Then, Lisa says, the failure of the Elvis Presleys Memphis restaurant on Beale Street in 2003 made matters urgent. Yes, Elviss core fans are aging, but young people still are drawn to the man with the oversized Q-rating. Maybe, but maybe not. [37], In May 2012, Sillerman was accused of sexual harassment by an employee of Function X. In addition to concerts, Robert F.X. Says his longtime business partner, disc jockey Cousin Brucie Morrow: Bob is very exhausting to be with. Even more worrying, SFXs cash reserves dwindled to $38.6 million. But for years he had maintained a golden touch in building media franchises and extracting maximum value from them. On Saturday, Sillerman gave an interview to FORBES and said that he takes full responsibility for the issues within his SFX Entertainment. Attracting funds, at least at this point, wont be a limitation. Almost immediately after Sillerman closed on the Elvis deal, he opened his wallet again and purchased 19 Entertainment, a business with even more moving parts than Elvis. That is, if SFX is still around in a year to run those events. Just ask the makers of the smash-hit movie Lilo and Stitch, who used an Elvis soundtrack to great success. The massive property that was assembled from four different plots of land has just hit the market for a staggering $150 million. (Photo credit: Jonas Roosens/AFP/Getty Images), Increase Website Performance With Three Metrics, Europe Is Lagging Behind In Developing Large AI Models, Deepfakes - The Danger Of Artificial Intelligence That We Will Learn To Manage Better, Overview Of How To Create Deepfakes - Its Scarily Simple, Ukrainian Startups Showing Resilience In A Time Of War, Worried That Your Phone Is Spying On You? I have a million ideas all the time, says Fuller, but before I could only do one a year. He was married to Laura Baudo. There were people who told me, Im not doing a deal with this guy, hes going to die, Estopinal says. Before 157 West 57th Street became One57, that glassy billionaire's priapism which has come to stand for a whole battery of class . We have estimated Robert F.X. around. As for Sillermans take on Lisa: I was impressed with how real and grounded she was. Sillerman, Self: 60 Minutes. PHOTOGRAPH BY GREG MILLER. If we can, this will dwarf the first SFX. By the time Mr. Sillerman began buying radio stations in the late 1970s, he was using a new name: Robert F.X. That suit, led by dance promoter Paolo Moreno, alleges that Sillerman, who was completely unfamiliar with dance music, took the idea to acquire and combine global EDM companies from him and his associates after they had agreed to work with the businessman and Finkel. 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." Estopinal says he last saw Sillerman at a deposition, but he remembers sending Sillerman a note after the bankruptcy, acknowledging the failures of SFX while also thanking him for the opportunity to be part of the company. 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. 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. And she had a great sense of humor., Here then are the terms of the deal between Sillerman and Lisa Presley: CKX paid $114 million for an 85% interest in Elvis Presley Enterprises; Lisa retains the other 15%. Terms & Conditions. Sillerman became one of the most intriguingand wealthiestmen in music by twice betting on his vision for the future of mass media. What would be the ultimate winning scenario for Sillerman? In February 1982 the probate judge told the trustees of the estate that he feared it would go bankrupt because of taxes and legal fees, says Jack Soden, a Kansas City money manager brought in to advise the Presley family. Pei through the hallowed halls. But isnt American Idol just another reality show that will soon run out of gas? It runs in the family: Lisa Marie Presley signs autographs for NASCAR fans at Daytona Speedway this past July.Jeff Gross Getty Images, Sillermans latest publicly traded corporate incarnation is called CKX. [32], From 1993 Sillerman served as the Chancellor of the Southampton College of Long Island University, replacing Angier Biddle Duke. Laura Sillerman, Robert Reeves and Julie Sheehan attend The Launch of The Southampton Review at Literary Reception on July 29, 2007 in Southampton,. dialogue with Robert Sillerman. 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. Sillerman was the owner of a range of television and radio stations during the 1970s and 1980s, In 1993 he formed SFX Broadcasting, and then built SFX Entertainmenta concert and stage performance promoter that was sold to Clear Channel in 2000 for $4.4 billion. But he doesnt seem to be worried about anything of the sort. Former employees also interviewed by Billboard felt that the company did not do enough to leverage its scale, and that the company did not engage in centralization, leading to a lack of coordination between its collection of subsidiaries. Over a few years in the late 1990s, Mr. Sillerman and his new company, SFX Entertainment, spent more than $2 billion acquiring dozens of promoters and venues, creating the concert worlds first truly national force. Once a saver, always a saver: Warren Buffett says generational wealth isnt what it used to be in his annual letter Its bigger than the housing crisis: An influential economist just blamed NIMBYs for American decline, and Elon Musk CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. Profanity was part of a larger schtick punctuated with sexist, racist and generally inappropriate language that was softened by Sillermans own self-deprecating jokes with his Jewish heritage being the punchline. He replied with an email that said, Can I borrow a dollar? Estopinal said. He set up his own business, Youth Markets Consultants, to help big companies sell their wares to the Now Generation. and attractions such as Memphis' Graceland to Robert Sillerman, . He. Its sad how things ended because he really was a bright guy, but in the end he carried a lot of pain. Robert Sillerman, born April 12, 1948 in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, early on had a strong entrepreneurial bent starting a greeting card in high school and a youth marketing company while at Brandeis University. Sillerman, the entertainment. He seems to have a knack for selling just when markets are at their peak, which has given some buyers severe indigestion. In 2000 he sold a company that owned concert venues to Clear Channel for a reported $3 billion. Why? It Takes a Lot of People to Create All This AI Music. His timing seemed impeccable. In 2017, he almost lost the home after defaulting on a $12.5 million. Now that Sillerman's deal is dead, SFX is in a mad dash to find a new buyer. It wasnt a plan too dissimilar to Sillermans moves with the original SFX where he spent more than $1.2 billion to gobble up regional rock promoters, venues and management companies in the late 90s. At Ingalls he met a young copywriter, Laura Baudo, who would become his wife. We cured him. By 1985 the pair had accumulated some 70 stations, which they sold for some $50 million. The company also acquired 80% in Muhammad Ali Enterprises. SFX, however, had problems from day one. But Sillerman was drawn to his fathers business. ), 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. In addition to Mr. Sillermans brother, Ms. Baudo Sillerman survives him. When things were going bad, he was looking for ways to try and make it work, Finkel said. I dont want to be like Martha Stewart and talk about what I shouldnt, Lisa says with a chuckle. Sillerman announced in early June that he'd be making a return to the live entertainment industry, and today he made his second purchase toward that. But the companys performance was weak, and its stock price eventually plunged by more than 95 percent. S&P Index data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. 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. 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. I thought he was asleep. The studio of course had a glass wall. 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. More and more content can go directly to consumers through cellphones, devices like iPods, and home video, which makes content even more valuable. But doesnt Sillermans strategy fly in the face of what big media is doing right now? So he offered investors a lower price, $12 a share, and the sale was extended even longer. How big will CKX become? 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. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Sillerman is largely responsible for helping create two of the biggest companies in music iHeartRadio and Live Nation through a series of deals he finalized in the late 1990s. And sad. I dont want to say anything negative about someone who wasgood to me, but there were a lot of issues.. Sillerman in the gift shop at Graceland, Elvis Presleys home in Memphis. You may opt-out by, 2013, the day his company went public. All Rights Reserved. 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. 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. Today, that blueprint to take over the electronic dance music (EDM) world is in shambles, the result of poor management, suspect financial planning and a certain hubris that Sillerman, who corporatized the live music industry in the 1990s, could do it all over again. Think of how we can continue to expand the show, says Fuller. Which would seem to be a naturalElvis and Vegas go together like peanut butter and bananas. Sillerman, 57, a Wall Street operator with a long history of minting money in the media business. Backstage at The Ed Sullivan Show, 1956: Elvis with the host and manager Parker (left).CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images. 19 did some $92 million in revenues last yearwith about a third coming from the Idol showsand earned $12.6 million. His cost basis on these shares? Despite having established brands, the festivals that were acquired by Sillerman's empire collectively moved in the opposite direction of what was expected. Could it be that Sillerman didnt fully understand this--or just how skittish it would make brands? 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. With reporting from Sue Radlauer and Zack O'Malley Greenburg in Jersey City, N.J. I dont know whether its directed at a specific individual, or a type of individual, or more as my interpretation of Albert Einsteins fabulous quote: No problem can ever be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. And thats what Ive done my whole life. These are Sillermans strengths: identifying trends in the media business before others, then gathering and deploying capital to make the strategy work. What kind of person would grow up to have business dreams like these? [2][3], Sillerman was born to a Jewish family in New York City, and was raised in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, the son of Estelle (Levande) and Michael McKinley Sillerman. Sillerman already has 18 acres on the Strip through MJX, a real estate company he controls. Starting in the late 1970s, Mr. Sillerman built a portfolio of radio and television stations worth nearly $1 billion. 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. Around that time Sillerman was diagnosed with tongue cancer and underwent chemotherapy, which sidelined him for several months. [6] Sillerman was married to copywriter Laura Baudo, whom he met at Ingalls. His father, Michael McKinley Sillerman, was a radio executive who went bankrupt when his son was 13. Some $20 million. That seemed to sum everything up., A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry. As the genre has grown in popularity, so too has the quantity of reports of drug-induced injuries and deaths at concerts. Sillermans actions signaled to the market that he saw significant value in SFX. He was 71. Though these unfortunate events have more to do with the young generation experimenting with different ways of altering their consciousness while listening to music than the music itself, MDMA-based drugs have a certainly become a part of EDM culture. On August 14, Sillerman tabled his bid, saying that the markets made the ability to complete a deal virtually impossible., The fact the market said--which its entitled to--We dont believe that this deal is going to close is one thing, he said. In each case Sillerman assembled a collection of media propertiesall in distributionat low prices and then unloaded the bundle for a higher price. 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Speak with executives at Graceland and in New York, though, and it quickly becomes obvious how they want to further elevate the King. Sony Pictures Television Nonfiction (formerly known as CKX, Inc., CORE Media Group, Inc. and Industrial Media, LLC) is an American company founded on February 7, 2005, that owns and develops entertainment content and intellectual property . 19 is the brainchild of Simon Fuller, whom Sillerman describes as a cherubic bundle of nonstop creative energy. Fuller started out as a talent scout in the 1980shis company is named after a hit song by an artist he manageddiscovering and working with British rock groups like Spandau Ballet, Billy Idol, and Ultravox. SFX raised $260 million in its initial public offering. When the King died in 1977, his estate was a mess. This company owned "American Idol" and the licensing rights to Elvis Presley and his Graceland estate. Sillerman, the entertainment entrepreneur who helped. Robert F.X. The payment will no doubt make it easier for Sillerman to call Priscilla up and ask her to come to a ribbon cutting of a new Elvis property, for instance. Sillerman was born into a media household, raised in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, and attended top private schools in New York City. As his radio empire grew, Sillerman increasingly came up against Federal Communications Commission regulations restricting his ability to own multiple public broadcast stations, until 1996 and the passage of the Telecommunications Act, which lifted the restriction on owning multiple radio and television stations in a single market, paving the way for Sillermans firm to merge with Command Communicationsand become SFX Broadcasting. When presented to the public--and later, Wall Street--the plan for SFX Entertainment seemed simple enough: roll up local EDM event organizers under one umbrella organization that could drive profits by providing structure and efficiency. Sillerman. Sillermans personal take was a reported $219 million. Sillerman, 57, a Wall Street operator with a long history of minting money in the . 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. And I love it. Industrial Media. Eight years later he unloaded a bunch of stations to Hicks Muse for $2.1 billion. The last thing well be thinking about is margins, Sillerman told FORBES in July 2012. He loves to party. Sillerman, the founder of SFX Entertainment, has died at the age of 71 due to respiratory illness. Moreover, those familiar with the live events industry know that festivals can lose millions of dollars in their early years as they try to build their fan bases. We have to be careful to not deprecate Elviss legacy or to damage our authorized and official Elvis shows.. 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