Mark Walter
Born (1960-01-01) January 1, 1960
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S.
Alma materCreighton University (B.A.)
Northwestern University (J.D.)
OccupationBusinessman
SpouseKimbra Walter

Mark Walter is an American businessman and the chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, a privately held global financial services firm with more than $325 billion in assets under management and headquarters in Chicago and New York. He is also the part-owner and chairman of the Major League Baseball franchise Los Angeles Dodgers and co-owner of Premier League club Chelsea F.C.[1] He also owns the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL).

Biography

Early Life and Education

Mark Walter is a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native and graduate of Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School. He attended Creighton University before earning his Juris Doctor degree at Northwestern University.[1]

Business History

In 1996, he co-founded the Liberty Hampshire Company, LLC with Steven E. Johnson, in Chicago.[2] In 2000, he helped found Guggenheim Partners. Today, he is the CEO of Guggenheim Partners, which has rapidly grown into a global, diversified financial services firm with more than $260 billion in assets under management, 2,300 employees, and 25 offices in six countries around the world.

According to Forbes, Walter has personal stakes in Beyond Meat and Carvana.[1] In 2021, it was reported that Walter had purchased numerous commercial and historic buildings in Crested Butte, Colorado for an unknown purpose.[3][4]

Walter also serves as a trustee or director of several organizations including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, which is named after the Guggenheim family,[5] Northwestern University and the Field Museum.[6] In 2011, Walter made a $30,800 contribution to the Democratic National Committee, as well as a $5,000 contribution to Obama for America.[7]

Los Angeles Dodgers and Sports Business

On May 1, 2012, Walter helped lead Guggenheim Baseball Management, LLC, a private partnership formed in 2011 to acquire the Los Angeles Dodgers, in the successful purchase of the storied baseball franchise for $2.15 billion. His partners in Guggenheim Baseball Management include Peter Guber, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Stan Kasten, Todd Boehly, and Bobby Patton.[8][9][10][11][12][13] Billie Jean King and her partner Ilana Kloss joined the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group in 2018.[14] Entrepreneurs Alan Smolinisky and Robert L. Plummer joined the ownership group in September 2019.[15][16][17]

On December 10, 2012, in its annual survey of the "50 Most Influential People in Sports Business," the SportsBusiness Journal named Walter the 8th most influential person in sports business due to the historic Dodgers purchase.[18]

Walter and several of his partners also bought the Los Angeles Sparks basketball team in 2014.[19]

He later joined the bid led by his partner Boehly to buy the English football club Chelsea in April 2022.[20]

The 2018-19 PSA Squash World Championships presented by the Walter Family doubled the previous highest purse of $500,000 to $1 million. Each winner was guaranteed the largest paycheck in history. Mark and Kimbra Walter have contracted for four more $500,000 Windy City Opens and four more $1 million World Championships over the next eight years, through 2027.[21]

PWHL

On June 29, 2023, the Mark Walter Group and BJK Enterprises purchased the intellectual property and other key elements of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), a professional women's hockey league in the United States and Canada.[22] Headed by Walter and Billie Jean King, respectively, both businesses had entered a partnership with the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) in May 2022, with the intent to create a new professional women's ice hockey league in North America.[23] The buyout changed the landscape in North American women's professional hockey, as it resulted in a single league, the Professional Women's Hockey League, with stakeholders from both the PHF and PWHPA. The new league started in Toronto on January 1, 2024, with King performing the ceremonial puck drop.[24] The Mark Walter Group owns the inaugural six teams.[25][26]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Mark Walter". Forbes. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Liberty Hampshire Co LLC/The - Company Profile and News". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  3. ↑ Hitt, Tarpley (May 2, 2021). "Billionaire Is Buying Up Small Colorado Town—and Locals Are Freaked". The Daily Beast. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
  4. ↑ Blevins, Jason (April 9, 2021). "Mark Walter, who owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, is buying up Crested Butte's downtown buildings". Colorado Sun.
  5. ↑ "New Dodgers owner's ties to one of America's old money families". Los Angeles Times. March 28, 2012. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
  6. ↑ "MARK WALTER". Los Angeles Business Journal. May 19, 2019. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
  7. ↑ Christensen, Kim (April 21, 2012). "What kind of man is Dodgers' next owner?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  8. ↑ Introduce Mark Walter - new Dodgers owners and chairman
  9. ↑ $2.2B Mark Walter Forbes profile - new Dodgers owners and chairman from Chicago (Creighton University; Doctor of Jurisprudence, Northwestern University)
  10. ↑ Mark Walter MLB Biography - controlling owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers
  11. ↑ Chicago financier Mark Walter, who will have a controlling stake in the Dodgers if his group's deal goes through, avoids the spotlight.
  12. ↑ Mark Walter moves quietly and effectively - Former Jefferson High classmates recall him as smart, driven, quiet, friendly
  13. ↑ Mark Walters believes in Yasiel Puig in July 2015
  14. ↑ "Dodgers welcome 'trailblazing' Billie Jean King, partner to ownership group". ESPN. September 20, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Plummer, Smolinisky join Dodgers' ownership". MLB.com. September 19, 2019.
  16. ↑ "Los Angeles Dodgers Add Two Entrepreneurs to Ownership Team". The Wall Street Journal. September 19, 2019.
  17. ↑ "The Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group has added two new limited partners in businessmen Robert L. Plummer and Alan Smolinisky". Twitter. September 19, 2019.
  18. ↑ "50 Most Influential: 2-10". www.sportsbusinessdaily.com. December 10, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  19. ↑ "Sparks bought by investment group led by Magic Johnson and Mark Walter". Los Angeles Times. February 4, 2014.
  20. ↑ Kim, Lisa. "Billionaire Dodgers Owner Mark Walter Joins Boehly's Bid To Takeover Chelsea F.C." Forbes. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  21. ↑ Zug, James (April 3, 2019). "$1 Million: Professional Squash Hits Milestone in Chicago". squashmagazine. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  22. ↑ Salvian, Hailey (June 30, 2023). "What we know about the PHF shutdown, and more on the new pro women's hockey league". The Athletic. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  23. ↑ Salvian, Hailey (May 24, 2022). "PWHPA, Billie Jean King considering new league: Source". The Athletic. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  24. ↑ Donkin, Karissa (January 1, 2024). "New York shuts out Toronto in 1st PWHL game as Canada's Shelton leads the way". CBC Sports. Toronto: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on January 1, 2024. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  25. ↑ ESPN News Services (June 29, 2023). "Sources: Premier Hockey Federation sale could unite women's hockey". ESPN.com. ESPN. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  26. ↑ Krotz, Paul (June 30, 2023). "New Women's Pro Hockey League to Launch in 2024". PremierHockeyFederation.com (Press release). Premier Hockey Federation. Retrieved June 30, 2023. Initiative, led by Mark and Kimbra Walter, Billie Jean King has PWHPA and PHF support
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