Sam Zell Net Worth, Biography and Career

Sam Zell Net Worth $6 Billion

Sam Zell is a self-made billionaire who is mostly recognized for his capacity to make rigorous financial decisions, even if it means he’ll appear to be heading in the opposite way of other prosperous entrepreneurs. He’s what many people might call an “unconventional investor” based on his views, theories, and actions.

To cut a long story short, Sam Zell is an American businessman and investor who founded and now heads the Chicago-based firm, Equity Group Investments. Although he is well-versed in real estate, Sam has dramatically transformed his portfolio, which allows him to be identified as an entrepreneur, investor, and author.

Over the years, he watched his businesses develop and flourish. Like any business owner, he experienced his own share of ups and downs. While he was able to collect 39 billion dollars from the sale of Equity Office Properties, he took a 315 million dollars loss on the buyout of Tribune in 2007.

He earned a large portion of his wealth from his real estate dealings, and his fortune also reflects his owned stakes in a long list of growing companies. Aside from investing in individual companies, this brilliant investor is said to own an art collection and real estate worth millions.

The remainder of this article features complete details of Sam Zell’s life and career in addition to all that there is to know in regard to his financial situation.

Early Life: Childhood, Education

Born in 1941, Sam Zell was raised in a Jewish home in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. His father was a jewelry wholesaler. In 1939, his parents migrated to the United States shortly before Germany invaded Poland.

Zell had an interest in the world of business from a very young age. In 1953, when he was just 12, he would purchase copies of Playboy in bulk quantities and resell them for anywhere between three to six times more profit. His entrepreneurial spirit also followed him throughout his college years.

While at the University of Michigan, he and his buddy, Robert Lurie, managed student apartments for landlords in return for some commission. Their first gig involved 15 homes. But they actually spent most of their time purchasing and improving abandoned properties with the goal of either renting them to students or flipping them.

By the time he graduated in 1966, Sam Zell had managed a total of 4,000 apartments and had owned somewhere between 100 and 200 of them personally. He sold his share of the property management business to his business partner before moving back to Chicago.

Professional Life: Real Estate, Other Investments

When he had graduated from law school and passed the bar, Sam Zell joined a firm of lawyers. However, he left this after his first week as it wasn’t what he believed he was destined for.

He eventually made up his mind to make a full-time profession out of investing in real estate. In 1968, he founded what became Equity Group Investments, and the next year he convinced his friend Robert Lurie to work with him.

A rash of overbuilding during the 1960s and 1970s helped to precipitate a market crash in 1973. Multifamily residential real estate was first affected, with other property types following suit. Many developers abandoned their projects and many loans on commercial properties entered into default.

That presented Zell and Lurie with the opportunity to acquire high-quality properties at low-cost prices. At the end of the crisis, the two men possessed a valuable portfolio of retail, apartment, and office buildings.

They held the portfolio for years and, as a result, saw the value of the buildings regain and eventually top their previous valuation levels. In the meantime, the businessmen serviced their debt payments from the rental income the properties produced monthly.

This approach to real estate investing was new at the time as most property investors earned profits by flipping buildings rather than collecting rental income.

Following his success with turning dilapidated properties into valuable ones, Sam decided to diversify his investments. By the 1980s, he started to buy companies.

His investment strategy, however, remained the same. He focused on taking over crashing businesses with the sole goal of turning them around. Since expanding Equity Group‘s investment portfolio, he has invested in a list of companies that operate in various sectors including plastics packaging, industrial manufacturing, agricultural chemicals, container leasing, passenger cruise, and rail.

At one time, his Equity Group owned a controlling stake in the Tribune Company, owner of the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.

Personal Life: Wife, Children, Private Interests

Mr. Zell has been married on three different occasions and divorced twice. His third wife is Helen Herzog Fadim Zell. He has three children and lives in Chicago, Illinois, with his family.

Achievements: Awards & Honors

Sam received a Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement in the year 1987. In 1999, he was an inductee of the Chicago Association of Realtors Hall of Fame. He received a Kellogg Award for Distinguished Leadership in 2007.

Sam Zell Net Worth: Salary, Income Sources, Assets

Available reports at the time of this writing show that Sam Zell has an estimated net worth of $6 billion. He has been able to accomplish success in his career by being decisive enough to do the right things at the right times by successfully investing in the businesses he has ventured into, which in return, paid off handsomely. In addition, he is an author and has received additional income from his books as well.

Sam Zell has been a part of countless investments to date. He is an American businessperson and a philanthropist who has been able to achieve a lot in the business industry by making important investments here and there, which has enabled him to stand out and appear unique if compared to many of his peers in the industry.

Today, his wealth of over 6 billion dollars makes him eligible to be listed as one of the wealthiest people in the United States, and one of the world’s billionaires. He maintains homes in Sun Valley, Idaho, and Malibu, California.