Robert Francis Xavier Sillerman (April 12, 1948 November 24, 2019)[1] was an American businessman and media entrepreneur. Nearly three years ago, Robert F.X. Its easy to say that in hindsight, Sillerman told Billboard in a June 9, 2016article. In 2000, the radio chain Clear Channel Communications bought SFX for $4.4 billion. Billboard is a part of Penske Media Corporation. [37], In May 2012, Sillerman was accused of sexual harassment by an employee of Function X. [12], In May 2009, Credit Suisse filed a request for summary judgment in New York State Supreme Court, alleging Sillerman had failed to pay the outstanding balance due under a credit agreement with Flag Luxury Properties LLC and that Sillerman defaulted on a series of payments due since April 2008, totaling $21.4 million. It Takes a Lot of People to Create All This AI Music. And then in early 2000, lightning struck again. Sillerman, a triathlete who loves vigorous games of volleyball and basketball, has recovered and now sports a yellow Livestrong bracelet. But instead of a billion-dollar acquistion, Sillerman wiped out hundreds of millions in investor money and eventually had to file for bankruptcy. That show is American Idol, and as with Elvis, Sillerman is convinced he can make it an even bigger deal than it already is. First, understand that Sillerman actually owns very little of Elviss music. American Idol is much more like a game show than a reality show, says Fuller. Investor Robert Sillerman, who bought Elvis Presley Enterprises, photographed with Elvis impersonators, 2005. And the King is content! Didnt work. Okay, so come on, Bob, what does F.X. That seemed to sum everything up., A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry. Posh Spice). Sillerman, the entertainment entrepreneur who helped. 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. A limestone mansion once owned by the late entertainment mogul Robert F.X. This is a long-term perspective, [but] a 10% return on equity from our perspective would be insufficient.. Young Sillerman graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis in 1969 after becoming immersed in counterculture politics and rock & roll. 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. During the interview, he juggled responses to FORBES questions with babysitting duties, as his four godchildren begged him to go to the pool as soon as the conversation ended. He declined to comment for this story via email. Among them was former Beatport CEO Matthew Adell, who stepped down less than two years after selling his company for $50 million in early 2013. He doesnt want to mess with anything. On the subject of corporate partnerships, Sillerman said he underestimated the time it would take to sign up sponsors for SFXs events. Sillerman was known for pushing the envelope. I thought he was asleep. He graduated from Brandeis in 1969 and, three years later, sold Youth Marketing Consultants to Ingalls, an advertising firm in Boston. Sillerman, an investor and media executive who built and sold radio empires, controlled the Elvis Presley estate and consolidated the American concert industry, died on Sunday. What Sillerman bought was Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE), a company that gets its $40 million in annual revenue from Graceland tours, onsite retailing, and licensingeach contributing a bit less than a third of the totalwith the balance derived from an apartment complex and the Heartbreak Hotel. Function (x) Founder Education Robert FX Sillerman studied at Brandeis University. Sillerman intends to buy more high-profile properties like these (think athletes and rock groups, for instanceSillerman is tightlipped about possible deals), find new ways to distribute them, and increase their value. Sillerman became one of the most intriguing and wealthiest men in the media business but died in bankruptcy, pursued by the government and suffering the painful complications of a decade. At Fridays price of 91 cents, SFXs shares are down 93% from its IPO price. [10], Leading CKX, Inc., Sillerman bought majority rights to Graceland, the Elvis Presley estate;[11] as well as the assets of Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment, whose assets include TV hit American Idol and managed clients including football player David Beckham. Sillerman's net worth , money, salary, income, and . Dressed in all black, the music mogul--who once appeared on the 2005 Forbes 400 list with a net worth of $975 million--held a disco ball that had been colored in gold and silver to represent the earth. Hes obviously smart, and he doesnt b.s. Sillerman, Concert Industry Consolidator, Dies at 71 Roy Trakin November 26, 2019, 6:02 PM Click here to read the full article. After that big deal, as with so many American business stories in 2000, things began to sour. When things were going bad, he was looking for ways to try and make it work, Finkel said. He is from USA. He wants to do what we want to do. Like what? The top contestants on the show are signed to Sony BMG, and 19 gets 10% of their recording revenue. [17][18] In December 2013 Viggle acquired Wetpaint for $30 million in stock and in early 2014 Viggle acquired Digit Media, an entertainment app producer. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google. He was an executive. In addition to concerts, Robert F.X. Sillerman, 57, a Wall Street operator with a long history of minting money in the media business. Sillerman had bought Elvis Presley Enterprises from Lisa Marie Presley in 2005, but later sold it to a private equity firm. [30][31], In an interview with Billboard, Sillerman admitted that there were "no easy answers" surrounding why the company collapsed, but added that he didn't "begrudge the disappointment and anger" of his staff because he was just as disappointed over the company's performance. Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis' daughter, had sold the majority of Elvis Presley Enterprises, . Sillerman already has 18 acres on the Strip through MJX, a real estate company he controls. In addition to Mr. Sillermans brother, Ms. Baudo Sillerman survives him. 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. To Sillerman the soft patch was an opportunity to reload. On Jun 7, 2012, Function (X), Inc. was renamed Viggle, which changed the company stock listing to VGGL. Well, its a little early to ask that question. Really? Investor Robert Sillerman is combining the King, American Idol, and other entertainment assets to build his next media conglomerate. The orginal goal was to buy Pasquale RotellasInsomniac, explained Estopinal. That greatly reduces the number of viewers who DVR it and skip the commercials. By that time Mr. Sillerman had turned his sights on another industry ripe for consolidation: the nationwide concert circuit, which had long remained a loosely connected network of venues and promoters who operated regional fiefs. Robert F.X. That didnt work out, but when we started talking, Insomniacs acquistion price was $10 million, he said. The five-story home, between Lexington and Third avenues, is 5,885 square feet and was built in 1920. And thats just part of the American Idol money train. [22][23][24], On October 9, 2013, SFX went public on the Nasdaq. The founder of SFX Entertainment rarely spoke about the impact of his daughter's death but his friends say it weighed on him and changed his outlook. 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. She also criticized the investors and analysts watching the company, saying they spent much of 2015 ignoring all indications that the Company was in a poor financial state and ignored key developments like a decision by Moodys to downgrade SFXs credit rating a development that under normal circumstances would be a significant red flag for investors. ), Sillerman with Rod Stewart and Dick Grasso at the NYSE.Henny Ray Abrams AFP/Getty Images. In some ways, thats good news for Sillerman and SFX: the cost of talent is no longer skyrocketing. You know if you make cars or washing machines or something like that, I guess you have to focus on margins. What about a world champion Idol drawn from all the different nations? The show venue may be moved from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to save money (and perhaps to fill a certain 2,000-seat theater). [6] Sillerman was married to copywriter Laura Baudo, whom he met at Ingalls. It runs in the family: Lisa Marie Presley signs autographs for NASCAR fans at Daytona Speedway this past July. Its a word Ive never liked. In 1985 Sillerman entered into a partnership with radio/television industry executive Carl E. Hirsch (known as Legacy Broadcasting) to acquire KJOI-FM, Los Angeles for a then record-setting $44 million, as well as other stations in Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, Washington D.C., Houston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and New York City. Sillerman stood stone-faced on the cover of Billboard magazine. 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. Moreno claims that Sillerman was mainly brought in to help organize financing for the business and that he had presented his plan to others, like billionaire Ron Burkle, before choosing Sillerman. And dont even think about asking him what his middle initials, F.X., stand for. Sillerman Dies at 71; Built Entertainment Empires, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/28/arts/music/robert-fx-sillerman-dead.html. Sillerman with Rod Stewart and Dick Grasso at the NYSE. LinkedIn has officially entered its cringe era, and its working. At the time, Sillerman said he expected to deliver equity and debt financing on the billion-dollar deal when a 60-day sale process was completed. As of December 2013, Viggle companies had a combined 17 million monthly users. In 2001, Britains ITV put Fullers baby, Pop Idol, on the air. But he doesnt seem to be worried about anything of the sort. Man in the middle: Simon Fuller (in back) with Idol stars Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, and Fantasia Barrino. When Mr. Sillerman tried to corner the fractious world of dance music festivals in the early 2010s, for example, he played the part of a devil-may-care rebel to a sometimes puzzling extent. Several managers and big-name acts from Ozzy Osborne to Shania Twain reportedly bristled over having to negotiate with such a corporate gorilla. Mr. Sillerman called it an inside joke. Robert Sillerman stepped down as CEO of SFX Entertainment in February, but the story between them continues. Robert F.X. Five years later, Clear Channel spun off those concert assets into a separate company, Live Nation, which in 2010 merged with Ticketmaster to become Live Nation Entertainment, the biggest concert promoter in the world. 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. What would be the ultimate winning scenario for Sillerman? This company owned "American Idol" and the licensing rights to Elvis Presley and his Graceland estate. (The balance is transaction costs.). 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. He often named his companies using some combination of those initials. They acquired additional radio and TV stations, including WALL and WKGL (Middletown, New York); WJJB; (Hyde Park, New York); WHMP (Northampton, Massachusetts); WLOM (Orleans, Massachusetts); WRAN (Randolph, New Jersey); WPLR (New Haven, Connecticut) and the television station WATL (Atlanta). Maybe, but maybe not. A brash figure in the financial pages, he bought and sold lucrative radio and concert businesses and controlled the Elvis Presley estate. But the companys performance was weak, and its stock price eventually plunged by more than 95 percent. Bear Stearns analyst R. Glen Reid says to also look for a 2,000-seat Elvis theater in Vegas. During its public run, the company also sold $295 million debt to finance additional acquisitions and fund operating losses. 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. But Mr. Sillermans success ran out in recent years when he tried to repeat his concert model with a new version of SFX Entertainment, this time going after electronic dance music, or EDM a bull market in 2012, when Mr. Sillerman opened the company with a $1 billion war chest. (Critics at the time complained that Sillerman overstepped his role by collecting fees for acting as both his companys financial advisor and investment banker during this period.) During its public run, the company also sold $295 million debt to finance additional acquisitions and fund operating losses. At the time of the companys formation, Sillerman boasted of his ability to go toe-to-toe with Live Nation Entertainment, the live events behemoth which was formed out of the firm he sold to Clear Channel for $4.4 billion in 2000. Brucie and Bob bought more stations and worked their magic on operations. Once on the Forbes 400 list, . After the sale, Sillerman went on another buying spree, purchasing the rights to Graceland, the Elvis Presley Estate,Simon Fullers 19 Entertainment and an 80% stake in Muhammad Ali Enterprises. Despite having established brands, the festivals that were acquired by Sillerman's empire collectively moved in the opposite direction of what was expected. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. We bought companies based on what we anticipated that we could bring in incremental sources of revenue.. . Sillerman attempted to rebrand the project as a Baccarat Hotel but this also failed. Pei through the hallowed halls. The stock cratered. While he survived that battle, Sillerman is now in a fight to salvage SFX Entertainment, which went public at $13 a share and was valued at more than $1 billion in Oct. 2013. I also thought she was shrewd and perceptive. But from 2013 to 2014, the increase slowed to 11%; this year, its only 2.5%. Sillerman was also a major shareholder of CKX Inc. All Rights Reserved. Michael Sillerman died in 1980, just when his sons career was taking off. 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. Raised in the Bronx, New. Think about it. The company that emerged would become Clear Channel, which is now known as iHeartRadio. Robert F.X. 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 . As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The 66-Year-Old Rave King of Wall Street In the past few years, Bob Sillerman has become notorious in the dance music industry for buying up a string of once-independent rave promoters in order. [19][20] In July 2015, Viggle had more than 9.5 million registered users across all properties, up from 5.4 million registered users at the end of 2014. With so many formats vying for consumers attention, content is king. [21], In 2012, Sillerman rebooted SFX Entertainment, this time with a focus on the electronic dance music industry. He made a lot of people wealthy, and he made himself even wealthier., Visit with Sillerman for an hour or two in his Manhattan office, and you are likely to get a rapid-fire discourse on politics from the 1960s to today, or rock & roll radio, or Thoreau, or education in America, or all of the above. Part of that underwhelming reality may have to do with the public relations nightmares that can occur while running EDM festivals. Robert Franklin Sillerman was born in Manhattan on April 12, 1948, to Michael McKinley Sillerman, a radio and television executive, and Estelle (Levande) Sillerman. By the time Mr. Sillerman began buying radio stations in the late 1970s, he was using a new name: Robert F.X. "Robert F. X. Sillerman," Wikipedia.org. What we wanted to do was to take this to another level. Lisa says that she, her mother, and Soden had spoken for years about bringing in outside investors and/or management, but nothing clicked. Mr. Sillermans marketing talents emerged early. But when I took it to America, almost everyone rejected it, Fuller recalls. He seems to have a knack for selling just when markets are at their peak, which has given some buyers severe indigestion. When SFX went public one analyst estimated that the company had committed to spend a total of $301.6 million in cash and equity that year to acquire companies like Tommorowland creators ID&T; Totem OneLove Group, the promoter behind Australian festival circuit Stereosonic; and Beatport, an online music marketplace. Robert F.X. And there are between 105 and 110 scheduled for next year.. Viggle registers the television show a person is watching, and engages the users with a loyalty program for viewing particular programs. Capstar applied for and received permission to operate more than one class of radio station in the same market. The hotel, Sillerman and Soden say, is just screaming to be expanded, upgraded, and replicated in other locations. Some $20 million. 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. 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