Jahm Najafi (born 1963) is an Iranian-American billionaire
businessman. He runs Najafi Companies, a
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
-based private-equity firm, and is partial owner of the
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
team.
Early life
Najafi has a bachelor's degree in economics from the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
. In 1986, he received a master's degree in business economics from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
Career
Najafi worked for
Salomon Brothers
Salomon Brothers, Inc., was an American multinational bulge bracket investment bank headquartered in New York. It was one of the five largest investment banking enterprises in the United States and the most profitable firm on Wall Street duri ...
, a Wall Street firm that became part of
Citigroup
Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...
,
[ before he served as CEO of Pivotal Private Equity and partner and COO of the parent company, The Pivotal Group,][ which he ran with his brother, Francis Najafi. Pivotal focused on the purchase of commercial properties, such as ]The Century Plaza Hotel
The Fairmont Century Plaza is a landmark 19-story luxury hotel in Los Angeles. Located in Century City, the hotel forms a sweeping crescent design fronting the Avenue of the Stars, adjacent to the twin Century Plaza Towers and the 2000 Avenue o ...
in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, Alameda, California
Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda (island), Alam ...
-based Harbor Bay and 650 California Street
650 California Street, also known as the Hartford Building, is a 34-story, 142 m (466 feet) office tower on the northwestern edge of San Francisco's Financial District. The tower is located on California Street on the edge of Chinatown, and no ...
in San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
.
Najafi was a founding partner of Social Venture Partners, a philanthropic venture capital fund that invests in emerging nonprofit organizations, as well as on the board of Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute, or ULI, is a nonprofit research and education organization with regional offices in Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, and London. ULI advocates progressive development, conducting research, and education in topics such as s ...
and the Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...
Committee for Design Excellence. He was named to the ''Phoenix Business Journals Forty under 40 list in 2001.
He serves as partial owner and vice chairman of the Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...
professional basketball team[ and a governor on the board of the ]National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
. After majority owner Robert Sarver
Robert Gary Sarver (born October 31, 1961) is an American businessman, co-founder of Southwest Value Partners, a real estate development company, and the former owner of the Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Mercury, and RCD Mallorca.
Early life and edu ...
was suspended from team operations for one year that stated Sarver “engaged in conduct that clearly violated common workplace standards ... included the use of racially insensitive language; unequal treatment of female employees; sex-related statements and conduct; and harsh treatment of employees that on occasion constituted bullying” Najafi called on Sarver to resign.
He has also served on the board of directors for the Phoenix Symphony
The Phoenix Symphony is an American symphony orchestra based in Phoenix, Arizona. The orchestra performs primarily at Phoenix Symphony Hall, and is the only full-time, professional orchestra in the state of Arizona.
History
Founded in 1947, the ...
and Phoenix Metropolitan Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, and as chair of the board of trustees of Phoenix Country Day School
Phoenix Country Day School is a college-preparatory school located in Paradise Valley, Arizona, United States. It has an enrollment of 750 students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 and follows a liberal-arts curriculum.
The student-faculty ...
.
Najafi Companies (Najafi Cos.), a private-equity firm, was established in 2002. Najafi, head of the company, invests only his own capital. The company makes investments in companies with transaction value up to $1 billion and holds investments from five to ten years.[
In December 2020, Najafi was announced as the next vice-chairman of ]McLaren Racing
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
, a Formula One constructor.
Investments
In 2003, Najafi, through Najafi Cos., purchased Network Solutions
Network Solutions, LLC is an American-based technology company and a subsidiary of Web.com, the 4th largest .com domain name registrar with over 6.7 million registrations as of August 2018. In addition to being a domain name registrar, Network S ...
from Verisign Inc. for $20 million. In 2007, it sold Network Solutions to General Atlantic
General Atlantic (also known as "GA") is an American growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for global growth companies, headquartered in New York, United States. The firm was founded in 1980 as the captive investment team for ...
for $800 million.[ Najafi led the company through the acquisitions of the ]Pert Plus
Pert Plus is an American brand of shampoo and conditioner (or 2-in-1) products. It was introduced in 1987 by Procter & Gamble as a reformulation of the existing Pert shampoo product introduced in 1980. It is known in New Zealand and Australia as ...
shampoo brand and Sure deodorant brand from Procter & Gamble
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...
in 2006, and Trend Homes Inc. in 2008, Also in 2008, Najafi and Najafi Cos. purchased Direct Group
DirectGroup Bertelsmann was a division of Bertelsmann AG and operated book sales clubs, online shops, bookstore chains and publisher
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available ...
, the parent company of the Book of the Month Club
Book of the Month (founded 1926) is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five to seven new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members c ...
, Columbia House
Columbia House was an umbrella brand for Columbia Records' mail-order music clubs, the primary iteration of which was the Columbia Record Club, established in 1955. The Columbia House brand was introduced in the early 1970s by Columbia Records ...
and BMG Music Service, from Bertelsmann AG
Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA () is a German private multinational conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of the world's largest media conglomerates, and is also active in the service sector and e ...
, a German book publisher. The company later acquired the France, Belgium, Switzerland and Quebec operations of Direct Group.[
Najafi and his company Najafi Cos. were named highest bidder in negotiations to buy out ]Borders Group
Borders Group, Inc. (former NYSE ticker symbol BGP) was an American multinational book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. In its final year, the company employed about 19,500 people throughout the U.S., primarily in ...
from bankruptcy protection in 2011. The bid fell through when Borders was liquidated. Najafi and Najafi Cos. also bid to buy ''The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' in 2013. The company invested approximately $200 million to Jeff Berg's talent agency, Resolution
Resolution(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate
* Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body
* New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...
, after Najafi negotiated the deal in 2013.
In 2014, Najafi, through Najafi Cos., invested between $75 and $100 million to Paula Deen
Paula Ann Hiers Deen (born January 19, 1947) is an American chef, cookbook author, and TV personality. Deen resides in Savannah, Georgia, where she owns and operates The Lady & Sons restaurant and Paula Deen's Creek House with her sons, Jamie ...
and Paula Deen Ventures to fuel her rebranding after she was fired from The Food Network in June 2013.
In 2017, Najafi bid for ownership of Time Inc.
Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...
through his company, Najafi Cos. Time is the owner of publications including ''Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
'', ''Fortune'' and ''People''. Opposing bids came from former Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...
executive Edgar Bronfman Jr.
Edgar Miles Bronfman Jr. (born May 16, 1955) is an American businessman who currently serves as a Managing Partner at Accretive LLC, a private equity firm focused on creating and investing in technology companies. He previously served as CEO of ...
, Iowa-based company Meredith Corporation
Meredith Corporation was an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, that owned magazines, television stations, websites, and radio stations. Its publications had a readership of more than 120 million and paid circulation of more ...
, and private equity firm Pamplona Capital Management.
On 7 December 2021, Jahm Najafi's Najafi Companies announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire STX Entertainment from ErosSTX
Eros Media World plc (formerly ErosSTX Global Corporation) is an Indian media company that acquires, produces, and distributes films, television shows, and digital content.
The company is led by executive chairperson Rishika Lulla Singh.
Histor ...
for US$173 million. The deal is subject to a 45-day period where ErosSTX may solicit other offers; if ErosSTX declines the offer, it must pay a $4.5 million breakup fee A breakup fee (sometimes called a termination fee) is a penalty set in takeover agreements, to be paid if the target backs out of a deal (usually because it has decided instead to accept a more attractive offer). The breakup fee is ostensibly to com ...
.
Personal life
Najafi and his wife, Cheryl Najafi, live in Arizona with their three children.[
]
Bibliography
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Najafi, Jahm
Living people
American people of Iranian descent
Private equity and venture capital investors
University of California, Berkeley alumni
Harvard University alumni
American billionaires
1963 births