Sam Wyly

Samuel "Sam" Wyly (born 1934) is an American entrepreneur and businessman, philanthropist, and major contributor to conservative campaigns and candidates. In 2006, "Forbes" magazine estimated his net worth at $1.1 billion. His older brother, Charles Wyly, is nearly equal in wealth; the two brothers are close with their business affairs, and are often referred to as the "Wyly brothers". Wyly's memoir, 1,000 Dollars and an Idea: Entrepreneur to Billionaire, was published in September 2008. [cite book
title=1,000 Dollars and an Idea: Entrepreneur to Billionaire
first=Sam
last=Wyly
isbn=978-1557048035
month=September
year=2008
publisher=Newmarket
pages=256]

Early life and education

Wyly was born in Lake Providence, Louisiana.Rigoni, Gene. [http://www.umich.edu/~msjrnl/backmsj/011397/wyly.html "Sam Wyly 'Innovates To Opportunity' Time And Time Again"] , "Monroe Street Journal", Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, January 13, 1997] He began working at an early age, helping his father and mother publish a weekly newspaper, the "Delhi Dispatch." He sold advertising, wrote stories, folded and addressed the finished papers, and cleaned the printing presses. [http://www.horatioalger.com/members/member_info.cfm?memberid=wyl70 "Sam Wyly, Chairman, Sterling Software Inc. and Michaels Stores, Inc."] , Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans] , retrieved September 21, 2007]

Following high school, Wyly went to Louisiana Tech University. He worked his way through college by selling class rings.

Following graduation, he went to the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, where he received a Masters of Business Administration degree in 1957 (he is one of five graduates who are billionaires). He was able to attend only because of a new scholarship program, and enrolling as the school's first Paton scholar.Doyle, Rebecca A. [http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9900/Apr17_00/8.htm "Sam Wyly Hall officially opens"] , "University Record", University of Michigan, April 17, 2000]

Business career

After receiving his MBA, Wyly moved to Dallas to work as a salesman at IBM's Service Bureau Corporation. Three and a half years later he left IBM to become the area sales manager for Honeywell, establishing their computer business in Dallas and Oklahoma.

Wyly's wealth comes from businesses that he founded and developed, or purchased and expanded;

*1963: founded University Computing Company (UCC), which provided computer services to engineers, scientists, and researchers with Sun Oil Company, Texas Instruments, and others. He began the company with $1,000 and three customers;. The company went public in 1965. By 1968, sales were $60 million; in 1971, they were $125 million.

*1967: With his brother Charles, bought the restaurant chain Bonanza Steakhouse. He had initially started investing in it with money from the sale of stock in UCC. The company grew to approximately 600 restaurants by 1989,, when the two brothers sold it.

*1968: Acquired Gulf Insurance; at the time, the company had free equity of $52 million and $63 million unrealized capital gains.

*Co-founded Earth Resources Company, an oil refining and silver and gold mining company, served as its Executive Committee Chairman from 1968 to 1980. [http://sec.edgar-online.com/1994/01/26/00/0000912057-94-000148/Section2.asp Sterling Software filing with the SEC, Form:10-K/A] , filing date: January 26, 1994]

*1970: Purchased Computer Technology, which functioned as the in-house data processing unit for LTV, for $40 million in cash and notes.

*1972: Sold a computer terminal business to Harris-Intertype, writing off $32 million in investments.

*1973: Divided UCC into four companies, including Datran, which began construction of a nationwide system of microwave towers to transmit data among 27 American cities in direct competition with AT&T.

*1981: Co-founded Sterling Software. The company was sold to Computer Associates in 2000 for $4 billion.

*1982: Bought controlling interest in an arts-and-crafts chain Michaels;; the company's revenues grew from $10 million at the time of purchase to $1.24 billion by 1996. In July 2006, Bain Capital and the Blackstone Group purchased the company for $6 billion.

*1986: Purchased Frost Bros., a specialty retail chain, from Manhattan Industries. After failing to reorganize while operating under bankruptcy protection, the company was liquidated in mid-1989.

*In 1990, co-founded hedge fund [http://www.maverickcap.com/ Maverick Capital] , which by 2003 had about $8 billion in assets. Beginning in 1993, his son Evan, a Maverick co-founder, and money manager Lee S. Ainslie III managed the fund.Stephanie Anderson Forest, [http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_35/b3847087_mz020.htm "Sam Wyly's Hedge-Fund Fiasco: Hiring a "family friend" brought lawsuits instead of fat returns"] , "Business Week", September 1, 2003]

*As of 2006, Wyly was the largest stockholder of clean-energy producer Green Mountain Energy.

*In 2006 Wyly also was the largest investor in the online social networking company Zaadz.com at an estimated 1.5m.

* In March 2007, "Forbes" magazine estimated Wyly's net worth to be $1.1 billion. [ [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_The-Worlds-Billionaires_Rank.html "The World's Billionaires"] , "Forbes" magazine, March 8, 2007] In September 2006, "Forbes" ranked him as the 354th wealthiest American. [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/54/biz_06rich400_Samuel-Wyly_G89I.html "The 400 Richest Americans: #354, Samuel Wyly"] , "Forbes" magazine, September 21, 2006]

Politics

In March 2007, commenting a purchase of a local bookstore by Wyly and his wife Cheryl, the "Aspen Times" noted that the Wyly family "has been known not only for its philanthropic efforts, but also its large contributions to conservative political campaigns and candidates."Rick Carroll, [http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070306/MOUNTAIN04/103060052 "End of an era: Explore sells for $4.6 million"] , "Aspen Times", March 6, 2007] Wyly and his brother Charles have personally given about $10 million to Republican causes and candidates between the early 1970s and 2006, they say; both are Bush Pioneers.

In 2000, Sam Wyly contributed $2.5 million to a group called "Republicans for Clean Air", [Joe Conason, [http://archive.salon.com/politics2000/feature/2000/03/06/wyly/ "Tit for tat?"] , "Salon" magazine, March 6, 2000] which ran ads praising George W. Bush's environmental record and criticizing that of John McCain. The ads ran in New York, Ohio, and California in advance of early March primaries, at a time when Bush and McCain were locked in a tight struggle for the Republican presidential nomination. It initially was unclear who was behind the group or who paid for the ads until Wyly stepped forward to take the credit. [Laura Meckler,, [http://www.boycottgreenmountain.com/mccain-ads-fcc.html "FCC Probing Group That Paid For Bush Ads"] , The Associated Press, March 9, 2000]

In 2004, Wyly also donated $20,000 to the Swift Boat campaign that raised questions about Sen. John Kerry's military record in Vietnam, helping scuttle Kerry's challenge to Bush. Wyly said he is neither leaning toward McCain nor Democrat Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential campaign, and won't get involved in the race. [David Koenig, [http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/09/15/ap5426090.html "Billionaire Wyly says anyone can match his success"] , "Associated Press", September 15, 2008] http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/09/15/ap5426090.html

Philanthropy

In 2006, the "Dallas Morning News" estimated that Wyly and his brother Charles had spent more than ninety million dollars on a wide range of charities. His philanthropy has included:

*In 1968, setting up the Sam Wyly Foundation to help minority businessmen.

*Helping to start an educational TV channel in Dallas.

*Funding, with his brother Charles, the Charles Wyly, Sr., Tower of Learning, on the campus of Louisiana Tech, in memory of their father. The building includes a computer center and the university library.

*A $10 million gift for Sam Wyly Hall, at the University of Michigan, which opened in 2000.

*Being one of the biggest supporters of the [http://www.aspenwriters.org/ Aspen Writers' Foundation] .

Investigations

In 1979, Wyly settled Securities and Exchange Commission charges that he made undisclosed payments to associates to buy up company bonds as part of a plan to stave off bankruptcy. He settled without acknowledging any wrongdoing.Barry Meier, [http://www.boycottgreenmountain.com/wyly-nyt.html "The View From GreenMountain; Financier Mixes Business, the Environment and Politics"] , "New York Times", March 16, 2000]

In August 2006, the "Dallas Morning News" reported that Sam and Charles Wyly were under investigation by the SEC , a grand jury in Dallas and a grand jury in New York,Brendan M. Case, [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-offshore_13bus.ART0.State.Edition1.1f2f04a.html Selling secret accounts draws scrutiny: Senate report blasts Dallas firm for offshore services for the masses"] , "Dallas Morning News", August 13, 2006] , regarding their use of potentially illegal offshore tax shelters. Senate investigators allege that the Wylys used the offshore trusts to buy $30 million worth of artwork, jewelry, furniture and other items for their personal use. The Wylys deny wrongdoing, saying they just followed the advice of high-priced financial advisers. They told the Senate Permanent Investigations subcommittee investigating the offshore tax shelters that they would invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination; they were not called to testify. [David Cay Johnston, [http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/01/business/tax.php "U.S. blows the whistle on tax cheats: Evasion is rampant among the super-wealthy, report finds"] , "International Herald Tribune", August 1, 2006]

Personal

Sam and his brother Charles, older by a year, have been close all their life. They became Eagle Scouts together. They played high school football together. Both went to Louisiana Tech University and joined the same fraternity. They have worked together in a large number of businesses they've owned or run, over the years.

In August 2006, the "Daily Morning News" reported that Wyly and his third wife,Cheryl, lived in a 8,450-square-foot, $7.48 million house in Highland Park, Texas.Katie Fairbank and Sudeep Reddy, [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-nuwylys_27ent.ART.State.Edition2.3e6e8a0.html "Billionaire brothers under a microscope: They're known for gifts to charities, politics, but tax shelters scrutinized"] , "Dallas Morning Times", August 27, 2006] Wyly has six grown children from his first two marriages.

In a 1973 article, "Forbes" magazine said he was a "devout Christian Scientist". [http://www.samandcharleswyly.com/wyly-forbes-UCC.htm "Man With his Back to the Wall: With his Once-proud Empire Crumbling Around him, UCC’s Sam Wyly is Still Hanging on"f] , "Forbes" magazine, June 1, 1973, accessed September 22, 2007]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.charlesandsamwyly.com/index.htm Official website of Sam and Charles Wyly]
* [http://www.cbi.umn.edu/oh/display.phtml?id=352 Oral history interview with Sam Wyly] , Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, by David Allison, December 6, 2002