Jerry Perenchio Net Worth & Biography

Jerry Perenchio was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was at one time the owner of a talent agency in Los Angeles and was best known as the chairman and chief executive officer of the Spanish-speaking television network, Univision. Boxing fans will probably remember him for co-sponsoring the World Heavyweight Championship fight between Joe Frasier and Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden in 1971. After a long life and successful career that spanned several decades, Perenchio, born on December 20, 1930, passed away on May 23, 2017, at the age of 86. An Alumnus of the University of California in Los Angeles, Perenchio joined the air force immediately after leaving college. He later founded a talent agency that represented artists like Elton John, Marlon Brando, and Elizabeth Taylor in 1964. Between 1973 and 1985, Perenchio collaborated with Norman Lear to establish Embassy Communications, a production house that produced television shows such as “Silver Spoons”, “Different Strokes”, “Who’s the Boss”, “The Facts of Life”, “One Day At a Time”, “Mary Hartman Mary”, “The Jeffersons Hartman”, “Good Times”, “Maude”, “Sanford and Son”, and “All in the Family”. He also co-produced “Driving Miss Daisy” and “Blade Runner”, among several others. In 1985, Coca-Cola acquired Perenchio and Lear’s company for $485 million. In 1992, Perenchio and his business partners paid $550 million to purchase Univision, the Spanish-language television network. He became the chairman and chief executive officer of the network and later sold the company to media mogul Haim Saban in 2007 for $13.7 billion. During his time alive, Perenchio managed properties in and around Malibu, California, and oversaw the private equity and consulting firm, Chartwell Partners, which he had founded in the 1980s. The Los Angeles Art Museum will forever be thankful to Perenchio for donating his $500 million worth of art collection to the museum in November 2014, as the largest gift ever received by the museum.

Early Life: Childhood, Education

He was born Andrew Jerrold Perenchio on December 20, 1930. His grandparents were Italians Giovanni Batiste Perenchio and Madeline D’Adda, who immigrated to the United States in 1896 from the Italian village of Pavone. His grandfather founded the Crestview Winery, owned the Fresno Grape Exchange, and built a packinghouse that shipped vegetables and fruits to the Great Lakes region.

Perenchio grew up in Fresno until he was sent to Black Foxe Military Institute in Los Angeles by the age of fifteen. He studied at the institute for three-and-a-half years and graduated in 1949 before enrolling at the University of California in Los Angeles from which he graduated with his B.S. in Business in 1954.

He financed his own way through the University by doing a series of odd jobs before establishing a small company called Party Management, which catered for parties at his college and the University of Southern California.

Professional Career: Air Force, Businesses

In 1955, Perenchio joined the Air Force as a 2nd Lieutenant. He earned his wings as a single-engine jet fighter pilot and was soon promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Three years after joining the force, he received an honorable discharge and set out to try his hands on other things.

In 1958, the University of California Alumnus joined the Music Corporation of America (MCA) in the Band and Act Department. It didn’t take a long time for him to move up the ranks, and he soon became the youngest vice president in the company’s history. He also became Head of the Concert Department of the Far East and for the eleven Western states.

After spending four years at the Music Corporation of America, Perenchio started Perenchio Artists with another businessman in 1963. Its roster of clients included the Righteous Brothers, the Kingston Trio, Sergio Mendes, Glen Campbell, Johnny Mathis, José Feliciano, Henry Mancini, and Andy Williams, among others, many of whom followed him from the Music Corporation of America. He eventually merged his talent firm with the Hugh French Agency to form Chartwell Artists. The new business represented actors, musicians, directors, writers, and singers.

In March 1971 he promoted the Fight of the Century that brought together two unbeaten boxing champions, Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden. Each fighter was assured of taking home the sum of $2.5 million for the fight. The event which blended sports with spectacle and glamorized boxing was sold-out to a crowd that included celebrities and politicians. Two years later, in September 1973, Perenchio promoted the Battle of the Sexes between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, a tennis match that took place at the Houston Astrodome.

Looking to branch out into film and television, Perenchio joined Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear in 1973 as a partner at Tandem Productions, where he was appointed as president and chief executive officer. His business intelligence combined with the creative talents and expertise of Lear and Yorkin transformed Tandem Productions into the leading TV production and distribution company of its era. Perenchio and Lear went on to establish T.A.T. Communications Company and later acquired Embassy Pictures in 1982. In 1985, Embassy Pictures was sold to The Coca-Cola Company for $485 million in Coca-Cola stock.

Throughout his career, the gifted entrepreneur brokered some of the most lucrative deals ever in the entertainment industry, including the sale of Motown Records to PolyGram in 1993, the sale of A&M Records to PolyGram in 1989, and the sale of Caesars Palace to Lums Restaurants in 1969. Considered a pioneer of pay television, Perenchio co-founded National Subscription Television in 1977 owned the Loews Theaters from 1985-1987. His most ambitious enterprise was collaborating with Mexican media mogul Emilio Azcárraga Milmo to acquire the Univision television network for $550 million in 1992. The network was later renamed Univision Communications, Inc. and Perenchio served as its chief executive officer and chairman. Also the Controlling Shareholder of the network, Perenchio led Univision within a period of fifteen years to expand existing facilities, acquire 35 additional television stations, include Spanish radio stations, purchase Mexican record companies, and grow into one of the biggest and most successful multimedia companies on the globe. Univision became the most popular Spanish-language transmission network in America and the first foreign language network to outperform English language networks in America’s ratings. Perenchio sold the company to the Saban Capital Group in March 2007 for $13.5 billion.

Personal Life: Wife, Kids, Private Interests

Perenchio was married three times in his life. He had one son and two adopted daughters, along with six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

He died on May 23, 2017, of lung cancer at his residence at the age of 86.

Jerry Perenchio Net Worth: Salary, Income Sources, Assets

The American entertainment executive, Jerry Perenchio, was one of the most successful businessmen of his era. He had a net worth of $2.7 billion dollars at the time passed on in 2017. Mr. Perenchio was most widely recognized for being his works at Univision as the network’s chief executive officer and chairman. His major sources of income were his numerous investments in the media industry in addition to the talent agencies he worked with.