Owner of Manchester United
Malcom Irving Glazer has lived the American dream. From the tender age of 9 he worked in his father’s watch-parts business, which he took over at the age of 15 upon his fathers death. With about $300 to his name he set out on a mission to take over as many companies as he could.
He built up property portfolios in Rochester and Florida by buying up trailer parks before reinventing himself as a corporate marauder in the 80s. In 1984 he launched an unsuccessful $7.6 billion bid to buy the bankrupt rail company US Conrail. His bad luck with takeovers continued with failed attempts for Formica and Harley-Davidson (although he did buy significant shares in both companies which he sold at a profit, so no tears for Mr. Glazer). However he did get his hands on Zapata, an oil and gas company founded by George Bush Snr., and diversified it into fish oil and Caribbean supermarkets.
His holding company First Allied Corporation manages his interests in areas as diverse as food processing, marine supplies, health care, real estate, energy exploration, banking, broadcasting and bizarrely sausage skin making. His trademark is to rely on heavy borrowing, not necessarily healthy for the object of his takeover.
In 1995 Glazer bought the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL franchise upon the death of its owner Hugh Culverhouse. He paid $192 million to buy the team and took it to Super Bowl victory in 2002. His next foray into the sports world would be the takover of United in 2005 for $1.47billion, with most of the debt being taken on by the club – cheers Mal.
It hasn’t been plain sailing for old Glazer. He was accused by his trailer park tenants of illegally charging an extra $5 a month to keep a pet and $3 for each resident after two. He dropped the fees but earned the nickname ‘slumlord’. A dispute with his sisters over his mother’s estate dragged on for ten years.
His family is a latter day Brady Bunch – he has six kids! The young Glazers Avram, Kevin, Bryan, Joel, Darcie and Edward generally have roles in First Allied Corporation somewhere.
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