Marc Bell is an American financier and entrepreneur. He is the managing partner of Marc Bell Capital, a

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

-based firm founded in 2003. He is also a producer of plays, musicals and movies.

Education

Bell graduated from

Scarsdale High School Scarsdale High School (SHS) is a public high school in Scarsdale, New York, United States, a coterminous town and village in Westchester County, New York. It is a part of the Scarsdale Union Free School District. The school was founded in 1917. ...

in the Class of 1985. He later on earned his Bachelor of Science degree in accounting 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 ...

and a Master of Science degree in real estate development and investment from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Career

Bell founded the web hosting company that eventually became Globix Corporation in 1989 at the age of 21 and served as its CEO and chairman of the board through the company's IPO in 1996 and into the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...

; as the company crashed along with the stock market in 2001, Bell was replaced as CEO.Staff, The Wall Street Transcript. September 2, 200
CEO Interview: Peter Stevenson
/ref> Its market capitalization had fallen from almost $1 billion in 1999 to $5.87 million in 2002 when it went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In 2001, he joined the Board of Trustees of

and Board of Overseers New York University School of Medicine. Through his company Marc Bell Capital, Bell is an investor and partner in restaurants and nightclubs in New York City in ventures such as Artichoke Pizza and Lavo. In 2004, Bell and a partner acquired ''

Penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...

'' magazine for $52 million in a bankruptcy auction through a vehicle they called "Penthouse Media Group", and in 2007 Penthouse Media Group acquired Various, which included networking site AdultFriendFinder.com for $500 million and Bell and his partner renamed the company

Friend Finder Networks Friend Finder Networks (formerly Various, Inc.) is an American internet company founded in 1996 by Andrew Conru. Its corporate headquarters are located in Boca Raton, Florida, with additional offices in California, New York, and Taiwan. The com ...

. In the 2008 Bell attempted to enter the Las Vegas casino market and was interviewed by

Robin Leach Robin Douglas Leach (29 August 1941 – 24 August 2018) was a British entertainment reporter and writer from London. After beginning his career as a print journalist, first in England and then in the United States, he became best known fo ...

about his intentions; he brought Penthouse models with him to the interview. Bell has produced musicals and plays such as

Jersey Boys ''Jersey Boys'' is a jukebox musical with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe, and book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. It is presented in a documentary-style format that dramatizes the formation, success and eventual break-up of th ...

Rock of Ages Rock of Ages may refer to: Films * ''Rock of Ages'' (1918 film), a British silent film by Bertram Phillips * ''Rock of Ages'' (2012 film), a film adaptation of the jukebox musical (see below) Music * ''Rock of Ages'' (musical), a 2006 rock ...

The Wedding Singer ''The Wedding Singer'' is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Frank Coraci, written by Tim Herlihy, and produced by Robert Simonds and Jack Giarraputo. The film stars Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, and Christine Taylor, and tells the ...

, August: Osage County, and

A Catered Affair :''The article is about the stage musical. For the 1956 film, see The Catered Affair.'' ''A Catered Affair'' is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by John Bucchino. It is based on both the 1956 film ''The Catered Aff ...

. His production Jersey Boys won a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

for Best Musical in 2006 and August: Osage County won Best Play in 2008. In 2010 Bell, through Friend Finder Networks, tried to acquire ''

Playboy Enterprises PLBY Group, Inc. is an American global media and lifestyle company founded by Hugh Hefner as Playboy Enterprises, Inc. to oversee the ''Playboy'' magazine and related assets. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California. The company is focus ...

'' but was rebuffed after a $210 million bid. The Friend Finder Networks company and the ''Penthouse'' magazine that it owned filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

protection on September 17, 2013. FriendFinder’s current

common stock Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other Com ...

was wiped out and was no longer traded on the open market. In August 2013, FriendFinder's stock was delisted from

Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

because it consistently failed to trade for more than $1. That same year, Bell put his house in Boca Raton on the market for $35 million; it included a room modeled after the bridge of the Enterprise D from Star Trek: The Next Generation. In February 2016, Penthouse Global Media – a new company headed by Penthouse Entertainment managing director Kelly Holland – acquired the ''Penthouse'' brand from FriendFinder Networks. Penthouse Global Media filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

on January 11, 2018 to address debt-related issues. All assets of Penthouse Global Media, Inc. were bought out by WGCZ Ltd., operators of

Xvideos XVideos, stylized as XVIDEOS, is a pornographic video sharing and viewing website. Founded in Paris in 2007, the website is now registered to the Czech company WGCZ Holding. , it is the most visited pornographic website and the tenth most visited ...

, on June 4, 2018 after winning a bankruptcy auction for US$11.2 million; other companies, such as

MindGeek MindGeek (formerly Manwin) is a Luxembourg-based, privately held company with Canada as its center of operations that primarily focuses on pornography. It is owned by Feras Antoon, Bernd Bergmair (Bernard Bergemar), David Marmorstein, and — mo ...

, also participated in the auction. He is a co-founder and the chief executive officer for Terran Orbital, a manufacturer of small satellites.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Marc American chief executives of financial services companies New York University Stern School of Business alumni American theatre managers and producers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Babson College alumni People from Scarsdale, New York Penthouse (magazine) people