings in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Manchester United and First Allied Corporation.
Whilst equal on paper, its clear that Bryan, Joel and Avram (who sources claim were Malcolm’s favorites) are the most powerful, with Bryan and Joel controlling the Buccaneers, whilst Avram controls Man United.
It is also thanks to Malcolm that the Glazer family are among the richest families in the United States, placed at spot #63 with a net worth of $4.7 billion.
Here is where things get strange.
In the US, especially in the Tampa Bay area, Malcolm Glazer is revered. Although he initially made his money as a so-called “slumlord”, he eventually used this money to buy a second-rate NFL team and turn it into a major player.
Beyond this, he’d also use his money to revitalize the local area, as well as help the poorest in the Tampa Bay area – those families that were just like his own when he was a kid.
In the UK, however, especially in Manchester, Malcolm Glazer (and by extension the Glazer family as a whole) are hated.
Although under their ownership, Man United have won more medals and trophies than ever before, the way Malcolm acquired the company, and refused to watch them, made it seem as though he didn’t care.
This, coupled with other issues has cemented Malcolm Glazer as a no-good American in the eyes of many Man United fans. Seeing this, Malcolm’s son, Avram, has tried to mend the wounds, all to no avail.
How Can I Replicate What Malcolm Glazer Did?
Reading about the rather odd life of Malcolm Glazer, you are probably wondering how you can replicate what he did, to establish your own huge fortune, that was essentially recession-proof.
When people tell you that you need to be rich to become successful, just show them the life of Malcolm Glazer. After all, he turned a struggling watch repair business and $300 into a $4 billion fortune!
To replicate what he did, you need to start young, the younger the better (think of people like Mo Bridges and Rachel Zietz!)
To begin with, you want to establish one business. Simple enough. And no, it doesn’t have to be in any particular industry, so take your pick, but it should be in an industry you’re familiar with.
From here, you expand it as much as you can, increasing both revenue and profit. Using this profit, you expand into more industries, either buying out a company or starting from scratch.
Building this company up, alongside your original one, you should continue to increase revenue and profit, particularly the latter. Then, you buy or start up more businesses in your local area. From here, you just rinse and repeat.
Pretty soon, you’ll have an empire, which you can then expand nationally and later, internationally.
With that being said, you’ll need to watch out for overdiversifying your portfolio, as this is arguably what Malcolm Glazer did, something that cost him (and his fortune) greatly!
What Can we Learn From Malcolm Glazer?
Despite many people hating him, both during his life and after his death, the life of Malcolm Glazer can teach you a lot, not just about starting and running a business, but also about personal finance and life itself!
Don’t Care What People Say
During his lifetime, it’s fair to say that Malcolm Glazer was incredibly hated.
Whilst part of it was to do with his immense wealth (as most rich people tend to get) it was mostly down to his way of acquiring and running his sports teams, which often earned him the ire of lifelong fans.
You see, to acquire a sports team, Glazer would finance his takeover using millions of dollars worth of debt that was against the club he was buying, eg. its brand, cash flow, stadium etc.
Once he took over, he’d then raise ticket and jersey prices to pay off the creditors. To make things worse, Glazer didn’t even try to hide this. Instead, he was quite open about it, and was unapologetic.
Understandably, this earned him many enemies, both at home and abroad, who savaged him in the press for not caring about the clubs he owned, but only about the money he stood to make by owning them.
Always Diversify
Whilst its unclear whether or not Malcolm intended to diversify from the beginning, there’s no denying that he was a master of it.
Starting out with a watch repair business, he’d close that down to start buying real estate, starting with residential real estate before expanding to commercial real estate and trailer parks.
As time progressed, Malcolm Glazer would buy banks, nursing homes and TV stations, thus giving Malcolm interests in completely separate industries, which would lead Malcolm Glazer to establish First Allied Corporation.
Through First Allied, Glazer would diversify into supermarkets, kitchen design, restaurants, marine protein, motorcycles, toys and oil, all of which would protect him during the eight month recession of 1990/1991, which hit some of his companies quite hard.
Beyond this, he would expand into sports, as well as stocks and bonds too, which would mean that regardless of the economic climate at the time, Malcolm Glazer’s net worth was going to increase!
Setbacks Make or Break You
During his business career, Malcolm Glazer had his fair share of setbacks.
His first major one was when Sampson Air Force Base closed in 1956. Whilst a smart move for the US Air Force at the time, most of Malcolm’s business came from the base, devastating his business.
Yet, Malcolm wouldn’t let this stop him. Instead of complaining about it or acting defeated, he bounced back and used the money he had to begin acquiring commercial and residential real estate, thus making far more than he would’ve otherwise.
Almost two decades later, Malcolm would attempt to acquire Conrail, only to be outbid by at the very last minute. Once again, Malcolm would turn this into a positive.
Using the money he’d otherwise have used to acquire Conrail, he was able to become the largest shareholder in two companies – Harley-Davidson and Formica, which were both more profitable than Conrail ever was!
Be Frugal
As with most self-made millionaires and billionaires, Malcolm got there by being extremely frugal. However, during his life, Malcolm Glazer’s frugality was legendary, often being the subject of news articles covering his business career.
In early 2000, Glazer decided he wanted to write an autobiography about his rise from son of a poor immigrant to multibillionaire. Lacking the time to write the book, however, Glazer began interviewing ghost writers.
During one of these interviews, Glazer would point out to the writer, former Wall Street Journal columnist, Allen St John, that his pants came from Hugo Boss, and had a price tag of $200.
Glazer then proceeded to point out that his pants cost him $19.95 from JC Penny, before quipping that he likes his (cheap) pants more than St John’s (expensive) ones because he “remembers when he didn’t have $20 to spend on pants.”
And this wasn’t the first time Glazer had done this. In fact, almost his entire wardrobe cost next to nothing compared to his net worth, and Glazer didn’t mind showing it off, and making a point of it regardless of who he was dealing with.
By buying a $20 pair of pants, rather than a $200 pair, Malcolm essentially saved $180. Whilst it may not seem like much, Malcolm was able to then this money to acquire more holdings, thus increasing his net worth over time!
Don’t Forget to Give Back
Whilst not the richest man in the world at the time of his death (that would be Bill Gates) Malcolm Glazer was undeniably wealthy. And he wanted to do more with his wealth than just live lavishly.
In 1999, Malcolm would take a page out of Sam Walton’s book by establishing the Glazer Family Foundation (named in part as an homage to the Walton Family Foundation) which focuses on the Tampa Bay area specifically.
Through the Glazer Family Foundation, Malcolm has donated millions of dollars to the Tampa Bay area, including funding the construction of the Glazer Children’s Museum in downtown Tampa. The museum would open on September 25 2010.
Owing to his sports club holdings, Malcolm donated $2 million to the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, whose stated aim is to promote amateur sports, especially American football.
Malcolm would also pioneer the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Charitable Foundation and the Manchester United Foundation at those respective teams.
Has the story of Malcolm Glazer inspired you? Tell me in the comments!
