Thomas Tull
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Thomas Tull (born June 9, 1970) is an American billionaire businessman, entrepreneur, and film producer. He is the former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of
Legendary Entertainment Legendary Pictures Productions, LLC (doing business as Legendary Entertainment or simply Legendary) is an American film production and mass media company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull in 2000. The company has collaborated ...
. Tull is the founder of Tulco LLC, an investment holding company that uses artificial intelligence and other technologies to guide investing.


Early life and education

Tull grew up in
Endwell, New York Endwell is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet (and census-designated place) located in the town of Union, New York, Union in Broome County, New York, Broome County, New York (state), New York, United States. Its population was 11,446 at the 2010 census ...
, the son of a dental hygienist single mother. As a youth, Tull was an athlete, playing baseball and
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
. Tull graduated from
Hamilton College Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York. It was founded as Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and was chartered as Hamilton College in 1812 in honor of inaugural trustee Alexander Hamilton, following ...
in 1992.


Career


Early career

After college, Tull abandoned plans to become a lawyer and instead went into business, starting a chain of
laundromats A self-service laundry, coin laundry, laundromat, or coin wash is a facility where clothes are washed and dried without much personalized professional help. They are known in the United Kingdom as launderettes or laundrettes, and in the Uni ...
. Among his innovations were different prices according to demand at different times of day. Tull next went into the field of financing, buying and selling several tax and accounting offices. He later became chief of operations of Tax Services of America. His business was buying units from franchisees of Jackson Hewitt Tax Services rolling up and consolidating operations. People who had established franchised locations often preferred being salaried managers. In 2001, Tull left Interactive Technology Funds to join the Convex Group, an Atlanta-based investment group. His firm invested in entertainment, where Tull began to learn the entertainment business. After discussing the potential of private equity with a film executive in 2003, Tull quit Convex, raising $600 million in equity to finance the production of movies under the Legendary Pictures banner.


Legendary Entertainment

Tull founded Legendary Entertainment in 2005, becoming the CEO and chairman. The company entered into a partnership in 2005 with
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
to jointly finance and produce films. In 2009, Tull became the majority shareholder of Legendary, in a buyout of the original investors. The Warner deal was followed by a similar deal with
Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
in 2013. He also helped produce the film '' Blackhat''. Legendary was one of the first film production companies to use technology and data analytics to improve the way movies are marketed. Shortly after starting Legendary, Tull built a new analytics division within the company, which uses data to improve marketing decisions, in addition to other key decisions. In January 2016, Legendary was acquired by the Wanda Cultural Industry Group for $3.5 billion, with Tull retaining a 20% stake. One year later, in January 2017, Tull left the company. Tull describes himself as a "fanboy" of comics, and several of the films produced by Legendary were personal favorites of Tull, including ''
Watchmen ''Watchmen'' is an American comic book Limited series (comics), maxiseries by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 a ...
, 300'', and ''Dark Knight''. ''
Watchmen ''Watchmen'' is an American comic book Limited series (comics), maxiseries by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 a ...
'' had been in "development hell" for years when Tull arranged to pick up the rights. '' 300'' had been turned down by other studios. Tull also describes himself as a "gamer", and co-founded the short-lived
Brash Entertainment Brash Entertainment LLC. was an American video game publisher focused on licensed games. The company was co-founded in 2007 by Thomas Tull, Bert Ellis, President and COO Nicholas Longano, and CEO and Chairman Mitch Davis. Of the first three game ...
to work on film-to-video game conversions. Other major films include ''
Inception ''Inception'' is a 2010 science fiction action film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who also produced the film with Emma Thomas, his wife. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by infiltr ...
'', ''
The Hangover ''The Hangover'' is a 2009 American comedy film directed by Todd Phillips, co-produced with Daniel Goldberg, and written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. It is the first installment in ''The Hangover'' trilogy. The film stars Bradley Cooper, Ed ...
'' and its sequels, ''Man of Steel'', and others.


Tulco

In 2017, Tull founded Tulco, LLC, a Pittsburgh-based privately held holding company. Tulco invests in companies in large industries and helps its portfolio companies apply technology such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and predictive data analytics. Among Tulco’s investments are FIGS, a healthcare apparel company, and Acrisure, an insurance broker that acquired Tulco’s AI insurance business in July 2020 for $400 million.


Other investments

Tull has also invested in a variety of other AI and data science-driven companies including Luvos, Genies, Oculus, and Zoox.


Philanthropy and board membership

Tull has donated US$1 million to Priorities USA Action, a Super PAC supporting Democratic presidential candidate
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
. Tull has also supported Republican causes, such as the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC for Senate Republicans. He founded the Tull Family Foundation, which has supported a number of causes in the youth, health, and education spaces including the National Little League, a donation of $4.2 million worth of
personal protective equipment Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, elec ...
(PPE) during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, a donation to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation towards pediatric research and art therapy programs, and a grant to the University of Pittsburgh towards brain cancer research. He is a member of MIT School of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council, the board of trustees of
Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
, Yellowstone Forever, and the Baseball Hall of Fame Board of Directors. Tull was appointed a visiting scholar of innovation at the
MIT School of Engineering The MIT School of Engineering (SoE) is one of the five schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. SoE has eight academic departments and two interdisciplinary institutes. The School gra ...
beginning April 1, 2022.


Personal life

He resides in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
with his wife and their children. They previously lived in
Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown. It is named af ...
. In January 2018, the 33-plus-acre Thousand Oaks compound was listed for $85 million. Tull has been a fan of the
Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...
since age four and in 2009 became a part-owner of the team. He is a founder and member of the American rock and southern soul band Ghost Hounds, in which he plays guitar.


Filmography


Film

;As an actor


Television

;As an actor


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tull, Thomas 1970 births Living people People from Broome County, New York Carnegie Mellon University trustees American film producers American billionaires