Bruce Gordon (businessman)

Bruce Gordon is an Australian citizen, residing mainly in Bermuda He ranks 891 on The World's Billionaires 2007 with a net worth of $1.2 billion.Fact|date=March 2008

Early life

Bruce Gordon worked as a magician during the 1939-45 War, in promotion for the Tivoli theatre circuit and managed Australian sales for Desilu Studios (US comedian Lucille Ball's production house) before serving as an executive for Paramount International Distribution. He worked at Paramount International Television for 35 years.

Television

He gained control of Television Wollongong Transmission Ltd (later rebadged as WIN) in 1979. Gordon expanded WIN Television's operations in the 1990s, buying out the other shareholders in 1991 after buying two licenses in Queensland and Crawford Productions that dated from 1945 and passed through the control of Rupert Murdoch and Christopher Skase. By the end of the decade WIN had licenses and transmitters in New South Wales, Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania. The WIN Corporation also operated property and land development operations, network management and a radio station in Wollongong.

Through his WIN Corporation (which owns WIN Television), Bruce owns 24 regional TV stations as well as the property on which they sit. Changes in Australian media ownership rules in 2007 were expected to make WIN a prime buyout target, though Gordon said he would only entertain bids of at least $780 million. In April 2007, the WIN Corporation made binding offers to buy both STW and NWS. Bruce Gordon's WIN Corporation also owns public shares in Publishing and Broadcasting Limited, Network Ten and Sunraysia Television. Gordon has proposed making WIN independent of the Nine Network.

WIN has a 48% stake in Sunraysia Television, previous holder of the STW television broadcast licence in Perth and thus of Channel Nine Perth. The company is controlled by Eva Presser, whose husband runs the Sunraysia Natural Beverages company. She resisted a 1995 takeover bid by the WIN Corporation or the Perth station, which remained Sunraysia's only significant television broadcasting asset. In February 2007, PBL Media announced that it would acquire 100% of Sunraysia Television subsidiary "Swan Television & Radio Broadcasters Pty Ltd" for AU$136.4 million. On the 21st of April the board of Sunraysia Television endorsed WIN's revised offer of $163 million. [cite news | author = Sharples, Ben | title = WIN wins Perth station | work = Herald Sun | url = http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21593383-664,00.html | date = 2007-04-21]

Football

Bruce Gordon is believed to be ready to bankroll a Wollongong-based team in the A-League 2008-2009 season if bids from either Gold Coast or North Queensland fall over at the 11th hour. He is believed to have finally agreed in principle to finance an Illawarra team in the A-League. The franchise has been more than a year in the making, and while it had made significant progress in terms of planning, sponsorship and infrastructure, without Gordon's investment the bid has lacked backing. Gordon is no stranger to football - he also headed the consortium which owned Wollongong Wolves in the old NSL. Gordon's in-principle agreement to finance a home-town team vaults the Illawarra bid into the A-League reckoning - if not for next season, then certainly for 2009-2010. There is also the prospect of football filling a vacuum at WIN Stadium should NRL side St.George Illawarra withdraw from the area, as has been suggested. [ [http://www.smh.com.au/news/a-league/wollongong-billionaire-ready-to-bankroll-aleague-bid/2008/03/03/1204402364993.html|Wollongong billionaire ready to bankroll A-League bid] ] WIN owns 25% of the St.George Illawarra Dragons.

Obscurity

There has been no major independent biography of Gordon or study of WIN. Some insights are offered by reports of licence inquiries by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA), available on its site, and in works dealing with competitors such as Packer, Murdoch and Bond.

Bruce is married with 2 children, Andrew and Genevieve.

References