John W. Henry | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Henry in 2008 | |
| Born | John William Henry II (1949-09-13)September 13, 1949 (age 76) Quincy, Illinois, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Victor Valley College (dropped out) University of California (dropped out) |
| Occupation(s) | Principal owner of Boston Red Sox Pittsburgh Penguins Liverpool F.C. The Boston Globe Co-owner of RFK Racing |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | John W. Henry Sr. Lois Henry |
John William Henry II (born September 13, 1949)[1] is an American businessman and the founder of John W. Henry & Company, an investment management firm. He is the principal owner ofLiverpool Football Club, theBoston Red Sox, thePittsburgh Penguins,The Boston Globe, and co-owner ofRFK Racing. As of October 2024,Forbes estimated his net worth to be US$5.7 billion.[2]
Henry was born to John William Henry Sr. and Lois Henry (née Osborne) on September 13, 1949, inQuincy, Illinois.[1] His parents were soybean farmers, and he split his time growing up betweenIllinois andArkansas.
At age 15, hisasthmatic condition prompted his family to move toApple Valley, California,[3] where Henry attended and graduated fromVictor Valley High School inVictorville, California.[4]
Henry then attended but did not graduate from four separate colleges and universities,Victor Valley College,[5] and thenUniversity of California, Riverside,University of California, Irvine, andUCLA, where he majored inphilosophy.
He attributes not graduating to the time he spent performing and touring with two bands, Elysian Fields and Hillary.[6][7]
Henry started trading corn and soybeanfutures to learn the basics of hedging the price risk of holding an inventory of these commodities, whether in storage or out in the field. In 1976, acommodities broker atReynolds Securities asked him to advise other farmers, but he declined. After spending a summer in Norway with his first wife, Mai, Henry developed a mechanicaltrend following method for managing afutures trading account. He tested his trend-reversal method—which was never out of the market but always held a position (either long or short) in every one of the markets in the account's "basket" of commodities—"using his own money," according to his marketing materials from 1983.
When that test proved successful, he founded John W. Henry & Company in 1981,[8] opened a small office across the street from the airport inIrvine, California, and began marketing his management to the largestcommodity brokerage firms in America. That proved so successful by 1983 that he moved to considerably larger quarters atFashion Island inNewport Beach. In 1989, Henry moved toWestport, Connecticut. Two years later, Henry established a second office inBoca Raton.[9]
JWH was established in 1981 and began taking retail clients in 1982. The firm's management methods make mechanical, non-discretionary trading decisions in response to systematic determinations of reversals in each market's direction, with the explicit intention of precluding not onlyhuman emotion, but also any subjective evaluation of factors outside of price behavior, such as thefundamentals, to trigger each decision to be long or short each market, or not.
In March 2025,Boston magazine estimated Henry's net worth at $5.5 billion, but also reported that his firm had experienced recent difficulties.[10]
On November 9, 2012, the firm announced that it would stop managing clients' money by December 31, 2012, and Henry confirmed that total assets under the firm's management had fallen from $2.5 billion in 2006 to less than $100 million as of late 2012.[11][12]
Henry grew up a fan of theSt. Louis Cardinals, especially their starStan Musial.[13] After acquiring his fortune, his first foray into professional sports was in purchasing aMinor League Baseball team, theTucson Toros of thePacific Coast League, in 1989.[14] He was also one of the founders of theSenior Professional Baseball Association, a winter league in Florida composed of retired major league players.[15]
Henry co-owned the winning team in the 1989–90 season, theWest Palm Beach Tropics, managed byDick Williams, former manager of theBoston Red Sox's1967 team, known as the "Impossible Dream" team.[16]
In 1990, Henry sold his interest in the team, and the league went out of business the following year. The same year, he negotiated to purchase theOrlando Magic, aNational Basketball Association team. He also was briefly the lead general for theColorado Rockies, aMajor League Baseball expansion team, and headed a group attempting to acquire theNational Hockey League's expansion team in Florida, which was ultimately awarded toPhil andTony Esposito, who created theTampa Bay Lightning.[17][18] Henry subsequently negotiated to buy theMiami Heat and later theNew Jersey Nets.
Henry enteredMajor League Baseball with his purchase of a small interest in theNew York Yankees in 1991. Henry became the sole owner of theFlorida Marlins in 1999, purchasing the club fromWayne Huizenga for a reported $158 million. In January 2002, Henry sold the Marlins in a multi-franchise deal toJeffrey Loria, then owner of theMontreal Expos, which is now theWashington Nationals.[19]
In 2001, Henry partnered withTom Werner,The New York Times Company, and other investors to found New England Sports Ventures (NESV) in a successful bid to buy theBoston Red Sox from Yawkey Trust headed byJohn Harrington.[20] Henry became principal owner of the Red Sox, with Werner as chairman.
The company has since become majority owner of English Premier League clubLiverpool F.C., thePittsburgh Penguins, theNew England Sports Network,Fenway Park,Fenway Sports Management, and other assets.
In 2009, the company made its first foray into European sports with an unsuccessful bid for the FrenchLigue 1 clubOlympique de Marseille.[21]
NESV changed its name to Fenway Sports Group in March 2011.[22]
Henry canceled the previous owners' plans to demolishFenway Park and build a new stadium next door.[23] Instead, Henry renovated Fenway—among other things, adding seats over theGreen Monster—enabling the park to celebrate its centennial in 2012.[24]
Henry and Werner assembled a front-office team headed byLarry Lucchino with the goal of "breaking theCurse of the Bambino."[25] He also hired baseball sabermetrics pioneerBill James, whose work became widely known after the 2003 publication ofMoneyball. Henry accomplished his goal in the2004 World Series, defeating his former childhood favorite Cardinals. The team won the2007 World Series against a franchise with which Henry hadpre-expansion involvement, the Rockies, and the2018 World Series against the Dodgers. The Sox beat the Cardinals again in the2013 World Series.
In August 2017, Henry said the team would lead a campaign to change the name ofYawkey Way, a section ofBoston whereFenway Park is located. The Red Sox had been the last team in Major League Baseball tointegrate, and Henry said, "I am still haunted by what went on here a long time before we arrived."[26] The change was approved by the City of Boston in April 2018, and the name reverted to Jersey Street in May 2018.[27]
In October 2010 theFenway Sports Group took overLiverpool F.C. TheUEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations may have been a factor in the decision.[clarification needed][28] The previous owners,Tom Hicks andGeorge N. Gillett, Jr., had become extremely unpopular among Liverpool fans for their failure to deliver on the promise that no debt would be placed onto the club, and the proposal of Liverpool leavingAnfield as disrespectful treatment of its manager and front office[29][30][31] and for their allegedly misleading statements about planned and past investment in players.[32][33]
After losing around £154 million on the pressured sale of their debt-ridden club, Hicks and Gillett announced that they would sue co-owners and creditors for at least $1.6 billion for the "extraordinary swindle" they suffered. In January 2013, Hicks and Gillett had lost a Court of Appeal case and agreed to drop the suit.[34][35]
On February 26, 2012, Liverpool won the2012 Football League Cup Final atWembley Stadium, beatingCardiff City 3–2 on penalties after the game finished 1–1 after 90 minutes and 2–2 after extra time. This was Liverpool's first trophy since the2006 FA Cup Final win overWest Ham United on May 13, 2006, at theMillennium Stadium in Cardiff. In May 2012 he made a controversial decision by firing coach and club iconKenny Dalglish citing the club's poor league results. This was regarded as a poor decision by some soccer pundits such as Dalglish's friendAlan Hansen, given Dalglish's success in lifting the club from four points above the relegation zone to a cup win.[36][37] In July 2012, after successfully persuadingBrendan Rodgers to become the new coach,[38] Henry attributed parting company with Dalglish as being unrelated to failing to win the FA Cup or the Suarez case,[39] but a product of the club's poor league performance in the second half of the 2011–12 season.[40]
Rodgers almost took Liverpool to their first Premier League title in over 20 years during the2013–14 season; however, poor performances in the subsequent season and a bad start to the2015–16 season saw Henry sackBrendan Rodgers as Liverpool coach on October 4, 2015.[41] On October 8, 2015, Henry appointedJürgen Klopp as the new coach of Liverpool F.C.[42] The move was praised by Liverpool supporters and seen as a show of Henry's ambition for the club.[43]Klopp led Liverpool to two finals during the2015–16 season (the League Cup and the Europa League). In 2018 Liverpool reached theChampions League final for the first time in 11 years. In 2019 Liverpool reached theChampions League Final for the second consecutive year and won it, beating fellow English clubTottenham Hotspur, 2–0. Liverpool went on to win thePremier League title in the2019–20 season; Liverpool's first league title in 30 years, and their first since the Premier League was formed.
In April 2021, Liverpool were announced as a founding member of theEuropean Super League, which would have effectively ended the pyramid system of European soccer and placed Liverpool in a closed league without prospects for meritocratic relegation and promotion. Liverpool and the five other English clubs involved backed out within two days after a strong backlash. This prompted Henry to issue an official apology to Liverpool fans, taking responsibility for the events that had occurred.[44][45]
In 2007, Henry's Fenway Sports Group bought a 50% stake inJack Roush'sRoush Racing stock car racing team.[46] DriverMatt Kenseth won theAuto Club 500 at theCalifornia Speedway in February 2007 marking Henry's first win as an owner. In February 2009 the team won their firstDaytona 500 withMatt Kenseth. Henry is currently listed as the owner of the #17Ford driven by NASCAR Cup Series driverChris Buescher.
In September 2004 Henry and David Kaemmer foundediRacing.com Motorsport Simulations for developing a racing simulation service aimed at both real-world racers and racing simulator enthusiasts. The service was launched in August 2008.
In the predawn hours of August 3, 2013, bothThe Boston Globe andThe New York Times carried stories on their web sites reporting that Henry had agreed to purchase the former along with theTelegram & Gazette newspaper ofWorcester, Massachusetts, and relatedNew England media properties for $70 million in cash fromThe New York Times Company, which paid $1.1 billion forThe Globe in 1993.[47] TheGlobe's story described Henry as "a personally shy businessman with a history of bold bets."[47] TheTimes story quotedTimes spokesperson Eileen Murphy as confirming the sale deal.[48]
The stories noted that Henry had initially been among a group of partners who had joined in bidding onThe Globe properties, but ended up agreeing to acquire them individually. However,The Times story reported him saying: "In coming days there will be announcements concerning those joining me in this community commitment and effort."[48]
After the announcement, the ownership ofThe San Diego Union-Tribune (then known as "U-T San Diego") alleged that it had outbid Henry forThe Globe but that the management of The Times Company had not fairly handled the process, to the detriment of Times Companyshareholders.[49]
In 2014, Henry sold the WorcesterTelegram & Gazette toHalifax Media Group, which had previously purchased 16 former New York Times Company newspapers in 2011.[50]
Henry enjoys playing baseball simulation games, includingOut of the Park Baseball.[52]
Henry was briefly portrayed byArliss Howard in the 2011 filmMoneyball, which followsOakland Athletics general managerBilly Beane and his quest to build a winning team in 2002. Towards the end of the film, Beane travels to Boston'sFenway Park where he meets with Henry, who wants Beane to become the new GM of theRed Sox.
The film depicts Beane turning down a five-year, $12.5 million contract with theBoston Red Sox and returning to the Oakland Athletics, but adds that the Red Sox, despite failing to hire Beane, implemented many of his "Moneyball" ideas and went on to win the2004 World Series, marking thefirst Red Sox championship in 86 years.[53]
| Preceded by | Owner of theBoston Red Sox December 20, 2001 – present (viaFenway Sports Group) | Succeeded by incumbent |
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