Robert F X Sillerman (born New York in 1949) is a billionaire businessman, making his fortune through building and selling companies in the media industry.
Sillerman grew up in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. He sold greeting cards door-to-door in middle school, and disatisfied with the margins set up his own corporation, buying in bulk and getting friends as a commissioned sales force.
After his father went bankruptcy in the pioneering Keystone Radio Network, Sillerman attended Brandeis University. By day he majored in political science, while by night in 1966 he launched "Youth Market Consultants", offering fellow students discount magazine subscriptions while advising marketers on how to target the teen set. He sold the company in 1972 to Boston's Ingalls ad firm [1].
In 1978, Sillerman and oldies D.J. Bruce "Cousin Brucie" Morrow bought two tiny radio stations in upstate New York for $1.875 million. They acquired additional radio and TV stations, powered by Sillermans sales prowess and frat-boy humour, including awarding gold sales pins with the letters sls for "Sell Like Shit". The Sillerman Morrow group of stations eventually included WALL; and WKGL in Middletown, New York, WJJB, now WCZX in Hyde Park, NY; WHMP in Northhampton, MA; WOCN in South Yarmouth, MA; WRAN in Randolph, New Jersey; WPLR New Haven, CT and television station WATL Atlanta.
In 1993, Sillerman agreed a deal to buy-out Morrow, and formed a partnership with radio-industry guru Steve Hicks to take several stations public under SFX Broadcasting. When the United States Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowed for ownership of multiple stations in single markets, they bought up enough stations to become the nation's seventh-largest chain.
In 1996, Hicks left to become president of Capstar Broadcasting, and with backing from his brother Tom at Texas buyout firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst; Hicks bought SFX Broadcasting 71 radio stations for $2.1 billion in 1998. The transaction netted Sillerman $250 million.
Sillerman used this cash to build SFX Entertainment (concert promotion, sports agencies) into Europe, making money on Broadway with "The Producers", and turning SFX Entertainment into the world’s largest producer, promoter and presenter of live entertainment [2]. He then sold the company to Clear Channel for $4.4 billion in 2000.
His latest vehicle is CKX, Inc., which has already bought majority rights to the Elvis Presley estate [3]; as well as the assets of Simon Fullers 19 Entertainment, who's assets include TV hit "American Idol".
Since 1993, Sillerman has served as the Chancellor of the Southampton College of Long Island University, replacing Angier Biddle Duke, ambassador to Spain under Lyndon Johnson. Sillerman took the job on two condistions: that the college scrap ill-defined liberal-arts programs and focus on marine science and creative writing. And that he lead publicity - he named Kermit the Frog as the 1996 commencement speaker: 31 newspapers picked up the story, a free marketing bonanza that raised the college's profile and drew hundreds of new admissions.
Married to copywriter Laura Baudo, whom he met when she came to pitch her musical card to him in college [4], he and his wife have one child. The couple live on a nine acre beachside estate in Southampton, and have a resort in Anguilla. When they celebrated their 25th anniversary in February 1999, Sillerman hired the Irving Plaza and headline act Willie Nelson, and presented Laura with $100 million to launch the Tomorrow Foundation, a charity to be run by her.