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TagsBillionaire was original MLS investor
BY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
John Kluge, one of the richest men in the United States and an original investor in Major League Soccer, died Tuesday at the age of 95 at his home near Charlottesville.
His death was confirmed by the University of Virginia, which was also a major recipient of his generosity. According to legacy.com, in 2001, Kluge gave his 7,400-acre estate, including historic Morven Farm, 10 working farms and more than two dozen houses and modernized farm buildings, to the University of Virginia with the stipulation that he be able to live there until his death. The estate was valued at more than $45 million.
The Washington Post reports that Kluge said he accumulated more than 200 companies in his lifetime, including seven television stations he sold to Rupert Murdoch in the mid-1980s, forming the foundation of the Fox network.
The stations were part of Mr. Kluge's Metromedia telecommunications conglomerate, which at various times counted among its holdings the Ice Capades, the Harlem Globetrotters, Playbill magazine and a billboard advertising company. The New York MetroStars were named after Metromedia.
Kluge ran Metromedia on a tight budget, saving rent, for example, by headquartering the company across the Hudson River from New York City, in Secaucus, New Jersey. He seized upon the programming strategy of simply re-running old network situation comedies and low budget movies.The New York Times reports that Kluge made almost two billion in 1984, when he took Metromedia private in a $1.1 billion leveraged buyout and then liquidated the company, more than tripling his take.
Kluge had many financial interests during his business career. According to socceramerica.com. Kluge and his business associate Stuart Subotnick operated the MetroStars from their inception until 2001. The owners pursued plans to build a soccer stadium at several locations, next to Aqueduct race track in Queens — Subotnick owned race horses — and in Harrison, N.J., where Red Bull Arena was eventually opened this year by the New York club's current owners, Red Bull.
Kluge and Subotnick withdrew from MLS in 2001 and sold their interest in the MetroStars to AEG.
Kluge also liked finding unorthodox ways to promote food products. Bloomberg.com reports while working on a contract for a pickle company, Kluge was inspired by the new scratch-and-sniff craze to persuade the old Washington Times-Herald to run advertisements using essence of dill in the ink.
In 2009, Forbes magazine ranked Kluge as the 35th richest American with an estimated net worth at $6.5 billion.
No cause of death was reported. Kluge had three children from his marriages to Theodora Thomson, Yolanda Galardo and Patricia Maureen Rose, which all ended in divorce. He later married Maria Tussi Kutner.
