Thomas Hicks
Former leveraged buyout titan returns to The Forbes 400 after a 2-year hiatus. Son of radio station entrepreneur spent early years spinning records. Then U. of Southern California business school. First buyout 1977: Atlas Architectural Metals for $4 million, sold 6 years later for $16 million. Made fortune in soda: bought Dr Pepper, Seven-Up for $45 million, flipped 2 years later for $700 million. Acquired radio stations; sold to Clear Channel for $17.1 billion in cash, stock and assumed debt. Badly burned during dot-com bust. Bought pro baseball’s Texas Rangers from group including George W. Bush 1998. Famously signed Alex Rodriguez to 10-year, $252 million contract, traded to New York Yankees 2 years later; team still paying some of third baseman’s salary. Also owns pro hockey’s Dallas Stars. With partner, bought Liverpool soccer squad for $900 million in February; investing $1 billion to develop various Dallas real estate projects.