Gary Magness Net Worth & Biography

Gary Magness is a film producer and businessman from the United States of America. He currently resides in his hometown of Denver in Colorado, with his wife, Sarah Siegel Magness, and their three children. The son of Telecommunications Incorporated’s founder Bob Magness, Gary is a dropout of Western State College of Colorado. Presently, he is one of the largest shareholders of Telecommunications Inc. thanks to his father’s shares which he inherited when the senior Magness passed away. Together with his wife Sarah, Gary founded Smokewood Entertainment in the year 2007. He currently serves as the Magness Investment Group board chairman, a conglomerate whose portfolio includes companies like Fortrust, Magness Land and Cattle, Aquaculture Breeding Farms, and a state-of-the-art data center established in Denver. As a film producer, Gary has already produced a number of films and shows. He is also a philanthropist, making charitable donations to the likes of Food Bank of the Rockies, The Fresh Air Fund, and the University of Denver. More details follow below.

Early Life: Childhood, Education, Family

Gary Magness was born in Texas, United States, as the second son of Bob Magness and his wife, Betsy. The couple were cattle ranchers at the time. They sold their cattle in 1956 and started their first cable business. Bob climbed poles to connect the wires while Betsy ran the job out of their kitchen. Bob and Betsy thought that Montana would be a great place to start their new cable company and raise their two children, so in the late 1950s, they moved to Bozeman, Montana where the family spent many summer vacations fishing and camping. They lived in Montana until the end of 1966 when the success of their cable business required that they relocated to Denver, Colorado.

Professional Life: Entrepreneurial Career

Mr. Magness is the current serving chairman of the Magness Investment Group LLC based in Denver, Colorado. The Magness Investment Group can best be described as a private holding company that manages the businessman’s diverse investment portfolio and controls numerous operating businesses.

Gary grew up alongside his family’s cable business. His first job required him to construct microwave towers and connect coaxial cables in Utah, Montana, and Wyoming. In 1968, there was a merger between the Texas and Montana cable systems and it resulted in Tele-Communications, Inc. and its subsidiary Liberty Media Corporation. The company went public in 1970 and subsequently grew to be one of the world’s largest telecommunication companies. Over the years, Telecommunications Inc. merged with AT&T and Liberty Media Corporation was spun out as its programming arm. Liberty Media has since split into a number of different companies including DirecTV. Gary Magness remains a significant shareholder in the cable industry.

This intelligent businessman, Gary Magness, who pursued an agribusiness degree in college, eventually quit his studies and decided to follow in his father’s footsteps to become a cattle rancher. He was a hands-on ranch manager who raised registered Hereford cattle until 1981 when he made a decision to ditch Herefords in favor of Limousin cattle. Along the way, the business progressed from a small commercial set-up to a highly scientific business using the technology of embryo transfer to produce purebred cattle that survive and flourish in any environment. His company, Magness Land & Cattle, is a Limousin ranching operation based in Platteville, Colorado which has produced outstanding Limousin Grand Champions consistently over the years.

Together with his wife Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness founded the film production company Smokewood Entertainment. The couple’s credits include producing the film “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire” which has bagged six Oscar Award nominations to date.

Gary Magness later founded the company, Fortrust, which is a world-class data services provider, gradually designed and managed to preserve business stability for its customers. He is also the team leader of Mango Racing, a team that travels to races several times per year, mainly racing in Las Vegas and Mexico. He is the lead driver of Truck 250 and also finances pit crews for the other Mango Racing trucks. All prize money goes back to rural villages in Mexico.

Personal Life: Wife, Private Interests

Gary and Sarah and their three children reside in Denver, Colorado. They sponsor countless philanthropic causes including the Fresh Air Fund and the Food Bank of the Rockies through their family foundation.

His passion for the cattle industry is rivaled only by his love of cars. An amateur car collector for decades, the filmmaker and businessman has enjoyed acquiring unique vintage cars including many Shelby Mustangs. After his collection topped forty cars he opened a classic car dealership. He has an eclectic inventory of vintage cars for sale at his dealership Mango Motors, LLC in Denver, Colorado.

Gary Magness Net Worth

Gary Magness’ net worth is 2 billion dollars, thanks to his moneymaking investments in agribusiness, oil, gas, water, and films. He is a collector of vintage cars and has been able to create a more sustainable lifestyle for himself and his family through different business ventures.

Born in Texas and raised in Montana, Gary Magness, the son of telecommunications executive, Bob Magness, attended the Western State College of Colorado but dropped out to start his career. He inherited his father’s cable television company Telecommunications, Inc., which was purchased by AT&T for almost $55 billion dollars in the 1990s. He also earns an income from the production company he founded with his wife named Smokewood Entertainment, in addition to racing in different countries as the manager of an off-road truck racing team called Mango Racing.