Ronald Wayne Burkle (born November 12, 1952) is an American businessman. He is the co-founder and managing partner ofThe Yucaipa Companies, LLC, aprivate investment firm that specializes in U.S. companies in the distribution, logistics, food, retail, consumer, hospitality, entertainment, sports and light industrial sectors.[3][4]
Yucaipa has executed grocery-chain mergers and acquisitions involving supermarket chains includingFred Meyer,Ralphs and Jurgensen's and once owned stakes in about 35 companies, including the grocery chainsA&P andWhole Foods Market before their respective demise and takeover.[5]
Burkle's net worth was estimated at US$2 billion in February 2018, and ranked 633rd globally.[2]
Ron Burkle was born on November 12, 1952, the elder of two sons, to Betty and Joseph Burkle inPomona, California.[1] Joseph worked seven days a week, managing aStater Bros. grocery store in Pomona and investing his savings in apartment buildings.[1][9][10] To see his father, Burkle stocked shelves in his father's store with bread and corralled shopping carts.[1][11]
At age 21, he married Janet Steeper, a Stater Bros. clerk and great-grandniece of the aviation pioneers, theWright brothers.[1] They had three children together. Burkle parlayed a $3,000 investment in American Silver and another metals company into $30,000 and began investing in and flipping undervalued grocery stores. He made at least one deal with the assistance ofjunk bond financierMichael Milken.[1][10]
Burkle was promoted to store manager at Stater Bros. and later became a vice president at Petrolane, Inc., Stater's parent company. When he was 29, Petrolane decided to sell Stater Bros.[1] Burkle secretly organized a leveraged buyout withCharles Munger, vice-chairman ofBerkshire Hathaway, who agreed to put up half of the equity.[1][11] Burkle made his bid to Petrolane's board that was 20% lower than Petrolane's internal valuation. The board rejected Burkle's offer and fired him. Burkle's portfolio was by then worth some $5 million, and during the next five years, he continued to invest in stocks and oversaw his family's rental properties.[1][11]
In 1986, Burkle foundedYucaipa Companies, aprivate equity firm[9] which invests in U.S. companies in the hospitality, sports, entertainment, logistics, food, consumer, light industrial, retail, manufacturing, and distribution.[13]
During the1992 Los Angeles riots, Burkle refused to close his inner-city stores, a move for which he received praise.[14]
On February 26, 2021, Burkle announced that he was pulling out his interests inMajor League Soccer expansion club in Sacramento due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in California. This move placed Sacramento expansion hopes in doubt.[28]
In January 2021,Lisa Baird, the commissioner of theNational Women's Soccer League (NWSL), announced that an expansion team inSacramento, led by Ron Burkle and in conjunction with Sacramento Republic FC's expansion bid into Major League Soccer, would join the NWSL in 2022.[29] However, Burkle never confirmed the news publicly before exiting the Sacramento Republic's ownership group. Instead, on June 8, 2021, the NWSL announced San Diego as the location for an expansion team owned by Burkle, which began play asSan Diego Wave FC in the2022 NWSL season.[30]
He has also invested in technologystartup companies through Inevitable Venture, a venture capital fund founded by D. A. Wallach andChris Hollod.[37] Inevitable Ventures's investment include Picnic Health,8i,Thrive Market, and Wiser Care.[38]
In January 2012, Burkle invested in Artist Group International, a concert-booking firm whose clients include Billy Joel, Metallica, and Rod Stewart.[39] In March 2013, Burkle invested in a branded entertainment company, Three Lions Entertainment,[40] which focuses on branded entertainment events and cross platform marketing.[41] In 2014, he bought Artist Group International and, through the Paradigm Talent Agency, partnered with London's CODA Music Agency and X-ray Touring.[42] That same year, Burkle acquired a minority stake in Independent Talent through Yucaipa fund.[43]
Ron Burkle was a close friend and business partner ofHarvey Weinstein, with whom he produced several films. Burkle financed the Weinstein brothers' attempt to take overMiramax in 2010.[44] In 2018, Burkle attempted an unsuccessful takeover the bankruptWeinstein Company as part of an investor consortium.[45]
In 2018, Burkle's investment firm Yucaipa acquired a minority stake in the Spanish music festivalPrimavera Sound.[46]
In 2020, Burkle made a major investment in the musical festival productionDanny Wimmer Presents.[47]
On April 5, 2023 it was announced that Burkle along withAnthony Kiedis andBob Forrest had formed the production company Said and Done Entertainment. Their first project will be an animated series forTBS calledHellicious which is based on the comic book of the same name. Burkle, Kiedis and Forrest will also serve asexecutive producers on the series.[48]
Burkle is an Executive Producer with Taylor Sheridan on the hit streaming show "Landman."[49]
Wild Oats Markets was an operator of natural foods stores and farmers' markets in North America. Burkle started buying Wild Oats stock in February 2005. By the timeWhole Foods Market, a natural-foods grocer, agreed to pay $565 million for Wild Oats, Burkle was the largest shareholder of Wild Oats.[50]
Burkle sold his majority stake in supplierGolden State Foods to St. Louis-based Wetterau Associates for about $110 million. Golden State, one ofMcDonald's biggest suppliers, operates 11 distribution centers in the United States and abroad and two U.S. processing plants.[51]
In 2014, Burkle acquiredSoho House, a chain of hotels and private members’ clubs.[52][53]
In 2019, Burkle sold a 50% stake in the Sydell Group to MGM Resorts International. He maintains ownership stakes in a number of other hotel properties.[54]
Purchased Enthusiast Media publications and assets ofPrimedia for $1.2 billion;[64]
Burkle's investment firm,Yucaipa Cos., owns 18.7% of the common stock ofBarnes & Noble.[65] In early 2010 he sought to raise his stake to 37% without triggering the shareholders' rights plan.[66][67][68] B&N ChairmanLen Riggio, with 27.8% ownership of the bookseller's common stock, isBarnes & Noble's largest shareholder.[69]
Burkle offered to purchase the financially troubledSacramento Kings franchise and prevent the team from relocating to Anaheim; however, a conflict of interest as a part-owner of Relativity Sports forced him to drop out.[70]
Debt holdings ofRelativity Media, an independent studio company. As part of the deal, Burkle joined the board of directors of the company.[71][72][73]
Burkle providedAmalgamated Bank with a $100 million loan in 2011, taking a combined 41% stake in Amalgamated along with Wilbur Ross.[74]
During Bill Clinton's presidency, Burkle was a key fundraiser and they became close friends.[8] In 2002, Burkle hired Clinton as a senior advisor on twoYucaipa domestic investment funds.[82] Clinton invested in a Yucaipa global fund focused on foreign companies.[82] In an interview withThe Wall Street Journal, then-U.S. SenatorHillary Clinton (D-NY) expressed concern that such investments could be used by foreign governments as "instruments of foreign policy."[82]
In 2009,Bill Clinton ended his relationship with Yucaipa due to potentialconflicts of interest.[8] Following "months" of negotiations, the two were not able to agree on a final payment for Clinton's advisory services, estimated at up to $20 million, and Clinton "walked away" from the potential payout.[83][84]
During a visit to the White House to celebrate the Pittsburgh Penguins'Stanley Cup victory in 2017, US PresidentDonald Trump described Burkle as “a friend of mine for a long time.”[85]
Burkle is founder and chairman of The Ronald W. Burkle Foundation.[4] The foundation's stated mission is to "positively influence people around the world and their communities" by supporting programs that "strengthen international understanding, foster worker's rights, empower underserved communities, nurture the arts and architecture, engage children in learning and advance scientific research."[92]
Burkle is co-chairman of The Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations atUCLA, to promote "research on and promotes discussion of international relations, U.S. foreign policy, and complex issues of global cooperation and conflict."[93][94] The Center has hosted UN Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon, and former U.S. presidentsBill Clinton andJimmy Carter.[94]
Burkle hosts fundraising events for the non-profitShare Our Strength and its No Kid Hungry campaign, which focuses on helping end childhood hunger in the United States.[103]
Burkle also hosts events for The Rape Foundation at his Greenacres Estate.[104][105]
Burkle owns a Mediterranean-styled mansion overlooking the bluffs ofBlack's Beach on a nearly six-acre plot in the La Jolla Farms neighborhood ofSan Diego, California. It was purchased on February 5, 1999, for $15.3 million and the current[when?] tax assessment is $34 million.[112]
In December 2018, theSerbian government opened a consulate in Montana and Burkle was named honorary consul of Serbia in the U.S. On account of that, he applied for Serbian citizenship, which the Serbian government accepted and he was formally naturalized on November 25, 2019,[citation needed] making him the third Serbian billionaire afterPhilip Zepter andMiroslav Mišković, according toForbes's list.[verification needed]
On January 6, 2020, Burkle's son Andrew was found dead in his Beverly Hills home.[114]
In December 2020, Burkle, a former family friend of singer-songwriterMichael Jackson, purchased Jackson's formerNeverland Ranch property for $22 million as a "land banking opportunity".[115][116]
After his divorce from his wife Janet, a long-running legal battle over the 1997 divorce settlement was decided in Burkle's favor in 2006, after his former wife accused him of defrauding her.[117] According to court documents, his ex-wife also accused him of spying on her, her young son, and her new boyfriend. According to his own daughter, Burkle told her that he had sex tapes and compromising photos of his ex-wife produced for blackmail purposes. He later denied the allegations.[118]
In April 2006, Burkle accusedNew York Post columnistJared Paul Stern of attempting to extort money from him in exchange for stopping the publication of stories inPage Six, the paper's gossip column, about his private life. He secretly videotaped two private meetings between himself and Stern, with the second meeting orchestrated and monitored by theFBI. Stern allegedly asked Burkle for a $220,000 investment in his clothing business in exchange for better coverage. Stern was subsequently fired by thePost.[119]
On April 30, 2008, aDelaware judge dismissed Burkle's lawsuit againstRaffaello Follieri, ex-boyfriend of actressAnne Hathaway, after Follieri agreed to repay $1.3 million Burkle loaned to him in theRaffaello Follieri scandal.[120] In 2018, Follieri, who was deported back to Italy in 2012 after serving4+1⁄2 years in prison for the scandal, stated that he and Burkle were once again on good terms and that Burkle was among the group of investors helping him acquire 50 percent in theFoggia Calcio soccer club in Southern Italy.[121]
Burkle's name was found inJeffrey Epstein's black book and on Epstein's private jet log.Burkle took what were described as humanitarian trips to Africa withBill Clinton on Epstein's private Boeing 727, sometimes referred to as "theLolita Express". Following the Africa trip, Burkle reportedly returned home via a commercial jet, referring to Epstein as "creepy".[122][123][124]
^abReynolds, Christopher (April 27, 2003)."The board game". Los Angeles Timesdate=April 27, 2003. Archived fromthe original on August 12, 2014. RetrievedJuly 25, 2014.
Bruck, Connie: "Cashier du Cinema – After supermarkets, private equity and politics, Ron Burkle makes a move on Hollywood".The New Yorker, October 8, 2012 (pp. 76 to 87).
