Ion Ţiriac

Ion Ţiriac (born 9 May 1939 in Braşov) is a Romanian former tennis player and businessman. He is now one of the wealthiest men in Romania according to the 2005 issue of "Capital Top 300 wealthiest men in Romania" where he occupies the top spot.

ports career

Ţiriac first appeared on the international sports scene as an ice hockey player on the Romanian national team at the 1964 Winter Olympics. Shortly after that he switched to tennis as his main sport. With fellow Romanian Ilie Năstase he won the men's doubles in the 1970 French Open and reached the Davis Cup finals several times in the 1970s [http://www.daviscup.com/teams/player.asp?player=10002372] .

In 1983, he became a tennis manager; above all, he managed Boris Becker from 1984 to 1993. In 1998 he became president of the Romanian National Olympic Committee.

Ţiriac has held the license for the "BCR Open Romania" tennis tournament since 1996. The 10th annual tournament (September 2005) offered €302,000 in prizes. Florent Serra won the Trophy, and a check worth €44,100.

Career statistics

Grand Slam finals

Doubles

Wins (1)

Business career

After his retirement as a professional tennis player, Ţiriac became a businessman in Germany.

Following the collapse of communism in Romania, he started numerous businesses and investments back home. In 1990, he founded Banca Ţiriac, the first private bank in post-Communist Romania. Between that and several other enterprises (retail, insurance, auto leasing, auto dealerships, airlines, etc.), his fortune was estimated at over $900 million as of 2005.

Ion Ţiriac became the first Romanian [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_Ion-Tiriac_TLQ2.html] to enter Forbes' List of billionaires in the 2007 Forbes rankings, placing number 840 in the world. His wealth was estimated at $1.1 billion as of 2007, according to the magazine.

Companies

* Tiriac Holdings Ltd.
* TiriacAIR
* [http://www.hvbtiriac.ro HVB Ţiriac Bank]
* [http://www.allianztiriac.ro/index.htm Allianz-Ţiriac Asigurări România]
* [http://www.tiriacauto.ro ŢiriacAuto]
* [http://www.tiriacleasing.ro Ţiriac Leasing]
* [http://www.tiriac-travel.ro Tir Travel] (formerly Ţiriac Travel)

References

* [http://www.daviscup.com/teams/player.asp?player=10002372 Personal Tennis Scorecard]
* [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_Ion-Tiriac_TLQ2.html Forbes World's Billionaires #840]
* [http://www.aoar.ro/cv/tiriac.htm his CV] (in Romanian, with picture)
* [http://www.capital.ro http://www.capital.ro] (in Romanian, source of "Top 300", requires subscription)
* Alexandru Gugoasa, [http://www.cotidianul.ro/index.php?id=2845&art=5941 „Generatia Asteptata“ urca in „Top 300“] , ("The Awaited Generation Rises in "Top 300") "Cotidianul", undated but appears to be November 2005 (there is a response dated 16 Nov 2005). Retrieved 23 Nov 2005.
* [http://biz.hotnews.ro/arhiva_avt/1733.doc Cei mai bogaţi 10 români] ("The 10 richest Romanians", on biz.hotnews.ro; Microsoft Word document). Apparently uses data from 2005 "Top 300".