Sam Nazarian (; born 1975) is a

Persian-American Iranian Americans are United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian ancestry or who hold Iranian citizenship. Iranian Americans are among the most highly educated people in the United States. They have historically excelled in busine ...

businessman, investor and philanthropist. He is the founder, Chairman and CEO of

SBE Entertainment Group SBE (''SamyBoy Entertainment'') is a privately held lifestyle hospitality company. SBE owns and operates over 20 hotels, 70 restaurants, and 42 lounges, and shares its headquarters between Los Angeles, New York City, and Miami. History SBE w ...

Biography

Early life

Nazarian was born to a

Persian Jewish Persian Jews or Iranian Jews ( fa, یهودیان ایرانی, ''yahudiān-e-Irāni''; he, יהודים פרסים ''Yəhūdīm Parsīm'') are the descendants of Jews who were historically associated with the Persian Empire, whose successo ...

family in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

in 1975. The Nazarian family immigrated to the United States following the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

.Bloomberg: "Sam Nazarian Wants You to Sleep with Him" By Karl Taro Greenfeld
December 01, 2011 He is the son of Younes Nazarian who made a fortune along with his brother

Izak Parviz Nazarian Izak Parviz Nazarian ( ''Is'ḥaq Parvêz Nazariyân''; February 24, 1929 – August 23, 2017) was an Iranian-born American billionaire, businessman, investor, real-estate developer, and philanthropist. He was the managing partner of Omninet Capi ...

as an early investor in

Qualcomm Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, 4 ...

. He was raised in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Be ...

where he attended

Beverly Hills High School Beverly Hills High School (usually abbreviated as Beverly or as BHHS) is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. The other public high school in Beverly Hills, Moreno High School, is a small alternative school located on B ...

and later studied at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

Career

Telecommunications

His first entrepreneurial venture was in 1998, when he invested a little bit of money into Platinum Wireless, a

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

business specializing in the distribution of

Nextel Nextel Communications, Inc. was an American wireless service operator that merged with and ceased to exist as a subsidiary of Sprint Corporation, which would later be bought by T-Mobile US and folded into that company. Nextel in Brazil, and forme ...

software. Within one year of its founding, Platinum Wireless was the number one Nextel distributor in Southern California. He then entered the real estate industry by diversifying his family's assets into real estate holdings, beginning with the establishment of 3Wall Development in 1999. Under Sam's guidance 3Wall became one of Southern California's largest owners of multi-family housing.

Hospitality

SBE, a company Nazarian founded, owns several Los Angeles nightclubs and lounges: ''Nightingale Plaza'', ''Hyde Sunset, and Hyde Staples Center''. As clubs tend to wane in popularity quickly, Nazarian typically only keeps his clubs open for eight months to a year, closes them for extensive renovations, and then reopens them (often under a new name, preferably short) to keep the brand fresh. SBE generally owns each of its venues outright giving it the flexibility to quickly adjust to the vagaries of the market. These venues continue to see a high level of popularity and celebrity patronage, as well as being frequently visited by the characters of

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television, premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office busi ...

's ''

Entourage An entourage () is an informal group or band of people who are closely associated with a (usually) famous, notorious, or otherwise notable individual. The word can also refer to: Arts and entertainment * L'entourage, French hip hop / rap collect ...

''. Nazarian made an appearance as himself greeting the main characters of the show in the episode " No Cannes Do". Nazarian's SBE brand has also been featured on episodes of '' The Hills''. Nazarian owns the Hyde Lounge at Staples Center in Los Angeles and the Hyde at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami. In 2014, SBE agreed to lease the top two floors of

5900 Wilshire 5900 Wilshire is a , 32-story skyscraper completed in 1971 in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the tallest building in the Miracle Mile district, the second-tallest in the Wilshire Area, and the 38th-tallest in Los Angeles. The int ...

, a skyscraper in Los Angeles.

Restaurants

Nazarian has secured partnerships with

Philippe Starck Philippe Starck (; born 18 January 1949) is a French industrial architect and designer known for his wide range of designs, including interior design, architecture, household objects, furniture, boats and other vehicles. Life Starck was born on ...

and chefs Katsuya Uechi,

José Andrés José Ramón Andrés Puerta (born 13 July 1969) is a Spanish chef, and founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a non-profit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters. A Spanish-born and raised cook, he is often credited with br ...

and

Michael Mina Michael Mina ( ar, مايكل مينا; born 1969) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. He is the founder of the Mina Group, a restaurant management company operating over 40 restaurants worldwide. He is the execu ...

. His partnership with Katsuya and Starck resulted in the restaurant Katsuya, with locations in Brentwood, Hollywood, Glendale, downtown Los Angeles and downtown San Diego. XIV, in partnership with Chef

, opened on the

Sunset Strip The Sunset Strip is the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the city of West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with the city of Los Angeles near Marmont Lane to its western border with Beverly H ...

in October 2008. Nazarian opened The Bazaar with

, which is integrated into SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, in 2008. SBE is also invested in hamburger chain

Umami Burger Umami Burger is an American restaurant chain that specializes in gourmet hamburgers. The name refers to umami (savory) flavor. The restaurant was founded by Adam Fleischman, and is part of the Umami Restaurant Group. Umami Burger has waiter se ...

Hotels

SBE owns and operates several hotels including SLS Brickell,

SLS Lux SLS Lux is a 58-story skyscraper luxury apartment building and hotel in the Brickell district of Greater Downtown Miami, Florida, United States. The building consists of 438 condo units and 86 hotel-condo units set atop a parking pedestal. SLS ...

, Redbury South Beach and Redbury New York.

Producer

Nazarian has served as

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

for the films '' Waiting...,'' '' Down in the Valley'', '' Five Fingers,'' '' The Last Time'', ''

Pride Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) wh ...

'', ''

Mr. Brooks ''Mr. Brooks'' is a 2007 American psychological thriller film directed by Bruce A. Evans starring Kevin Costner, Demi Moore, Dane Cook, and William Hurt. It was released on June 1, 2007. The film follows the eponymous character, a celebrated Por ...

'' and ''

College A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

''.

Honors

In 2006, Nazarian was honored as the youngest executive to be named one of the "Top 100 Most Powerful People in Southern California" by '' West,'' the ''

Los Angeles Times Magazine The ''Los Angeles Times Magazine'' (also shortened to just ''LA'') was a monthly magazine which supplemented the Sunday edition of the ''Los Angeles Times'' newspaper on the first Sunday of the month. The magazine focused on stories and photos of ...

,'' and was named among "The Influentials". Since 2008, Nazarian has served on the board of directors of the

Southern California Institute of Architecture Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is a private architecture school in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1972, SCI-Arc was initially regarded as both institutionally and artistically avant-garde and more adventurous than ...

. The Beverly Hills High School basketball court was renamed "Sam Nazarian Court" after Nazarian, a 1993 Beverly Hills High School graduate, made a $200,000 donation to the Beverly Hills Athletic Alumni Association. In July 2009, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa appointed Nazarian to the Board of Airport Commissioners of Los Angeles World Airports. In 2014, Nazarian was named to ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...

s 40 Under 40 list.

Personal life

Nazarian is married to Montenegrian model Emina Cunmulaj;New York Daily News: "King of clubs Sam Nazarian throws an ace party for Mexico wedding to model Emina Cunmulaj" BY Marianne Garvey
June 23, 2015 they have two daughters and a son.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nazarian, Sam Living people 1975 births American casino industry businesspeople American chief executives of travel and tourism industry companies American telecommunications industry businesspeople American film producers American hoteliers American investors American people of Iranian-Jewish descent American real estate businesspeople American restaurateurs Beverly Hills High School alumni Businesspeople from Los Angeles Iranian emigrants to the United States Iranian Jews

Sam Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictiona ...

Nightclub owners People from Beverly Hills, California Businesspeople from Las Vegas People from Tehran University of Southern California alumni Exiles of the Iranian Revolution in the United States Jewish American philanthropists