In Focus

Wayne Huizenga - He's A BlockBuster, Alright!

NOTE: All this month in the Chicks' Eye View we will be featuring the richest of the rich from the Forbes List of the World's Richest People. Just who are they and how'd they get to be so filthy rich?

Known by some as one of the greatest deal makers of the 20th Century, there's a reason Wayne Huizenga has a net worth of 1.8 billion, ranking him 150th on Fortune Magazine's Wealthiest Americans list. I had to laugh when I first saw the listing. On the far right, the magazine lists where each richy rich earned his or her fortune. Granted some listees were lucky by birthright and can credit their wealth to inheritance, in the case of Huizenga, the magazine credits "garbage, videos and automobiles!" As in sales, where a good salesperson can sell almost any product whether it be produce or computer parts, a good dealmaker can negotiate deals across industry lines as well. In a nutshell, this is what Huizenga has done, and done it well, I might add.

H. Wayne Huizenga, was born in December of 1937, making him 64 years old at the end of this year. To my amazement, he is not Japanese. Sorry, but Huizenga just sounds like a nice popular name in Tokyo, kind of like my last name (Smith) is here in the U.S. In addition to his corporate ventures, he has had his hand in many sporting ventures as well. He is the owner of the NFL Miami Dolphins, the NHL Florida Panthers and the Pro Player Stadium in Miami, Florida. Formerly, he was also a majority owner of Major League Baseball's Florida Marlin's. In fact, locals were outraged and highly critical when he dismantled the 1997 World Champion Marlins in the off-season to cut payroll. I guess a business is a business and you don't get to be a billionaire being sentimental.

His involvement with professional sports seems to have been somewhat of a fluke, beginning with a desire to buy a stadium in Florida for the Dolphins. Since he owned the company Waste Management Inc. (his first entrepreneurial success), a waste disposal firm, he had experience buying and developing land. It turned out, he had to invest in a team to make the deal happen, so he did. As seems to be Huizenga's pattern in business, he acquired more teams.

Huizenga attributes his entrepreneurial spirit to a gut instinct he has that allows him to believe in his heart that something will work even though everyone else says it will not. His true joy comes from the actual building of the business, the art of trying to sell others on his idea and making it happen. He laments that once you become successful, and more and more people become involved, you have to be more of an administrator. That part is a drag, which is why, in the past, he has chosen to get out and move on, often starting a new business. That isn't to say he leaves his company in the lurch, company involvement is high on his list for a business to succeed. When he was working on growing Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI), the video superstores, he would spend up to 6 hours per day in actual stores. In fact, employees nicknamed him "Toilet Man" because the first thing he would do on a store visit was checkout the employee bathrooms -- if they weren't clean, the rest of the store would be in the same condition.

Another key ingredient to Huizenga's success, has been to grow companies by aggressive acquisition. Waste Management, Inc. began with a single garbage truck only to become the largest waste disposal company in the United States. As former Blockbuster Chairman and CEO, he led the company to become the nation's largest video rental company, having close to 7,700 stores in the U.S. and 25 other countries. Both have been billion dollar businesses making him a billion dollar man, not to mention lining the pockets of many others as well. His management style seems to be good old-fashioned hard work with a smile. He sets the tone by being the first one to the office in the morning and usually the last one to leave. He enjoys working in a relaxed atmosphere with laughter and joking, but hard work and long hours are the mainstay. Admittedly, he has not been the quintessential family man. I mean something's gotta give, right? I know my husband's lying in bed right now, wondering when in the heck I'm going to finish this article so I can join him! Ah, work before play.

According to Huizenga, one of the most important qualities to a successful business is also its biggest challenge -- giving the customer what they want in a friendly and efficient manner. This goal is actually the genesis of Huizenga's latest entrepreneurial challenge, reforming the way people shop for cars. Few consumer experiences are more dreaded than buying a new car and few industries have more jokes made about their salesman. Okay, lawyer jokes may have the edge on car salesmen, but Auto Nation (NYSE: AN) is Huizenga's answer to America's car buying angst. For more detailed information on this company, I ran them through the Chicks' Dozen on 8/20/01, feel free to check it out! Two main differences set this business venture apart from the previous two with garbage trucks and videos. We'll start with the bad news first, and it will come as no surprise, the economy right now stinks. Bottom line: businesses are having a rough go of it and will simply need to weather the storm. The good news is that, Wayne has made his money, he's had his success and now he has found something else to prove -- that not only can he build a business, but he can manage one as well, while changing an entire industry in the process.

I don't know if Wayne has been able to maintain his marriage through all of his business dealings, but I do know I better run, its time to go service mine!