Stan Kroenke Biography

Enos Stanley "Stan" Kroenke (born July 29, 1947 in Columbia, Missouri) is an American business entrepreneur. He is named after St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famers Enos "Country" Slaughter and Stan "The Man" Musial. His wife, Ann Walton Kroenke, is the daughter of Wal-Mart cofounder Bud Walton. Kroenke is also the owner of Kroenke Sports Enterprises, which includes the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer, Colorado Avalanche of the NHL, Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League and St. Louis Rams of the NFL (the Colorado sports properties are in the name of Josh Kroenke, one of his children, to satisfy NFL ownership restrictions that forbid a team owner from owning teams in other markets). Kroenke is also the largest shareholder of English football club Arsenal, He currently lives in Columbia, Missouri. Kroenke was estimated to be worth $US 4.1 billion by Forbes in 2012.

Business career

Real estate

Kroenke obtained a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Missouri. He founded the Kroenke Group in 1983, a real estate development firm that has constructed numerous shopping centers and apartment buildings. Since his marriage to Walton, he has been in the special position to develop many of the plazas near Wal-Mart stores. He is also the chairman of THF Realty, an independent real estate development company that specializes in suburban development. He founded this corporation in St. Louis in 1991.

Kroenke was already a wealthy man in his own right, but became even more so in 1995, when he and Ann inherited a stake in Wal-Mart upon the death of Bud Walton. That stake is now worth over $6 billion.

Kroenke Sports Enterprises

Kroenke is a well-known sports mogul. As the head and owner of Kroenke Sports Enterprises, he bought a 40 percent stake in the National Football League's St. Louis Rams after their relocation to Missouri in 1995. In 2000, he became full owner of both the National Basketball Association's Denver Nuggets and the National Hockey League's Colorado Avalanche, purchasing the team from Charlie Lyons' Ascent Entertainment Group. In 2002, he partnered with Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen and former Bronco quarterback John Elway to become part-owner of the Arena Football League's Colorado Crush. He continued to grow his sports empire in 2004, when he purchased the National Lacrosse League's Colorado Mammoth and Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids from Phil Anschutz.

In 2010, Kroenke exercised his right of first refusal to buy the remaining interest in the St. Louis Rams from the estate of late owner Georgia Frontiere. On August 25, 2010, he became full owner of the Rams by unanimous consent of the NFL. To gain approval from NFL owners, Kroenke agreed to turn over control of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche to his son, Josh, by the end of 2010, and he must give up his majority stake in both teams by December 2014. The NFL does not allow its owners to hold majority control of major league teams in other NFL markets.

Kroenke Sports Enterprise also owns Pepsi Center in Denver, home of the Nuggets and Avalanche, and co-owns Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, home of the Rapids. Both venues were built by his development company. In 2004, Kroenke launched his own competitor to FSN Rocky Mountain (now known as Root Sports Rocky Mountain), Altitude, a new regional sports network which became the official broadcaster for both of Kroenke's teams on launch. Kroenke also established TicketHorse, a ticket company that provides in-house sales for all of his teams.

Kroenke is a somewhat reclusive man who stays out of the limelight. He is popularly known as "Silent Stan" because he almost never gives interviews to the press. He rarely interferes in his teams' day-to-day operations.

Kroenke is the largest shareholder of Premier League football club Arsenal. Arsenal already had a technical link-up with Kroenke's Colorado Rapids when in April 2007 Granada Ventures, a subsidiary of ITV plc, had sold their 9.9% stake in Arsenal Holdings plc to Kroenke's KSE UK inc. Kroenke went on to buy further shares in the club, taking his total stake up to 12.19%. The club's board initially expressed skepticism that a bid would be in its best interests, but gradually warmed to him as part of counteracting Alisher Usmanov's rival bid for the club.

By June 2008 the board had prepared to let Kroenke take over the club, and on 19 September 2008 it was officially announced that Kroenke had joined the Arsenal board of directors. Kroenke had a beneficial interest in, and controlled voting rights over, 18,594 shares, representing 29.9% of the issued shares meaning he was nearing the 29.99% threshold, beyond which he would be forced to make an offer for all the remaining shares.

On 10 April 2011, it was reported that Kroenke was in advanced talks to complete the takeover of Arsenal. The following day, it was announced that he increased his shareholding in Arsenal to 62.89% by purchasing the stakes of Danny Fiszman and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith, and agreed to make an offer for the rest of the club at £11,750 per share, valuing the club at £731M.

Other businesses

In 2006, Kroenke, in partnership with the money manager Charles Banks, acquired the Napa Valley winery Screaming Eagle. (In April 2009, Banks stated he was no longer involved with Screaming Eagle).

Controversy

Arsenal Football Club

On 3 December 2012, The Daily Mail reported that Kroenke spent a reported £80 million on new ranch in the United States at a time when a decline in spending at the club resulted in a decline of success, later in August 2013 and at the start of the following football season former Arsenal Shareholder Lady Bracewell-Smith spoke via Twitter of her "regret" at selling her 15.9% stake to the American businessman. In her statement she noted "What a shame the board recommended a Kroenke takeover and paid Rothchilds 3m fee, And how deeply I regret selling to Kroenke. #AFC." Lady Bracewell later called for former chairman David Dein to return and for current minority share holder Alisher Usmanov to be given powers at the football club to halt the problems. She has accused Kroenke of using the football club purely for profits without care for the performance of the club on the football field.

On 19 August 2013 the Arsenal Supporters Trust blamed Kroenke as being "ultimately responsible" for the football club's "failing".