Tom Hicks Net Worth & Biography

Thomas Hicks is a businessman and private equity investor from the United States of America. Living in Dallas, Texas, Hicks is also a sports team owner whose net worth is currently estimated at $1 billion. He is best known for being a co-founder of the investment firm, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst. He previously owned 50 percent of the English Premier League outfit Liverpool Football Club and is chairman of Hicks Holdings LLC, a holding company that owns and operates Hicks Sports Group, the establishment that formerly owned the Mesquite Championship Rodeo, the Texas Rangers, and the Dallas. More details follow below.

Early Life: Childhood, Education

He was born Thomas Ollis Hicks on February 7, 1946 in Port Arthur, Texas. The son of a Texas radio station owner, Hicks completed his secondary education at Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur before joining the University of Texas where he received his bachelor’s degree in finance. He later studied at the University of Southern California for his MBA.

Professional Life: Entrepreneurial Career

Tom Hicks became a member of First National Bank of Dallas’s venture capital group and became interested in leveraged buyouts. In 1984, he combined with Robert Haas and formed the company Hicks & Haas. The following year, their company acquired Hicks Communications, a radio outfit operated by Tom’s brother Steven.

Throughout the 80s, Tom Hicks, through the Hicks & Haas Company, bought several soft drink makers, including 7Up and Dr. Pepper. The company took 7Up and Dr. Pepper public just 18 months after the two companies were merged to create a single entity. In all, Hicks & Haas turned $88 million of funding into $1.3 billion. The founders went their separate ways in 1989. While Hass wanted to work with investors deal by deal, Hicks wanted to raise large pools to invest by himself.

In 1989, Hicks co-founded the investment firm called Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst with John Muse, a former Prudential Securities banker. The firm raised over $250 million, with early investments including an insurance company, Life Partners Group. In 1991, First Boston’s Jack Furst and Morgan Stanley’s Charles Tate became partners. Hicks served as chairman from 1989 to 2004 and helped Hicks Muse grow to become one of America’s largest private investment firms. The early 2000s was a rough period for Hicks Muse following a series of internal disagreements. Hicks announced that he would leave the company in March 2004, to spend more time with his wife and children as well as his sports teams. Hicks Muse was then renamed HM Capital Partners.

Tom Hicks has been active in his own business ventures. He opened Hicks Holdings, an umbrella company for his sports and Real Estate empire. Up next, he started purchasing companies again in the $10 to $250 million level. He bought an oil field rental venture called Gammaloy from his wife’s family, paying around $20 million in the 1990s, a pet food firm in Argentina, a landscaping materials company in the Midwest, and a venture with DirecTV selling TV-telecom services to condos. He also established the Hicks Acquisition Company I, Inc. (HACI), which n September 2009, merged into an oil and gas firm Resolute Energy Corporation (REN). He does not sit on the board of directors of the Resolute Energy Corporation, but his son, Thomas O. Hicks, Jr. sits on the board to represent Hicks Acquisition Company.

Tom Hicks Net Worth: Salary, Income Sources, Assets

Known to many as an American leveraged buyout businessman, this former professional sports team owner, Tom Hicks, is reported to own a fortune of over 1 billion dollars. A member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity during his time as a student of the University of Texas from which he graduated in 1968, Tom, who received his MBA from the University of Southern California in 1970, is known to be one of the billionaires of Dallas. He is known for being a co-founder of the investment firm, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst. Likewise, he previously owned 50 percent of the English Premier League club Liverpool Football Club and is chairman of Hicks Holdings LLC, a holding company that owns and operates Hicks Sports Group, the establishment that formerly owned the Mesquite Championship Rodeo, the Texas Rangers, and the Dallas.

Mr. Hicks has come too far in his life and career endeavors. He is a happily married man and a proud father who when not concerned with the interests of his numerous businesses, would rather be with his family than anywhere else. Now 76 years old, this businessman is still waxing strong and takes every one of his businesses seriously. He may not have received any awards or monumental honors for his entrepreneurial achievements, but if for anything, we would like to take his passion and commitment to all that he is involved in as a motivation that can inspire the younger generation of entrepreneurs and aspiring businesspersons.