Charles Dean Metropoulos ( el, Ντιν Μητρόπουλος; born May 1946 in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

) is a Greek-American billionaire investor and businessman. He was the owner of

Pabst Brewing Company The Pabst Brewing Company () is an American company that dates its origins to a brewing company founded in 1844 by Jacob Best and was, by 1889, named after Frederick Pabst. It is currently a holding company which contracts the brewing of over ...

, which was founded by

Jacob Best Jacob Best Sr. (1786 – 1861) was a German-American brewer who founded what would later become known as the Pabst Brewing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Life and career Best was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, where he learned the trade and ran a s ...

in 1844. On the ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' 2020 list of the world's billionaires, he was ranked #875 with a net worth of

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

2.6 billion.

Early life

Metropoulos was ten years old when he and his parents emigrated from Greece to the US and came to

Watertown, Massachusetts Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and is part of Greater Boston. The population was 35,329 in the 2020 census. Its neighborhoods include Bemis, Coolidge Square, East Watertown, Watertown Square, and the West End. Watertown ...

. Metropoulos has a bachelor's degree and an MBA from

Babson College Babson College is a private business school in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Established in 1919, its central focus is on entrepreneurship education. It was founded by Roger W. Babson as an all-male business institute, but became coeducational i ...

, located in

Wellesley, Massachusetts Wellesley () is a New England town, town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Wellesley is part of Greater Boston. The population was 29,550 at the time of the 2020 census. Wellesley College, Babson Col ...

. At age 25, he went to

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, Switzerland, to become a financial director for

GTE GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982), was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System. The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing furth ...

International's (now Verizon) European, Middle Eastern, and African operations. Later he returned to the U.S. as the company's youngest controller.

Career

Some of the buy-build private equity transactions of Metropoulos have included

Pinnacle Foods Pinnacle Foods, Inc., is a packaged foods company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, that specializes in shelf-stable and frozen foods. The company became a subsidiary of Conagra Brands on October 26, 2018. History The company was foun ...

Ghirardelli Chocolate Company The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company is an American confectioner, wholly owned by Swiss confectioner Lindt & Sprüngli. The company was founded by and is named after Italian chocolatier Domenico Ghirardelli, who, after working in South America, mov ...

International Home Foods International Home Foods (IHF) was an American manufacturer, distributor and marketer of food products, based in Parsippany, New Jersey. It was acquired in 2000 by ConAgra Foods and merged into ConAgra's Grocery Products division. IHF's best kno ...

, The Morningstar Group, Inc. (sold to Suiza Foods which has become

Dean Foods Dean Foods was an American food and beverage company and the largest dairy company in the United States. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company maintained plants and distributors in the United States. Dean Foods had 66 manufacturing faciliti ...

), Solar Marine ("a private, European based, international dry cargo shipping company"), and Mumm's/

Perrier-Jouët Perrier-Jouët () is a Champagne producer based in the Épernay region of Champagne. The house was founded in 1811 by Pierre-Nicolas Perrier and Rose Adélaide Jouët, and produces both vintage and non-vintage '' cuvee'', approximately 3,000,000 ...

champagnes. Metropoulos"">"HABA's 2011 Executive of the Year > Metropoulos"
Hellenic American Bankers Association, June 9, 2011. Metropoulos is the executive chairman and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of C. Dean Metropoulos & Company. The company was founded in 1993 and is based in Greenwich, Connecticut."Company Overview of C. Dean Metropoulos & Co."
''

Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'', January 15, 2017, As of 2011, C. Dean Metropoulos & Co. has been involved in over 72 acquisitions with over $12 billion in invested capital. The company jointly owns

Hostess Brands Hostess Brands is an American-based bakery company formed in 2013. It owns several bakeries in the United States that produce snack cakes under the Hostess and Dolly Madison brand names and its Canadian subsidiary, Voortman Cookies Limited, pro ...

along with

Apollo Global Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American global private-equity firm. It provides investment management and invests in credit, private equity, and real assets. As of March 31, 2022, the company had $512 billion of assets under management, ...

. In September 2014 American entrepreneur

Eugene Kashper Eugene Kashper ( rus, Евгений Кашпер) is an American beer entrepreneur and Chairman of Blue Ribbon Partners. He also served as the Chairman and CEO of Pabst Brewing Company. Biography Kashper was born in the Soviet Union to Russian ...

, backed by

TSG Consumer Partners TSG Consumer Partners is an American private equity company based in San Francisco, California. The firm was founded in 1987, and was among the first private equity firms to invest exclusively in consumer companies.

, announced an agreement to acquire Pabst Brewing from C. Dean Metropoulos & Co for $700 million. The sale represented a gain of $550 million more than what the company paid for it in 2010.

Bumble Bee Tuna Bumble Bee Foods, LLC, is a company that produces canned tuna, salmon, other seafoods, and chicken under the brand names "Bumble Bee," "Wild Selections," "Beach Cliff," "Brunswick," and "Snow's." The brand is marketed as " Clover Leaf" in Can ...

is another brand owned by a company "bought and flipped" by the firm. On July 7, 2015 there were rumors of a

IPO. Metropoulos stated that there was no plan for an IPO. In July 2016, a Hostess IPO was announced. In February 2021, Nestlé SA agreed to sell most of its North American bottled-water brands, including Poland Spring, Arrowhead and Pure Life, to Metropoulos & Co and One Rock Capital Partners LLC for $4.3 billion.

Personal life

Metropoulos lives in

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoas ...

, with his wife Marianne, who in 2011, was President and Principal of Aegean Entertainment, a movie production company in Beverly Hills. They are parents of sons Evan and Daren. Daren purchased the

Playboy Mansion The Playboy Mansion, also known as the Playboy Mansion West, is the former home of ''Playboy'' magazine founder Hugh Hefner who lived there from 1974 until his death in 2017. Barbi Benton convinced Hefner to buy the home located in Holmby Hills ...

for $100 million in 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Metropoulos, C. Dean 1946 births Living people Date of birth missing (living people) American chief executives American billionaires American people of Greek descent Pabst Brewing Company Babson College alumni People from Palm Beach, Florida Giving Pledgers 21st-century philanthropists Greek emigrants to the United States