Tom Hicks
Encyclopedia
Thomas Ollis Hicks, Sr. (born in 1946), is an American
'leveraged buyout
' businessman living in Dallas, Texas
. Despite Forbes Magazine estimating Hicks' wealth at USD 1 billion in 2009, Hicks was unable to pay off joint loans of circa £200 million the following year. Hicks co-founded the investment firm, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, previously owned fifty percent of the English football club Liverpool FC, and is chairman of Hicks Holdings LLC, which owns and operates Hicks Sports Group, the company that formerly owned the Texas Rangers
and the Dallas Stars
, and currently owns the Mesquite Championship Rodeo
.
owner John Hicks, Hicks was born in Dallas, Texas
. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School
, in Port Arthur, Texas
, in 1964. Hicks is a brother of Sigma Phi Epsilon
, received his Bachelor's degree
in Finance from the University of Texas in 1968, and received his MBA
from the University of Southern California
in 1970.
Hicks became interested in leveraged buyout
s as a member of First National Bank of Austin's venture capital
group. Hicks and Robert Haas formed Hicks & Haas in 1984. The next year that firm bought Hicks Communications, a radio outfit run by Hicks' brother Steven
– the first of several media companies bought or created by the buyout firm that involved Steven (Capstar, Chancellor, and AMFM).
Hicks & Haas' in the mid-1980s bought several soft drink
makers, including Dr Pepper
and 7 Up
. The firm took Dr Pepper/7 Up public just 18 months after merging the two companies. In all, Hicks & Haas turned $88 million of investor funding into $1.3 billion. The pair went their separate ways in May 1989. Hicks wanted to raise large pools to invest, while Haas preferred to work with investors deal by deal.
In 1989, Hicks co-founded the investment firm, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst with former Prudential
Securities banker John Muse. The firm raised $250 million, with early investments including a life insurance
company, Life Partners Group (bought in 1990 and sold in 1996). In 1991, Morgan Stanley
's Charles Tate and First Boston
's Jack Furst became partners. Hicks was chairman from 1989 to 2004, Hicks Muse raised $12 billion of private equity funds, consummated over $50 billion of leveraged acquisitions, and grew to become one of the largest private investment firms in the country.
But Hicks Muse hit a rough patch by the early 2000s, when investors in Equity Fund IV were burned by a $1.2 billion plunge into telecom investments in 1999. Hicks announced that he would leave the Hicks Muse on March 8, 2004, to spend more time with his family and his sports teams. (Hicks Muse was subsequently renamed HM Capital Partners.)
However, Hicks has remained active in his own ventures. He created Hicks Holdings, a vehicle for his sports and real estate empire, and then started buying companies again in the $10 to $250 million level, including:
a Chinese electronics firm, a venture with DirecTV selling bundled TV-telecom services to condos, a landscaping materials company in the Midwest, a pet food firm in Argentina
, and Gammaloy – an oil field rental outfit he bought from his wife's family, paying approximately $20 million in the 1990s.
Additionally, he formed Hicks Acquisition Company I, Inc. (HACI). In September 2009, HACI merged into Resolute Energy Corporation (REN), an oil and gas firm. Hicks is not on REN's board of directors, but his son, Thomas O. Hicks, Jr., represents HACI on the board.
As of August 13, 2010, the website for Hicks Sports Group appears to have disappeared. As for other websites for Hicks companies, while they are still operating, they appear to be empty of any data and Hicks Sports Marketing now appears to be a Word Press blog site, with the first page advertising Online Gaming.
campaign for former Republican
Mayor of New York City
, Rudy Giuliani
.
in Frisco, Texas
, part of the Lewisville Independent School District
, was given its name after Hicks donated the necessary land for the school.
Dallas Stars
for $82 million.
, a successful Brazilian football club. Club directors and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst assured the fans that a new stadium was in development, but this never materialized.
Corinthians had won the Brazilian championship in 1998, so they inherited a winning team. There was an initial capital investment to tie down existing players and to finance the signing of Dida and Luizão
. The initial expenditure assisted in retaining the league title in December 1999 and the club also won the inaugural FIFA Club World Championship the following month.
They began selling the club's star players and announced plans to change Corinthians' famous black-and-white kit. This led to a furious reaction from supporters. In 2003, after legal/financial troubles and partner infighting, Hicks retired from the company and the ownership group eventually left the partnership with Corinthians. There was no new stadium.
. During his tenure the Stars have won seven Division Championships, two Western Conference
crowns, two Presidents' Trophies
as the team with the best regular season record, two consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Finals
and the 1999 Stanley Cup
Championship.
In April 2010, Hicks’s company defaulted on $525-million in bank loans backed by the Stars and a 50-percent interest in the American Airlines Center.
On September 13, 2011, lenders voted to agree to have the Stars file for bankruptcy and sold at auction.
On November 22, 2011, a bankruptcy court judge approved a bid by Vancouver businessman and Kamloops Blazers
owner Tom Gaglardi
to buy the team for $240 million.
Baseball Club of the Major League Baseball
’s American League
. Under Hicks ownership, the Rangers won the American League West Division crown in 1998 and 1999, but failed to deliver a World Series
. Hicks made headlines across all MLB when he signed then shortstop Alex Rodriguez
to the biggest contract in MLB. The ten year deal would have paid Rodriguez up to two hundred fifty two million dollars and guaranteed he would remain the highest paid shortstop in the game. The Rangers also spent a large amount of money on another Scott Boras client Chan Ho Park, who signed a 65 million dollar contract with the Rangers following the 2001 season. The Park signing would be a disaster for the Rangers as the new ‘staff ace’ was unable to pitch away from the pitcher-friendly Dodgers stadium and in the hitter friendly American League. After finishing in last place for the division four seasons in a row Hicks agreed to trade Rodriguez to the New York Yankees. As part of the agreement the Rangers would supplement a portion of his remaining contract. This agreement would continue until Rodriguez opted out of his contract in 2007. Hicks’ ownership would see only 3 winning seasons in 11 full seasons of ownership.
On January 23, 2010, it was announced Hicks had agreed to sell the Rangers to a group led by Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan
. Hicks would have been a minority share holder in the new ownership group.
Prior to bids being placed by potential buyers, Hicks told the media the Rangers were operating under normal business with no interference from MLB. Regarding the Rangers' inability to sign 2009 first round pick Matt Purke, he said, "We were disappointed that the family insisted on $6 million. The Texas Rangers were not willing to do that. It had nothing to do with MLB restrictions. There is a clear misimpression we didn't sign Matt Purke because MLB wouldn't let us. That's not true. We didn't because of Tom Hicks, Nolan Ryan and Jon Daniels. We were not willing to go to $6 million." After his group had completed the purchase agreement, Ryan told the media the Rangers were not able to offer the 1st round pick the 6 million dollar signing bonus both parties had agreed to verbally after the draft because MLB, who were strictly overseeing the Rangers budget by this time, wouldn't approve the amount needed to sign Purke.
After the announcement of the pending sale by Hicks Sports Group, several additional hurdles occurred which had to be remedied before the sale of the team could be finalized. Several of the lenders, who were owed over $500 million, vocally objected to the deal accusing Hicks of rejecting a higher offer by Jim Crane and stated they would not sign off on the deal. Also, Hicks has been sued by 3 different parties over the land adjacent to the stadium that was sold in a separate transaction as a part of the purchase by Greenberg and Ryan.
On May 24 Hicks and HSG filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection/separation of the Texas Rangers from HSG and asked the courts to approve of the sale of the Rangers to the group headed by Greenberg and Ryan. The move was made to expedite the sale and resolve the sale prior to the MLB trade deadline and draft signing deadline.
Emails presented in court show that after Hicks agreed to an exclusive negotiation period with Greenberg attorneys for HSG were still in discussion with another bidder, Dennis Crane, about a sale price for the team and emailed the creditors on December 31, 2009 saying "Basically, the response from the MLB was to prohibit us from negotiating with anyone other than Greenberg. Their intent seems to be to lock us into Greenberg even though Crane now has a clearly superior economic deal -- and may always have had based on Greenberg's current position. We need help here. Unless the lenders weigh in, we are going to be stuck negotiating a deal that is clearly worse than Crane's."
The bankruptcy court ordered a public auction to be held on August 4, 2010, and the winning bid was submitted by Greenberg
/Ryan
. Co-lead investors Ray Davis and Bob R. Simpson
were named co-chairmen.
In March 2011 Greenberg resigned as Chief Executive, sold his interest,
and Nolan Ryan
was named President and Chief Executive Officer.
Ryan was subsequently designated the Controlling Owner of the Club by a unanimous vote of the 30 owners of Major League Baseball on May 12, 2011.
owner George N. Gillett Jr.
to purchase English Premiership club Liverpool F.C.
; this takeover proposal was believed to be the front-runner after Dubai International Capital
(DIC) withdrew their bid. On February 6, 2007, Hicks and Gillett's joint offer for Liverpool was formally accepted, valuing the club at £218.9 million ($432.9 million) (£5,000 per share and £44.8 m in debt). Liverpool became the third FA Premier League
club to be acquired by U.S. businessmen, the others being Aston Villa and Manchester United. When taking over the club, Hicks and Gillett made a joint declaration: “Liverpool is a fantastic club with a remarkable history and a passionate fanbase. We fully acknowledge and appreciate the unique heritage and rich history of Liverpool and intend to respect this heritage in the future.” Hicks stated his foremost priority was gaining silverware, and vowed to build a new stadium for the club at Stanley Park Stadium
. The preexisting plans to build the stadium were revised but the stadium never materialized.
Hicks became extremely unpopular among Liverpool fans for his failure to deliver on the promise of a new stadium or on the promise that no debt would be placed onto the club and for his allegedly misleading statements about planned and past investment in players. Furthermore a public spat with manager Rafa Benitez and an attack on chief executive Rick Parry
in an interview with Sky Sports News just 24 hours after the 19th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster
enraged fans as disrespectful and totally oblivious of traditions at the club he part-owned. During Hicks and Gillett's period of ownership, Liverpool became associated with frequent boardroom wranglings as the owners fell out with each other and engaged in public battles with Parry and Benitez. Anger was also directed at the Hicks family when Tom Hicks's son, Tom Jr, had to resign from the Liverpool board of directors after sending an abusive e-mail to a Liverpool fan saying "Blow me fuck face. Go to hell. I'm sick of you".
On January 22, 2008, a majority of Liverpool fans at the game between Liverpool and Aston Villa, protested against Gillett and Hicks' running of the club, urging the pair to sell their shares in Liverpool F.C. to Dubai International Capital
(DIC). Neither owner, nor their representative Foster Gillett, was present at the game. George Gillett was reportedly targeted by DIC to sell his shares. It was reported that he had fallen out with Hicks and he subsequently kept silent over his dealings with the club. On March 7, 2008, it was reported that Gillett had agreed to sell 98 per cent of his Liverpool stock to DIC, but Hicks blocked the sale. In an interview on Prime Time Sports
in Canada, Gillett revealed that he and his family had received death threats from angry Liverpool fans: "The fans don’t want him [Tom Hicks] to have even one share of my stake in the club, based on what they are sending to me. As a result of that we [my family] have received many phone calls in the middle of the night threatening our lives, death threats. A number came to the office and my son, Foster, and daughter-in-law, Lauren, have received them". On April 16, 2010, the club was put up for sale. Hicks claimed that he believed the club had tripled in value during his tenure, and boasted that he would be looking for a price of four times what he purchased his stake for. He claimed that "Liverpool will be the most profitable investment I've ever made". On June 16, 2010, Walton MP Steve Rotherham tabled a motion in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom expressing dismay at the continuing ownership of the club. Hicks and Gillett were described as "asset strippers" and the club was being "drained by their greed".
In October 2010, as part of a fans' campaign against the ownership, a video entitled Dear Mr Hicks was released virally via YouTube
. Produced and directed by Mike Jefferies
, it featured celebrity fans of the club giving their reasons why they wanted to see a change of ownership. The Independent
newspaper praised the video, saying: "True to the city's capacity to create something out of adversity, a wonderfully inventive viral film, Dear Mr Hicks, has been published online to make it clear where he ought to go. The fans' view can be summarised thus: away, and soon".
It was claimed that the video was watched 400 000 times in 42 hours.
On October 15, 2010, Hicks lost ownership of Liverpool F.C. Despite numerous attempts to prevent it, the club was sold to New England Sports Ventures
(NESV), for a fee believed to be around £300 million, which was far below Hicks' valuation of "between £600M and £1 billion(B)", by the Liverpool F.C. board of directors in a 3–2 vote. Hicks is pursuing a (max.) £1B suit against NESV and Kop Holdings for damages, claiming that "This outcome... devalues the club..." and suggesting that he had been the victim of an "epic swindle". However from the time the club had been put up for sale it had been widely reported that the fee that Hicks and Gillett were asking for was unlikely to be achieved. The Wall Street Journal pointed out that the asking price of £600 million–£800 million took no account of the fact that a new owner would have to spend £375 million building the new stadium which Hicks and Gillett had promised and failed to deliver. The Daily Telegraph suggested that Hicks and Gillett were unlikely to achieve their estimated price because everyone knew that there was huge debt at the club and that these debts were due to be called in very shortly, meaning that the bankers would subsequently put the club into administration and then sell off the club at a bargain price anyway. The likelihood of the club being placed in administration increased once, on September 7, 2010, the Royal Bank of Scotland
, Hicks's main creditor, placed the Texan's indebtedness in the toxic debt category as he was considered unable to find refinancing or to pay off the debt. In the end, none of the offers made were anywhere close to Hicks and Gillett's valuation and with the threat of administration looming the club was sold for £300 million. This meant that the sale in 2010 fetched £80 million more than Hicks and Gillett had paid for the club in 2007 but because more than £200 million worth of debt had been piled on to the club, resulting in huge interest rates and penalty payments, the outgoing owners ended up losing an estimated £144 million on their investment.
Liverpool F.C. fans were delighted to hear that the club had been sold. Steve Horner, from the fans' group Kop Faithful declared:
“It’s like a huge cloud has been lifted off us.....Hicks and Gillett leave with no legacy, apart from one of chaos.” Chairman of Liverpool Supporters Club, Richie Pedder announced to the Liverpool Echo
: “This is the start of a new era. A lot has been taken off the club’s shoulders now. Good riddance to Hicks and Gillett." Former Liverpool player Tommy Smith expressed his joy at the departure of Hicks and Gillett in his regular newspaper column: "But today they are out of our club - and I’m as happy as every one of the Liverpool fans who’ve made it clear they’re so sick of them. All they were ever interested in was making money - not in owning what is for me the greatest football club in the world, investing in it properly and taking good care of it. Good riddance." After selling the club, Hicks admitted that his relationship with the fans had been strained: "something went wrong with my ability to communicate with the fans. I am saddened by it."
In the two years before Hicks and Gillett took control of the club, Liverpool won the Champions' League
in 2005 and the FA Cup
in 2006 under manager Rafa Benitez. In the three and a half years in which Hicks and Gillett owned the club, they won not a single trophy and at the time they left Liverpool the club were in the relegation zone of the Premier League.
Fans blame a lack of investment in players for the declining performances on the pitch. Hicks has denied this claim, declaring that during his reign Liverpool's net spend on player transfers was £150 million (sometimes cited as $150 million). The newspaper The Sunday Mirror calculated that the net spend probably did not exceed £25.1 million and has accused Hicks of "creative accountancy", stating "what is irrefutable is that Hicks has exaggerated the net spend by probably close to six fold".
During Hicks and Gillett's period of ownership, the club struggled to meet the interest payments on the loans taken out as part of the leveraged buy-out. Christian Purslow
, managing director of Liverpool since June 2009, publicly stated in September 2010 that the debt was an important burden for the club because it limited investment in players: "The issue is that too much of that profit is being used to service loans put into place when the club was bought." Hicks admitted after the sale that the club's debt was too great but argued that he had not been given sufficient time by his main creditor, the Royal Bank of Scotland, to repay the debt: "It has a little bit too much debt, no question. But we were going to fix that and we were frustrated by others." He has also suggested that the Royal Bank of Scotland prevented him paying back the debt to them: "I can't go into the details but I can confirm the funds were available to pay off Royal Bank of Scotland entirely but between Royal Bank of Scotland, the chairman and the employees that conspired against us, they would not let us."
After more legal trouble with his other sports team, Tom Hicks decided not to pursue his claims of an epic swindle against him.
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
'leveraged buyout
Leveraged buyout
A leveraged buyout occurs when an investor, typically financial sponsor, acquires a controlling interest in a company's equity and where a significant percentage of the purchase price is financed through leverage...
' businessman living in Dallas, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. Despite Forbes Magazine estimating Hicks' wealth at USD 1 billion in 2009, Hicks was unable to pay off joint loans of circa £200 million the following year. Hicks co-founded the investment firm, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, previously owned fifty percent of the English football club Liverpool FC, and is chairman of Hicks Holdings LLC, which owns and operates Hicks Sports Group, the company that formerly owned the Texas Rangers
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
and the Dallas Stars
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The team was founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minnesota North Stars, based in Bloomington, Minnesota. The...
, and currently owns the Mesquite Championship Rodeo
Mesquite Championship Rodeo
The Mesquite Championship Rodeo is a rodeo located in Mesquite, Texas that operates during rodeo season .Founded in 1958 by Neal Gay as a permanent rodeo , the rodeo struggled in the early years, but grew as the city of Mesquite grew...
.
Biography
The son of a Texas radio stationRadio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
owner John Hicks, Hicks was born in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School
Thomas Jefferson High School (Dallas, Texas)
For schools with a similar name, see Jefferson High School.Thomas Jefferson High School is a secondary school in Dallas, Texas that serves grades 9-12. The school is part of the Dallas Independent School District and is located at 4001 Walnut Hill Lane, Dallas, Texas 75229...
, in Port Arthur, Texas
Port Arthur, Texas
-Demographics:As of the 2000 census, there were 57,755 people, 21,839 households, and 14,675 families residing in the city. The population density was 696.5 people per square mile . There were 24,713 housing units at an average density of 298.0 per square mile...
, in 1964. Hicks is a brother of Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon , commonly nicknamed SigEp or SPE, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College , and its national headquarters remains in Richmond, Virginia. It was founded on three principles: Virtue,...
, received his Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in Finance from the University of Texas in 1968, and received his MBA
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
from the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
in 1970.
Hicks became interested in leveraged buyout
Leveraged buyout
A leveraged buyout occurs when an investor, typically financial sponsor, acquires a controlling interest in a company's equity and where a significant percentage of the purchase price is financed through leverage...
s as a member of First National Bank of Austin's venture capital
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
group. Hicks and Robert Haas formed Hicks & Haas in 1984. The next year that firm bought Hicks Communications, a radio outfit run by Hicks' brother Steven
Steven Hicks
Robert Steven "Steve" Hicks , is an American businessman, who is mostly closely associated with the radio business, pioneering the concept of local marketing agreement and was the Vice-Chairman of AMFM, Inc., a predecessor of radio station giant Clear Channel Communications...
– the first of several media companies bought or created by the buyout firm that involved Steven (Capstar, Chancellor, and AMFM).
Hicks & Haas' in the mid-1980s bought several soft drink
Soft drink
A soft drink is a non-alcoholic beverage that typically contains water , a sweetener, and a flavoring agent...
makers, including Dr Pepper
Dr Pepper
Dr Pepper is a soft drink, marketed as having a unique flavor. The drink was created in the 1880s by Charles Alderton of Waco, Texas and first served around 1885. Dr Pepper was first nationally marketed in the United States in 1904 and is now also sold in Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico, Australia ...
and 7 Up
7 Up
7 Up is a brand of a lemon-lime flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The rights to the brand are held by Dr Pepper Snapple Group in the United States, and PepsiCo in the rest of the world, including Puerto Rico, where the concentrate is manufactured at the Pepsi facility in Cidra...
. The firm took Dr Pepper/7 Up public just 18 months after merging the two companies. In all, Hicks & Haas turned $88 million of investor funding into $1.3 billion. The pair went their separate ways in May 1989. Hicks wanted to raise large pools to invest, while Haas preferred to work with investors deal by deal.
In 1989, Hicks co-founded the investment firm, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst with former Prudential
Prudential Financial
The Prudential Insurance Company of America , also known as Prudential Financial, Inc., is a Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, investment management, and other financial products and services to both retail and institutional customers throughout the...
Securities banker John Muse. The firm raised $250 million, with early investments including a life insurance
Life insurance
Life insurance is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of the insured person. Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or critical illness may also trigger...
company, Life Partners Group (bought in 1990 and sold in 1996). In 1991, Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....
's Charles Tate and First Boston
First Boston
First Boston Corporation was a New York-based, bulge bracket, investment bank, founded in 1932 and acquired by Credit Suisse in 1990. Together with its sister investment banks, it was referred to as CS First Boston after 1993 and part of Credit Suisse First Boston after 1996, the First Boston part...
's Jack Furst became partners. Hicks was chairman from 1989 to 2004, Hicks Muse raised $12 billion of private equity funds, consummated over $50 billion of leveraged acquisitions, and grew to become one of the largest private investment firms in the country.
But Hicks Muse hit a rough patch by the early 2000s, when investors in Equity Fund IV were burned by a $1.2 billion plunge into telecom investments in 1999. Hicks announced that he would leave the Hicks Muse on March 8, 2004, to spend more time with his family and his sports teams. (Hicks Muse was subsequently renamed HM Capital Partners.)
However, Hicks has remained active in his own ventures. He created Hicks Holdings, a vehicle for his sports and real estate empire, and then started buying companies again in the $10 to $250 million level, including:
a Chinese electronics firm, a venture with DirecTV selling bundled TV-telecom services to condos, a landscaping materials company in the Midwest, a pet food firm in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, and Gammaloy – an oil field rental outfit he bought from his wife's family, paying approximately $20 million in the 1990s.
Additionally, he formed Hicks Acquisition Company I, Inc. (HACI). In September 2009, HACI merged into Resolute Energy Corporation (REN), an oil and gas firm. Hicks is not on REN's board of directors, but his son, Thomas O. Hicks, Jr., represents HACI on the board.
As of August 13, 2010, the website for Hicks Sports Group appears to have disappeared. As for other websites for Hicks companies, while they are still operating, they appear to be empty of any data and Hicks Sports Marketing now appears to be a Word Press blog site, with the first page advertising Online Gaming.
Politics
Hicks was a member of the political action committee for the 2008 presidential electionUnited States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
campaign for former Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Mayor of New York City
Mayor of New York City
The Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...
, Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
.
Tom Hicks Elementary School
Tom Hicks Elementary SchoolTom Hicks Elementary School
Thomas O. Hicks Elementary School is located in Frisco, Texas under the Lewisville Independent School District . The land where the school building sits was donated in 1998 by Thomas O. Hicks, owner of over 400 radio stations, Chairmain of the Board and owner of the Dallas Stars hockey team as well...
in Frisco, Texas
Frisco, Texas
Frisco is an affluent city in Collin and Denton Counties in the U.S. state of Texas and a rapidly growing suburb of Dallas. As of the 2010 Census, 116,989 people were living in Frisco up from 33,714 in the previous census. Frisco was the fastest growing city in the United States in 2009, and also...
, part of the Lewisville Independent School District
Lewisville Independent School District
Lewisville Independent School District is a 127-square mile school district based in Lewisville, Texas covering all of Lewisville, The Colony, Flower Mound, Highland Village, Copper Canyon, and Double Oak as well as portions of Plano, Carrollton, Frisco, Hebron, Coppell, Grapevine and Argyle.The...
, was given its name after Hicks donated the necessary land for the school.
Sports
Hicks moved from the business pages to the sports section in December 1995 when he bought the National Hockey LeagueNational Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
Dallas Stars
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The team was founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minnesota North Stars, based in Bloomington, Minnesota. The...
for $82 million.
Corinthians
In 1999, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst entered into a partnership with Sport Club Corinthians PaulistaSport Club Corinthians Paulista
Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, commonly just known as Corinthians , is a Brazilian football club based in the city of São Paulo. They play in the São Paulo state league, as well as the Brasileirão, Brazil's top national league...
, a successful Brazilian football club. Club directors and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst assured the fans that a new stadium was in development, but this never materialized.
Corinthians had won the Brazilian championship in 1998, so they inherited a winning team. There was an initial capital investment to tie down existing players and to finance the signing of Dida and Luizão
Luiz Carlos Bombonato Goulart
Luiz Carlos Bombonato Goulart, known as Luizão , is an association footballer who played striker. He has been capped 17 times by Brazil, scoring two goals in the last game of the 2002 FIFA World Cup Qualification vs Venezuela, a 3–0 Brazilian victory...
. The initial expenditure assisted in retaining the league title in December 1999 and the club also won the inaugural FIFA Club World Championship the following month.
They began selling the club's star players and announced plans to change Corinthians' famous black-and-white kit. This led to a furious reaction from supporters. In 2003, after legal/financial troubles and partner infighting, Hicks retired from the company and the ownership group eventually left the partnership with Corinthians. There was no new stadium.
Dallas Stars
Hicks contracted to purchase the NHL franchise from Norman Green in December 1995, and he currently serves as the Stars' Chairman of the Board and the club's representative on the NHL Board of Governors. Hicks played an instrumental role in the development and planning of American Airlines CenterAmerican Airlines Center
The American Airlines Center is a multi-purpose arena, located in the Victory Park neighborhood, near downtown Dallas, Texas.It is home to the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA, and the Dallas Stars of the NHL....
. During his tenure the Stars have won seven Division Championships, two Western Conference
Western Conference (NHL)
The Western Conference is one of two conferences in the National Hockey League used to divide teams. Its counterpart is the Eastern Conference....
crowns, two Presidents' Trophies
Presidents' Trophy
The Presidents' Trophy is an award presented by the National Hockey League to the team that finishes with the most points in the league during the regular season. If two teams tie for the most points, then the trophy goes to the team with the most wins. The winning team is also awarded C$350,000...
as the team with the best regular season record, two consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Finals
Stanley Cup Finals
The Stanley Cup Finals is the championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, emblematic of the professional club championship of ice hockey. Although the Cup itself has existed since 1893, an annual championship series between professional teams was not established until 1913...
and the 1999 Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
Championship.
In April 2010, Hicks’s company defaulted on $525-million in bank loans backed by the Stars and a 50-percent interest in the American Airlines Center.
On September 13, 2011, lenders voted to agree to have the Stars file for bankruptcy and sold at auction.
On November 22, 2011, a bankruptcy court judge approved a bid by Vancouver businessman and Kamloops Blazers
Kamloops Blazers
The Kamloops Blazers are a junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League based out of Kamloops, British Columbia. They play their home games at Interior Savings Centre.-History:...
owner Tom Gaglardi
Tom Gaglardi
R. Thomas Gaglardi , is a Canadian Business Executive, and owner of the Dallas Stars, of the National Hockey League.-Career:Gaglardi is president of Northland Properties Corporation, which he and his family own...
to buy the team for $240 million.
Texas Rangers
In June 1998, Hicks became the Chairman and Owner of the Texas RangersTexas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
Baseball Club of the Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
’s American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
. Under Hicks ownership, the Rangers won the American League West Division crown in 1998 and 1999, but failed to deliver a World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
. Hicks made headlines across all MLB when he signed then shortstop Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez
Alexander Emmanuel "Alex" Rodriguez is an American professional baseball third baseman with the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball. Known popularly by his nickname A-Rod, he previously played shortstop for the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers.Rodriguez is considered one of the best...
to the biggest contract in MLB. The ten year deal would have paid Rodriguez up to two hundred fifty two million dollars and guaranteed he would remain the highest paid shortstop in the game. The Rangers also spent a large amount of money on another Scott Boras client Chan Ho Park, who signed a 65 million dollar contract with the Rangers following the 2001 season. The Park signing would be a disaster for the Rangers as the new ‘staff ace’ was unable to pitch away from the pitcher-friendly Dodgers stadium and in the hitter friendly American League. After finishing in last place for the division four seasons in a row Hicks agreed to trade Rodriguez to the New York Yankees. As part of the agreement the Rangers would supplement a portion of his remaining contract. This agreement would continue until Rodriguez opted out of his contract in 2007. Hicks’ ownership would see only 3 winning seasons in 11 full seasons of ownership.
On January 23, 2010, it was announced Hicks had agreed to sell the Rangers to a group led by Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan
Nolan Ryan
Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr. , nicknamed "The Ryan Express", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He is currently principal owner, president and CEO of the Texas Rangers....
. Hicks would have been a minority share holder in the new ownership group.
Prior to bids being placed by potential buyers, Hicks told the media the Rangers were operating under normal business with no interference from MLB. Regarding the Rangers' inability to sign 2009 first round pick Matt Purke, he said, "We were disappointed that the family insisted on $6 million. The Texas Rangers were not willing to do that. It had nothing to do with MLB restrictions. There is a clear misimpression we didn't sign Matt Purke because MLB wouldn't let us. That's not true. We didn't because of Tom Hicks, Nolan Ryan and Jon Daniels. We were not willing to go to $6 million." After his group had completed the purchase agreement, Ryan told the media the Rangers were not able to offer the 1st round pick the 6 million dollar signing bonus both parties had agreed to verbally after the draft because MLB, who were strictly overseeing the Rangers budget by this time, wouldn't approve the amount needed to sign Purke.
After the announcement of the pending sale by Hicks Sports Group, several additional hurdles occurred which had to be remedied before the sale of the team could be finalized. Several of the lenders, who were owed over $500 million, vocally objected to the deal accusing Hicks of rejecting a higher offer by Jim Crane and stated they would not sign off on the deal. Also, Hicks has been sued by 3 different parties over the land adjacent to the stadium that was sold in a separate transaction as a part of the purchase by Greenberg and Ryan.
On May 24 Hicks and HSG filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection/separation of the Texas Rangers from HSG and asked the courts to approve of the sale of the Rangers to the group headed by Greenberg and Ryan. The move was made to expedite the sale and resolve the sale prior to the MLB trade deadline and draft signing deadline.
Emails presented in court show that after Hicks agreed to an exclusive negotiation period with Greenberg attorneys for HSG were still in discussion with another bidder, Dennis Crane, about a sale price for the team and emailed the creditors on December 31, 2009 saying "Basically, the response from the MLB was to prohibit us from negotiating with anyone other than Greenberg. Their intent seems to be to lock us into Greenberg even though Crane now has a clearly superior economic deal -- and may always have had based on Greenberg's current position. We need help here. Unless the lenders weigh in, we are going to be stuck negotiating a deal that is clearly worse than Crane's."
The bankruptcy court ordered a public auction to be held on August 4, 2010, and the winning bid was submitted by Greenberg
Chuck Greenberg
Chuck Greenberg , born in Chicago, Illinois, was an American musical artist, composer and producer.He began his musical career in the Midwest, including a backup band tour with the Bee Gees, then relocated to Los Angeles, California in 1978.Though Greenberg's band Shadowfax, first formed in 1972,...
/Ryan
Nolan Ryan
Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr. , nicknamed "The Ryan Express", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He is currently principal owner, president and CEO of the Texas Rangers....
. Co-lead investors Ray Davis and Bob R. Simpson
Bob R. Simpson
Bob R. Simpson is the co-founder of XTO Energy, and co-owner of the Texas Rangers major league baseball team.-Career:In 1985 Simpson founded Cross Timbers Oil Company, and served as Chairman of the Board since July 1, 1996...
were named co-chairmen.
In March 2011 Greenberg resigned as Chief Executive, sold his interest,
and Nolan Ryan
Nolan Ryan
Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr. , nicknamed "The Ryan Express", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He is currently principal owner, president and CEO of the Texas Rangers....
was named President and Chief Executive Officer.
Ryan was subsequently designated the Controlling Owner of the Club by a unanimous vote of the 30 owners of Major League Baseball on May 12, 2011.
Liverpool F.C.
On February 1, 2007, it was made known through the English press that he was involved in a consortium with one-time friend and Montreal CanadiensMontreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
owner George N. Gillett Jr.
George N. Gillett Jr.
-Biography:George Gillett graduated from Lake Forest Academy in 1956. He attended Amherst College and is a graduate of Dominican College in Racine, Wisconsin....
to purchase English Premiership club Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
; this takeover proposal was believed to be the front-runner after Dubai International Capital
Dubai International Capital
Dubai International Capital is the international investment arm of Dubai Holding, a holding company and sovereign wealth fund of the government of Dubai and its ruling family and has been over-leveraged to the point whereby the company is not able to service its interest payments in a normal fashion...
(DIC) withdrew their bid. On February 6, 2007, Hicks and Gillett's joint offer for Liverpool was formally accepted, valuing the club at £218.9 million ($432.9 million) (£5,000 per share and £44.8 m in debt). Liverpool became the third FA Premier League
FA Premier League
The Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with The Football League. The Premier...
club to be acquired by U.S. businessmen, the others being Aston Villa and Manchester United. When taking over the club, Hicks and Gillett made a joint declaration: “Liverpool is a fantastic club with a remarkable history and a passionate fanbase. We fully acknowledge and appreciate the unique heritage and rich history of Liverpool and intend to respect this heritage in the future.” Hicks stated his foremost priority was gaining silverware, and vowed to build a new stadium for the club at Stanley Park Stadium
Stanley Park Stadium
Stanley Park is a proposed football stadium in Liverpool that if built, would become home to Liverpool Football Club. The stadium would have a capacity of 60,000 to 72,000 all-seated if built as originally planned...
. The preexisting plans to build the stadium were revised but the stadium never materialized.
Hicks became extremely unpopular among Liverpool fans for his failure to deliver on the promise of a new stadium or on the promise that no debt would be placed onto the club and for his allegedly misleading statements about planned and past investment in players. Furthermore a public spat with manager Rafa Benitez and an attack on chief executive Rick Parry
Rick Parry
Rick Parry is the former chief executive of Liverpool Football Club, and the former head of the FA Premier League. He is currently on the board of directors at New York Cosmos .-Career:...
in an interview with Sky Sports News just 24 hours after the 19th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster
Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a human crush that occurred on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, a football stadium, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in Sheffield, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 people, and 766 being injured, all fans of Liverpool F.C....
enraged fans as disrespectful and totally oblivious of traditions at the club he part-owned. During Hicks and Gillett's period of ownership, Liverpool became associated with frequent boardroom wranglings as the owners fell out with each other and engaged in public battles with Parry and Benitez. Anger was also directed at the Hicks family when Tom Hicks's son, Tom Jr, had to resign from the Liverpool board of directors after sending an abusive e-mail to a Liverpool fan saying "Blow me fuck face. Go to hell. I'm sick of you".
On January 22, 2008, a majority of Liverpool fans at the game between Liverpool and Aston Villa, protested against Gillett and Hicks' running of the club, urging the pair to sell their shares in Liverpool F.C. to Dubai International Capital
Dubai International Capital
Dubai International Capital is the international investment arm of Dubai Holding, a holding company and sovereign wealth fund of the government of Dubai and its ruling family and has been over-leveraged to the point whereby the company is not able to service its interest payments in a normal fashion...
(DIC). Neither owner, nor their representative Foster Gillett, was present at the game. George Gillett was reportedly targeted by DIC to sell his shares. It was reported that he had fallen out with Hicks and he subsequently kept silent over his dealings with the club. On March 7, 2008, it was reported that Gillett had agreed to sell 98 per cent of his Liverpool stock to DIC, but Hicks blocked the sale. In an interview on Prime Time Sports
Prime Time Sports
Prime Time Sports is a sports radio talk show produced from the studios of The FAN 590 in Toronto, Canada. The show is hosted by Bob McCown.The program is broadcast weekdays from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET on The FAN 590...
in Canada, Gillett revealed that he and his family had received death threats from angry Liverpool fans: "The fans don’t want him [Tom Hicks] to have even one share of my stake in the club, based on what they are sending to me. As a result of that we [my family] have received many phone calls in the middle of the night threatening our lives, death threats. A number came to the office and my son, Foster, and daughter-in-law, Lauren, have received them". On April 16, 2010, the club was put up for sale. Hicks claimed that he believed the club had tripled in value during his tenure, and boasted that he would be looking for a price of four times what he purchased his stake for. He claimed that "Liverpool will be the most profitable investment I've ever made". On June 16, 2010, Walton MP Steve Rotherham tabled a motion in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom expressing dismay at the continuing ownership of the club. Hicks and Gillett were described as "asset strippers" and the club was being "drained by their greed".
In October 2010, as part of a fans' campaign against the ownership, a video entitled Dear Mr Hicks was released virally via YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. Produced and directed by Mike Jefferies
Mike Jefferies
Born in Liverpool, Mike Jefferies is a British screenwriter and film producer.Jefferies founded the highly successful media and publishing group Mondiale in 1991 which he sold to the Daily Mail in 1999 after winning the HRH Queens Award for Export in 1998....
, it featured celebrity fans of the club giving their reasons why they wanted to see a change of ownership. The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
newspaper praised the video, saying: "True to the city's capacity to create something out of adversity, a wonderfully inventive viral film, Dear Mr Hicks, has been published online to make it clear where he ought to go. The fans' view can be summarised thus: away, and soon".
It was claimed that the video was watched 400 000 times in 42 hours.
On October 15, 2010, Hicks lost ownership of Liverpool F.C. Despite numerous attempts to prevent it, the club was sold to New England Sports Ventures
New England Sports Ventures
Fenway Sports Group is an American sports investment company. It is the parent company of Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox and Premier League football club Liverpool F.C.....
(NESV), for a fee believed to be around £300 million, which was far below Hicks' valuation of "between £600M and £1 billion(B)", by the Liverpool F.C. board of directors in a 3–2 vote. Hicks is pursuing a (max.) £1B suit against NESV and Kop Holdings for damages, claiming that "This outcome... devalues the club..." and suggesting that he had been the victim of an "epic swindle". However from the time the club had been put up for sale it had been widely reported that the fee that Hicks and Gillett were asking for was unlikely to be achieved. The Wall Street Journal pointed out that the asking price of £600 million–£800 million took no account of the fact that a new owner would have to spend £375 million building the new stadium which Hicks and Gillett had promised and failed to deliver. The Daily Telegraph suggested that Hicks and Gillett were unlikely to achieve their estimated price because everyone knew that there was huge debt at the club and that these debts were due to be called in very shortly, meaning that the bankers would subsequently put the club into administration and then sell off the club at a bargain price anyway. The likelihood of the club being placed in administration increased once, on September 7, 2010, the Royal Bank of Scotland
Royal Bank of Scotland
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is a British banking and insurance holding company in which the UK Government holds an 84% stake. This stake is held and managed through UK Financial Investments Limited, whose voting rights are limited to 75% in order for the bank to retain its listing on the...
, Hicks's main creditor, placed the Texan's indebtedness in the toxic debt category as he was considered unable to find refinancing or to pay off the debt. In the end, none of the offers made were anywhere close to Hicks and Gillett's valuation and with the threat of administration looming the club was sold for £300 million. This meant that the sale in 2010 fetched £80 million more than Hicks and Gillett had paid for the club in 2007 but because more than £200 million worth of debt had been piled on to the club, resulting in huge interest rates and penalty payments, the outgoing owners ended up losing an estimated £144 million on their investment.
Liverpool F.C. fans were delighted to hear that the club had been sold. Steve Horner, from the fans' group Kop Faithful declared:
“It’s like a huge cloud has been lifted off us.....Hicks and Gillett leave with no legacy, apart from one of chaos.” Chairman of Liverpool Supporters Club, Richie Pedder announced to the Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
The Liverpool Echo is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Saturday, and is Liverpool's evening newspaper while its sister paper, the Liverpool Daily Post, is the morning paper...
: “This is the start of a new era. A lot has been taken off the club’s shoulders now. Good riddance to Hicks and Gillett." Former Liverpool player Tommy Smith expressed his joy at the departure of Hicks and Gillett in his regular newspaper column: "But today they are out of our club - and I’m as happy as every one of the Liverpool fans who’ve made it clear they’re so sick of them. All they were ever interested in was making money - not in owning what is for me the greatest football club in the world, investing in it properly and taking good care of it. Good riddance." After selling the club, Hicks admitted that his relationship with the fans had been strained: "something went wrong with my ability to communicate with the fans. I am saddened by it."
In the two years before Hicks and Gillett took control of the club, Liverpool won the Champions' League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
in 2005 and the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
in 2006 under manager Rafa Benitez. In the three and a half years in which Hicks and Gillett owned the club, they won not a single trophy and at the time they left Liverpool the club were in the relegation zone of the Premier League.
Fans blame a lack of investment in players for the declining performances on the pitch. Hicks has denied this claim, declaring that during his reign Liverpool's net spend on player transfers was £150 million (sometimes cited as $150 million). The newspaper The Sunday Mirror calculated that the net spend probably did not exceed £25.1 million and has accused Hicks of "creative accountancy", stating "what is irrefutable is that Hicks has exaggerated the net spend by probably close to six fold".
During Hicks and Gillett's period of ownership, the club struggled to meet the interest payments on the loans taken out as part of the leveraged buy-out. Christian Purslow
Christian Purslow
Christian Mark Cecil Purslow is a British-born businessman, co-founder of private equity firm MidOcean Partners, and former Managing Director of Liverpool Football Club.-Early life:...
, managing director of Liverpool since June 2009, publicly stated in September 2010 that the debt was an important burden for the club because it limited investment in players: "The issue is that too much of that profit is being used to service loans put into place when the club was bought." Hicks admitted after the sale that the club's debt was too great but argued that he had not been given sufficient time by his main creditor, the Royal Bank of Scotland, to repay the debt: "It has a little bit too much debt, no question. But we were going to fix that and we were frustrated by others." He has also suggested that the Royal Bank of Scotland prevented him paying back the debt to them: "I can't go into the details but I can confirm the funds were available to pay off Royal Bank of Scotland entirely but between Royal Bank of Scotland, the chairman and the employees that conspired against us, they would not let us."
After more legal trouble with his other sports team, Tom Hicks decided not to pursue his claims of an epic swindle against him.
Philanthropy
Hicks was the 1996 co-chair of the "Dallas Jewish Coalition for the Homeless "Vogel Alcove" project", and received the 2000 "Henry Cohn Humanitarian Award" from the Anti-Defamation LeagueAnti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
.