Gary Winnick

Gary Winnick is an American financier best known as the founder of Global Crossing and Chairman between 1997 and 2002, when the company declared bankruptcy.

This article is about the financier. For the game developer, see Gary Winnick (game developer). For the filmmaker, see Gary Winick.
Gary Winnick
Winnick in 2012
Born (1947-10-13) October 13, 1947
New York City, U.S.
EducationB.A. C.W. Post College, Long Island University (LIU Post)
OccupationFinancier
Known forSenior Vice President, Drexel Burnham Lambert, Founder and Chairman, Global Crossing, Chairman, Winnick & Company
SpouseKaren Winnick
Children3

As of 2015, Winnick was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Winnick & Company,[1] a Los Angeles-based private investment firm founded in 1985.[2] In 1999, Winnick was listed by the Los Angeles Business Journal as the wealthiest Angeleno with a net worth of more than $6 billion; as of 2002 his net worth was listed at $900 million.[3] In 2021, Winnick was named one of the LA500 by the journal.[4]

The Winnick Family Foundation has funded scholarships at Stanford University, Cornell University, Brown University, Tufts University and LIU Post, and endowed a faculty position at Columbia University.[5]

Early life

Winnick was born to a Jewish family[6] in 1947 and grew up in New York, New York. His father owned a restaurant-supply business.[6] When he was 16, Winnick got his first job at a Howard Johnson's on Northern Boulevard.[7] He graduated from the C.W. Post University, part of Long Island University, in 1969.[8]

Career

Drexel Burnham Lambert

Winnick joined Drexel Burnham in 1972. There he was senior vice president and a partner of Michael Milken.[9]

Winnick & Company

In 1985, Winnick formed Pacific Capital Group, a private investment firm focused on private equity and restructuring. In 2013 the name of Pacific Capital Group changed to Winnick & Company.

Global Crossing Limited

In 1997, Winnick founded Global Crossing Limited.[10] Global Crossing laid the first privately financed underwater fiber optic cable network across the Atlantic Ocean,[11] and partnered with Microsoft and Softbank Corp. to build a high capacity telecommunications network.[12][13] The company succeeded in laying cables between North America, Europe and Asia to create a network that, at the time, represented 20% of all undersea capacity leaving the United States.[14] The company, for which Winnick served as Chairman, went public in 1998. Global Crossing was profitable its first year in operation.[11] As of April 1999, Winnick had amassed the fastest billion dollar fortune in history with $4.5 billion in 18 months from a $15 million investment in Global Crossing.[11] He reached the mark faster than Jeff Bezos (4 years), Mark Zuckerberg (4 years) and Bill Gates (12 years) but slower than Jay S. Walker (1 year) who has surpassed him as soon as July 1999.[15]

In January 2002, Global Crossing reorganized under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced that Singapore Technologies Telemedia would take a controlling interest in the company. Winnick created a $3.5 billion cash tender for the stock of Global Crossing, which was the largest offer in the industry at that time.[16] At that time, the Global Crossing bankruptcy was the largest for a U.S. telecom company, and the fifth largest for any U.S. company in history.[17]

Winnick resigned as Chairman of Global Crossing in December 2002. Global Crossing insider sales were approximately $150 million in 2001. Of the total amount sold by company executives and directors since 1999, around $735 million was sold by Winnick, both directly and through foundations. Winnick donated $25 million to Global Crossing employees who lost money in the company's 401k retirement plan.[18]

Philanthropy

Winnick founded The Winnick Family Foundation in 1983. As Chairman, he funds such initiatives as The Winnick Family Clinical Research Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and The Winnick International Conference Center of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Jerusalem.[19] He has endowed a Winnick Faculty Scholar at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. Winnick serves on several boards, including The Museum of Modern Art and Hillel International.

In 2000, he promised $10 millions to Long Island University for scholarships and to restore the mansion in the CW Post Campus.[20] Among the grantees the foundation supports are the Winnick Popular Library at the Los Angeles Central Library,[21] the Los Angeles Police Foundation,[22] the Winnick Family Children's Zoo in Los Angeles Zoo,[23] Skirball Cultural Center's Winnick Hall, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.[17]

Personal life

He received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, C.W. Post Campus, in 2004.[24] He and his wife, Karen Beth Winnick, have three sons.[6] His wife is an author, illustrator, and publisher of children's books.[25] According to the Center for Investigative Reporting, Winnick is the owner of the 28,000-square-foot "Bellagio House" near the Bel-Air Country Club.[26]

References
  1. "Executive Profile". BloombergBusiness. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  2. "The $20 Billion Crumb". Forbes. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  3. "THE 2021 WEALTHIEST ANGELENOS". Los Angeles Business Journal. No. August 31, 2021. August 31, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  4. "LA500 2021". Los Angeles Business Journal. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  5. "Endowed Professorships and Directorships". Stanford University. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  6. Tugend, Tom (September 30, 1999). "Gary Winnick Steps Out Front: 'The Wealthiest Man in Los Angeles' is driven to succeed and to give to the Jewish community". The Jewish Journal. Archived from the original on May 4, 2016 – via Wayback Machine.
  7. Smith, Jim. "From Student to Benefactor". LIU Magazine (Fall 2014). Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  8. Winnick receives honorary doctorate from C.W. Post University Archived September 12, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  9. David Cay Johnston (2003). Perfectly Legal. ISBN 978-1-101-21622-4.
  10. Friedman, Thomas (July 24, 2007). The World Is Flat : A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century (Edition 3 ed.). U.S.: Picador. p. 73-75. ISBN 978-0-312-42507-4. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  11. "Welcome to nginx!". www.forbes.com. Archived from the original on January 23, 2013. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  12. "Microsoft Partners with Softbank and Global Crossing to Increase Broadband Connectivity in Asia: Microsoft, Softbank and Global Crossing today announced the formation of Asia Global Crossing, a joint venture that will create an advanced fiber optic communications network for the East Asian region". Microsoft. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved November 25, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  13. Christopher Stern (January 29, 2002). "Global Crossing Files for Bankruptcy". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
  14. "Global Crossing Files for Chapter 11, Plans to Reorganize with Asia Firms". Wall Street Journal. January 29, 2002.
  15. "Speed to Wealth". Forbes. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
  16. "- Capacity Swaps by Global Crossing and Qwest: Sham Transactions Designed to Boost Revenues?".
  17. Tugend, Tom (February 7, 2002). "No Setback in Winnick's Giving". The Jewish Journal. Archived from the original on May 29, 2016 – via wayback Machine.
  18. "Insiders at Global Crossing Sold Shares Before Collapse". Wall Street Journal. February 6, 2002.
  19. Large Gift to Help Wiesenthal Center Build Israel Facility
  20. C. W. Post Gets $10 Million Gift
  21. The Winnick Family Foundation Announces Major New Gift to Los Angeles Public Library
  22. Winnick Supports LA Police Foundation Community College Scholarship
  23. in 2015, being on the Timothy Leary death watch in 1996 when he took the assignment so seriously he was at Leary's bedside when he died He left The Times (October 2, 2002). "With His Donation Comes His Name". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  24. Winnick receives honorary doctorate from C.W. Post University Archived September 12, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  25. "Karen Winnick Appointed Chairwoman of Winnick Family Foundation". PR Newswire. March 18, 2009. Archived from the original on July 2, 2016 – via Wayback Machine.
  26. editor, Lauren Beale Lauren Beale is a former; Times, staff writer for the Los Angeles (February 20, 2013). "Bel-Air estate is said to be for sale at $225 million". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 13, 2023. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
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