Just ask the makers of the smash-hit movie Lilo and Stitch, who used an Elvis soundtrack to great success. The results supported theories that Sillerman--who proposed in late May to take the company private at a price of $5.25 per share--didnt have the financial partners or intent to buy his cash-strapped company. And dont even think about asking him what his middle initials, F.X., stand for. Between Elviss legendary free spending and the fact that he didnt own his songs, the situation was dire. 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. Elvis, a poor boy from Tupelo, Miss., comes up to Memphis, manages to get himself into Sun Records, and lays down the track to Thats All Right (Mama). A local radio station airs it, the calls come streaming in, and Elvis is on the way to glory. (Per capita, Canadian Idol is much bigger than its U.S. 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. Backstage at The Ed Sullivan Show, 1956: Elvis with the host and manager Parker (left). The five-story home, between Lexington and Third avenues, is 5,885 square feet and was built in 1920. The house, formerly owned by Robert Sillerman, includes a 12,000. 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. What kind of person would grow up to have business dreams like these? Brandeis University Recent News and Activity Funding Round Sep 16, 2014 All Rights Reserved. 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. Some $20 million. Some of those companies listed werent done deals, Estopinal tells Billboard, adding that Sillerman misrepresented his financing and capitalization as he put SFX together. After selling SFX Entertainment, Mr. Sillerman pursued various entertainment projects. He wa When he did sell to Live Nation, the number was closer to $100 million the only thing that changed was were out there buying promoters., Dance music was rapidly growing in popularity with ticket sales increasing by nearly 30% from 2011 to 2012, but most electronic promoters were putting everything they owned into the next show, explains Estopinal. (Hicks Muse agreed to spin this business off to SFX shareholders.) They said music doesnt work on TV in America. [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. Brucie and Bob bought more stations and worked their magic on operations. He sold the company in 1971, and then launched I P+E, a sales marketing and promotion company. Even so, says Lisa Presley, theres only so far you can take a family-run business. This company owned "American Idol" and the licensing rights to Elvis Presley and his Graceland estate. American Idol is the No. Sillerman, the entertainment entrepreneur who helped. Earlier this year Sillerman settled with the SEC for $179,000. 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." He was an executive. Sillerman has taken legal action against the company, seeking about $15.8 to cover. In 2017, he almost lost the home after defaulting on a $12.5 million loan, The Post reported at the time. Robert FX Sillerman is the Founder at Function (x). In her ruling, McMahon said the buyout offer was likely made to distract attention from the companys poor quarterly financial reports, which showed that SFX was bleeding money and attendance at its events dropping. Revenues at the company that manages his affairs, Elvis Presley Enterprises, have been flat at $40 million for five years. It was a smash right off the bat. ", "Mobile app Viggle sets terms for $50 million NASDAQ listing", "GetGlue Sale to Sillerman's Viggle Cancelled", "GetGlue Acquired by Viggle for $25M, 48.3M Shares of Stock", "Viggle Buys Dijit Media, in Another Second-Screen TV Mashup", "Viggle Acquires Dijit, Will Connect Its Rewards Program To Dijit's TV Discovery App", "With Over 9.5 Million Registered Users, Viggle Expects Fiscal 2015 Revenue to Increase More Than 40% Year-Over-Year to $25.6 Million", "SFX Beefing Up Digital Capabilities, Plans to Buy Tunezy, Fame House and Arc90", "Mogul to Increase Bets on Electronic Dance Music", "SFX Enters Ticketing Business with $16.2 Million Acquisition of Europe's Paylogic", "Electronic music promoter SFX files for $175-million IPO", "Robert F.X Sillerman on SFX's IPO, Stock Prices, Future Acquisitions, Afrojack", "SFX's Bumpy Ride Continues With $20 Million in New Financing", "SFX Entertainment Emerges From Bankruptcy With New Name: LiveStyle", "SFX Emerges From Bankruptcy with a New Name, LiveStyle, and New Leader in Randy Phillips", "Former SFX CEO Robert Sillerman Speaks Out for the First Time About His Company's Implosion: 'I Don't Begrudge the Employees' Anger', "Choosing honorary degree recipient an often-painstaking process", "Sillerman Family Makes $10 Million Gift to Heller to Begin New Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy", "Steven Spielberg and George Soros Stock Senate Democratic Super-PAC", "Music Managers Allege Deceit by SFX Founder", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_F._X._Sillerman&oldid=1135076047, American entertainment industry businesspeople, American telecommunications industry businesspeople, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 22 January 2023, at 14:00. He also made money on Broadway as an executive producer for Mel Brooks' musical The Producers. 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. [15][16] As of the end of 2013 Viggle had about 3.7 million users. This is a long-term perspective, [but] a 10% return on equity from our perspective would be insufficient.. His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. All Rights Reserved. But in making his push for the new version of SFX in 2012, he spoke with boundless optimism about the potential for his new company. A limestone mansion once owned by the late entertainment mogul Robert F.X. However, since doubts of Sillerman's take-private began to emerge in July, the company hasn't disclosed a bona fide competing offer. They wanted to marry content with distribution, where CKX will not be in the traditional distribution business. 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 with Rod Stewart and Dick Grasso at the NYSE.Henny Ray Abrams AFP/Getty Images. 1 hit in more than two dozen countries, including the U.S.) And Elvis impersonators are still fixtures in everything from movies to corporate events. I have a million ideas all the time, says Fuller, but before I could only do one a year. But the flattening rates for top acts may be symptomatic of demand, a signal that EDM more broadly is approaching a saturation pointand that pouring more money into creating more festivals, Sillermans plan all along, is not a viable strategy anymore. 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. The top contestants on the show are signed to Sony BMG, and 19 gets 10% of their recording revenue. Robert F.X. Ive tried to get him drunk to get him to tell me, says Brucie. 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. By then Sillerman was already toiling away on his next project, SFX Entertainment, a company that would own concert venues and other media properties. Bob went out and taught salespeople; I taught the on-air staff. 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. Robert F.X. Sillerman, Self: 60 Minutes. He often named his companies using some combination of those initials. And there are a couple of Sillerman stories that involve nudity. ), 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. He can outlast and outtalk anybody. Says a close colleague: His BlackBerry messages start at 6 A.M. and never stop into the night. Beyond the lawsuit, questions have also been raised about the fundamentals of a business that some analysts said relied on what they deemed a cultural fad. In other words, distribution companies are falling all over each other to reach customers through new, competing outlets. Yes, Elviss core fans are aging, but young people still are drawn to the man with the oversized Q-rating. 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. 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 . Sillerman stood stone-faced on the cover of Billboard magazine. And game shows are the longest-lasting shows on TV. He graduated from Brandeis in 1969 and, three years later, sold Youth Marketing Consultants to Ingalls, an advertising firm in Boston. Sillerman had bought Elvis Presley Enterprises from Lisa Marie Presley in 2005, but later sold it to a private equity firm. Clear Channel would later spin off its concert holdings into Live Nation in 2005 with CEO Michael Rapino at the helm, which grewinto the most dominate company in music, with $15 billion in revenue reported in 2019. 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