45 Facts About Philip Anschutz

Philip Frederick Anschutz is an American billionaire businessman who owns or controls companies in a variety of industries, including energy, railroads, real estate, sports, newspapers, movies, theaters, arenas and music.

Philip Anschutz is the son of Fred and Marian Pfister Philip Anschutz.

Philip Anschutz is the principal owner of the National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings and is a minority owner of the National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Lakers.

Philip Anschutz owns stakes in performance venues, including the Staples Center, The O2, London, and the Dignity Health Sports Park.

Philip Anschutz is the namesake of CU Anschutz, the medical campus of the University of Colorado.

Philip Anschutz was born in Russell, Kansas, the son of Marian and Frederick Benjamin Philip Anschutz.

Philip Anschutz's father was an oil tycoon and land investor who invested in ranches in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, and eventually went into the oil-drilling business.

Philip Anschutz's grandfather, Carl Anschutz, was an ethnic German who emigrated from Russia and started the Farmers State Bank in Russell.

Philip Anschutz graduated from Wichita High School East in 1957, and in 1961 earned a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Kansas, where he was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.

In 1970, Philip Anschutz bought the 250,000-acre Baughman Farms, one of the country's largest farming corporations, in Liberal, Kansas, for $10 million.

In 1982 Philip Anschutz sold an interest in it to Mobil Oil for $500 million.

Philip Anschutz then moved into railroads and telecommunications before venturing into the entertainment industry.

In 1984, Philip Anschutz entered the railroad business by purchasing the Rio Grande Railroad's holding company, Rio Grande Industries.

Philip Anschutz was a director of Forest Oil Corporation beginning in 1995.

Philip Anschutz has been a director for Pacific Energy Partners and served on the boards of the American Petroleum Institute in Washington, DC and the National Petroleum Council in Washington, DC.

In May 2003, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer reached a settlement with Philip Anschutz after filing a civil complaint accusing Philip Anschutz of accepting IPO shares from Salomon Smith Barney in exchange for Qwest's investment banking business.

Philip Anschutz denied any wrongdoing but volunteered to donate a total of $4.4 million to settle the case as long as he selected the recipient organizations in advance.

Philip Anschutz paid $100,000 to each of 32 New York nonprofit philanthropic groups, as well as $200,000 to each of six law schools.

On June 24,2008, it was announced that Philip Anschutz would buy Xanterra Parks and Resorts, which had purchased the Grand Canyon Railway in 2007.

In 2011, it was announced that Philip Anschutz had purchased the Oklahoma Publishing Company, and as part of their assets The Broadmoor and the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway in Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs respectively.

The Philip Anschutz Entertainment Group is a sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of The Philip Anschutz Corporation.

On September 18,2012, Philip Anschutz announced he was putting AEG up for sale, but he decided not to accept any of the bids, and on March 14,2013, took AEG off the market.

Philip Anschutz is one of only four recipients of the National Soccer Hall of Fame's Medal of Honor for his contributions to growing the sport of soccer in the United States.

Philip Anschutz owns a stake in the Dignity Health Sports Park, the stadium for the MLS team LA Galaxy and former MLS team Chivas USA.

For some time, while MLS was struggling, Philip Anschutz owned six MLS franchises concurrently and experienced significant financial losses.

Philip Anschutz was instrumental in several MLS initiatives that have grown the league's revenues and profits.

Philip Anschutz advocated for MLS's creation of Soccer United Marketing, the league's sales and marketing arm.

Philip Anschutz has since sold his stake in the Chicago, Denver, Houston, New York, San Jose and DC MLS teams and now owns only the Galaxy.

Philip Anschutz is the principal owner of the Los Angeles Kings and a minority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Philip Anschutz has had several other business ventures, including Forest Oil, Pacific Energy Group, Union Pacific Railroad, and the Regal Entertainment Group, the second largest movie theater chain in the world, with approximately 7,000 screens.

Philip Anschutz owns more than half of the company, and multiple newspapers and media groups.

Philip Anschutz has invested in, for example, the Clarity Media Group, a Denver-based publishing group that includes newspapers such as The Oklahoman, the largest newspaper in Oklahoma; The San Francisco Examiner ; The Washington Examiner, a right-wing weekly tabloid that was consolidated from group of DC-area suburban dailies; The Baltimore Examiner, which launched in April 2006 and was shut down in early 2009; the now-closed Examiner.

Editor in Chief Stephen Hayes initially been cleared to find a buyer but after a venture capital firm agreed to broker any future deal, Philip Anschutz withdrew permission and decided to effectively kill the company in order to harvest its subscribers.

In March 2012, it was reported that Philip Anschutz was interested in buying the Rangers.

Philip Anschutz invested in the Power Company of Wyoming LLC, formed in 2007 for the purpose of building the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind power complex in Carbon County, Wyoming, comprising up to 1,000 wind turbines with up to 3,000 megawatts of capacity.

Philip Anschutz supported the Parents Television Council, a group that protests against television content that they consider indecent.

Philip Anschutz financed and distributed films with Christian themes for mass audiences including Amazing Grace and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

In 2009, Philip Anschutz purchased the conservative American opinion magazine The Weekly Standard from Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

Philip Anschutz has donated to conservative causes and groups that are anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion.

Philip Anschutz is a major donor to the American Enterprise Institute, the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation, conservative think tanks.

Philip Anschutz contributed $1 million to conservatives during the 2016 US elections, and $200,000 to Republican politicians and political action committees during the 2017 elections.

In 2006, a lawyer for Anschutz wrote a letter to President George W Bush's White House Counsel Harriet Miers recommending Neil Gorsuch to the newly vacant seat on the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit after The Denver Post reported that Gorsuch was not actively being considered for the vacancy.

In 2018, Philip Anschutz donated $1 Million to Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Philip Anschutz was inducted into the Kansas Business Hall of Fame in 2000 and the US Business Hall of Fame in 2002.

Philip Anschutz has granted only three formal interviews since 1979, and none from the 1980s until 2015.