From the Kroenke real estate files: Stan’s new ranch

Stan KroenkeWalmart 1%-er Stan Kroenke just made his enormous property portfolio even bigger: Last week, he finalized the purchase of Broken O Ranch, a 124,000-acre ranch in northwestern Montana that Forbes called “one of the largest agricultural operations in the Rocky Mountain West.” The purchase price hasn’t been disclosed, but Kroenke is believed to have paid around $90 million for the land, the ranch business, and the 10,000-square-foot ranch house (with an indoor pool!). The ranch is rich in natural resources, too; a couple years ago, the ranch and energy companies entered into oil and gas lease agreements.

With the purchase, Kroenke now reportedly controls 864,000 acres of land—land area roughly equal to four and a half times the size of New York City or three times the size of Los Angeles—and is the eighth-largest landowner in the country.

Pity Stan Kroenke’s relatives and friends who are trying to figure out what to give him for Christmas—seriously, what do you get the man who already has six sports teams, five ranches , an estimated net worth of $4 billion, three vineyards, and at least three homes? Maybe some “Keep Out” signs for his Douglas Lake Ranch in Canada, where local fishermen are angry that Kroenke’s operation has blocked off a publicly-owned road leading to a publicly-owned prime fishing lake?

(Stan, we will be sending you two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree—watch your mailbox!)

P.S. – When Stan Kroenke and Ann Walton Kroenke made the “most expensive real estate purchase of 2011” in Aspen, Colorado ($20.75 million), we noted that the average Walmart associate making $8.81 an hour would have to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 269 years to make enough money to purchase that property. For those keeping score at home, if Kroenke paid $90 million for his new ranch, that’s as much money as the average Walmart associate would have accumulated after working round the clock for 1,166 years.

Six degrees of the Walmart 1% – LA edition

In honor of this weekend’s largest ever anti-Walmart march and rally in Los Angeles, we thought we’d kick off the Six Degrees of the Walmart 1% with a movie star. Who better than Tom Cruise?

A few years ago, Tom Cruise helped pal David Beckham make the decision to move to LA and play for the LA Galaxy. Beckham came to the U.S. to help make soccer more popular here, reports at the time said. He got his professional start in the sport back in England, debuting with Manchester United when he was 17. But these days Beckham’s son Romeo seems to root for United’s rivals, Arsenal, instead.

Guess who owns Arsenal? None other than Walmart 1%-er Stan Kroenke.  Kroenke is married to Ann Walton Kroenke, daughter of Walmart co-founder Bud Walton. Stan Kroenke is a former member of the Walmart board of directors and made part of his fortune developing Walmarts with his company THF Realty.

Six degrees of the Walmart 1% – NBA Finals Edition

From guest blogger Kurt Scott:

Lebron James

LeBron James led the Miami Heat to a win on Sunday. Good for him. The bad news is that even the “Chosen One” finds himself in Walmart’s sphere of influence.

LeBron will be the first to tell you he’s a brand as well as a player. In fact, he owns his own marketing and branding agency, LRMR. Last year, LRMR announced a strategic partnership with Fenway Sports Management to help land overseas sponsorships for Mr. James. So it sounds like LeBron’s going global. Let’s just hope he won’t be accused of bribing any foreign officials, as Walmart has been recently.

At the helm of Fenway Sports is Managing Director Mark Lev, who spent fourteen years as an executive with the Boston Celtics, a team with Walmart connections. Walmart board member James Cash, Jr. is a minority owner of the Celtics. So is Jim Breyer, Walmart’s lead independent director.

By the way, just because the Celtics’ playoff run ended doesn’t mean Breyer’s forgotten Beantown. He’ll be speaking at the InterContinental Hotel in Boston on June 25, in case you’d like to say “Hi”.

But back to LeBron. He recently bought a minority ownership stake in English Premier League (EPL) soccer club Liverpool FC. Know who also has an EPL club? Stan Kroenke, husband of Walmart heiress Ann Walton Kroenke.  Stan is a majority owner of Arsenal, as well as the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Rockies (MLB), Colorado Avalanche (NHL), Colorado Mammoth (Lacrosse) and the St. Louis Rams (NFL).

And somehow, he still finds time to help out his wife’s family business. Kroenke is chairman of THF Realty, a real estate company that develops Walmart stores. He even tried to get us, the taxpayers, to pitch in with eight million in public subsidies to build a Walmart supercenter in Missouri. What a guy!

Kroenke’s been busy, but ask yourself this. Did he come out with fresh new sneakers to celebrate his soccer team like LeBron did? Eh. There’s still time.

 

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