$200 Million Takeover

[dudevillaisnice]

According to a few texas rangers forums they have realised "they need to spend money to make money" and that they listen to baseball involved people before making decisions.

 

Obviously football is alot different but If they do something similar here I'm happy with them.

[Rob182]

Again, does anyone mind playing a link to where these names were posted? Are we sure its these guys?

Thebellsareringing.co.uk > thread title is something like 'announcement, new owners'. It's still a rumour, but the guy posting the names is the same guy who posted the original rumours of a takeover. (You have to skip a few posts where he congratulates his own forum and tells posters to invite their friends to look at the thread, before you get to the actual 'news').

[Butterfingers]

For anyone disappointed in having owners with a combined wealth of £4bil, I'd ask you to think back to this time last week when none of this had surfaced. What would you have given for 2 billionaires to buy us then?

[StanBalaban]

They'd be the 4th richest owners in the Premier League so I don't see the problem. Randy is also the richer than the Liverpool owner surprisingly. 

Only 4th!!!

 

Davis and Simpson out!!!

 

[Jimzk5]

Interesting that Kendrick & nursey are still pushing the for sale buy no interest yet line

[McGregor1888]

Just doing a bit more reading, Simpson and Davis head an ownership "group" behind their baseball team.  Who knows, maybe they have access to more resources than we assume?

[Rob182]

Can someone please post a list of the current Prem owners and their estimated respective wealth? That would be interesting, and put the wealth of Simpson and Davis into a bit of context.

[Rugeley Villa]

One of them is hinting that it's Ray Davis.

you've really got me going

[samjp26]

All we can get from their estimated worth is a feel for how rich they are, it doesn't give us any indication of how much they want to invest. I'm still positive.

Well yes, they may try to run Aston Villa as a business improving revenue rather than putting their own money in.

Who knows.

If it is worth anything, the value of tbe Rangers is now estimated to be around $250m more than it was when they bought it. I think their highest paid player for the Rangers is on around £110k a week too.

[Qwpzxjor1]

Interesting that Kendrick & nursey are still pushing the for sale buy no interest yet line

Because it's not a done deal yet. Until it's all signed up they don't want to report anything which may jeapordise the deal. They only report what the club lets them, remember..

[StanBalaban]

Profile on both here

 

 

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig announced last week that Ray Davis will be appointed as the designated control person for the Texas Rangers, likely when owners meet next month in Orlando. Major League Baseball requires each club to have a designated control person, and that position was held by Nolan Ryan up until his resignation earlier this month. Presumably, the co-chairmen of the team will be a lot more visible to the public in the upcoming offseason. Here’s everything you need to know about Ray Davis and Bob Simpson, co-chairmen of the Texas Rangers.

 

Ray Davis

The public has heard very little from Ray Davis since he became an owner of the Texas Rangers in 2010, and that’s just the way the low-profile businessman prefers it. A rare sound bite came in 2012, when he spoke at the Dallas-Fort Worth chapters of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners annual conference. According to an article in D Magazine, Davis said, “Here’s a little about the business of baseball . . . Baseball is like a lot of other businesses. We’re no better than the players on the field, and no better than the scouting and development and people in the office. There are no shortcuts in this business. People have tried to buy championships before without success. You win with people, you build from within, and you try to keep as much payroll flexibility as you possibly can. This year (2012) is going to be extremely difficult. We have some real challenges coming up, trying to make the decisions we’re going to have to make on all our free agents, seeing who we can sign, and what young players we have coming up who can fill the need.” The piece goes on to mention a conversation with former Dallas Cowboys great Charlie Waters, who has worked for Davis since 1996. Waters said, “Ray will make the tough decision if that’s right for the business long-term. He has a sensitive side to him, but in business he can tune that out in a second.”

Ray Davis is currently the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Avatar Investments, a family-owned diversified investment company. Davis has also been a Venture Partner at NGP Energy Capital Management since 2007. He previously served as Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Energy Transfer Partners, positions from which he retired in 2007. He also served as Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Energy Transfer Equity until that time, although he continues to act as a Director of both firms. He was also the Director of Crosstex Energy, and served as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Cornerstone Natural Gas. He has over 30 years of business experience in the energy industry, specifically in the pipeline sector.

Davis is very committed to charitable giving, and has funded many college scholarships over the years. According to the D Magazine article, he has given $1 million to the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas; $1 million to the Buckner Foundation, a Christian charity based in Dallas; and $1 million to International Justice Mission, a Christian-oriented, human-rights agency in Washington, D.C., that aims to rescue victims of slavery and other forms of violent oppression. He prefers to keep his personal life safely protected outside of the public eye, but we do know that he and his wife Linda live on a sprawling ranch in Grayson County in North Texas, and have three children. Davis is currently ranked at #296 on the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans, and #309 on its list of American billionaires.


Bob Simpson

In 1986, Bob Simpson and two partners started XTO Energy, and he 

did not earn a salary for the first few years. He built the organization on solid work ethic, and surrounded himself with the best people he could find. Many of those employees have been with the company for more than 20 years. Simpson received many accolades in business over the years, including a four-year run on the Barron's list of the "30 Most Respected CEOs in the World," and Oil and Gas Investor magazine’s "Executive of the Year" in 2006. Simpson sold XTO Energy to ExxonMobil in 2010. In 2008, Forbes ranked Simpson at #10 in CEO compensation, and #2 within the oil & gas operations industry.

In 2009, the Dallas Business Journal did an interview with Simpson, in which they described him a “laid-back West Texas man, more content walking the land in his custom cowboy boots than spending all day behind a desk.” The story reveals many traits about Simpson that translate well into predicting his decision-making as a major-league owner. When asked about the type of people he likes to hire, he said, “The quiet ace: likable, friendly, humble and gets along with other people; the West Texas country boy. They have to be honest, hard-working, smart, not cocky and care for others.” He went on to say that his best business decision was, “Surrounding myself with great people. There’s nothing that keeps you from success more than emotional problems. If you have personnel problems, you’re not going anywhere.” A particularly interesting quote came when Simpson was asked about the advice that he gives to his employees. He said, “Some days the best thing to get done is zero. Succeeding often is, in large part, the avoidance of failure.”

Simpson is a native Texan, and the son of a cotton farmer. He spent the early years of his life near Lubbock, before his family moved to a ranch in Cisco, a small town about 100 miles outside of Fort Worth. He was the salutatorian of his high school graduating class, and attended Baylor on a bank scholarship. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Baylor, as well as an MBA. Simpson worked for Merrill Lynch while attending college, and while working for Arthur Andersen in 1972, he was assigned the account of the newly relocated professional baseball team, the Texas Rangers. He served in the Texas Army National Guard after graduation, and earned his CPA designation after completing his service. He is passionate about the preservation and revitalization of Downtown Fort Worth, and recently purchased the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Building. Simpson has been married to his wife, Janice, for more than a decade, and has seven children. 

 

[juanpabloangel18]

Texas Rangers are a good ball club, and have done pretty well in recent years (seemingly since Davis + Simpson took over). Found an article about them and recent spending:

 

http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/10202546/texas-rangers-owner-bob-simpson-want-gm-title

 

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Texas Rangers owner and co-chairman of the board Bob Simpson is no Jerry Jones.

 

Simpson, unlike his counterpart with the Dallas Cowboys, doesn't have or want the general manager title.

 

"I don't, and for the reasons everyone else wishes he wasn't," Simpson said Friday. "I like Jerry, but we've got great people, so leave it to them."

 

Of course, someone has to be willing to sign the checks. Simpson and co-chairman Ray Davis have done that this offseason, busting their original budget in the process.

 

Simpson concedes that payroll is between $130 million and $135 million for 2014, a higher figure than the $120 million it was just a week ago.

 

"We have the Rangers at a higher level of play than I enjoyed most of my fanhood, and our goal is to sustain that so people can look forward to, along with ourselves, to a winning tradition here," Simpson said. "How far do you push that? What's the right balance? We're getting the best advice from what I think is one of the best [front-office] teams in baseball. And so our comment at the time is we think we have a complete team right now and we're ready to go deep in the playoffs."

 

Simpson said the payroll was just under $60 million when his group acquired the bankrupt club out of auction in 2010. But with additional money coming in 2015 from a big TV deal signed a few years ago, ownership has shown a willingness to boost payroll.

 

In this offseason alone, Texas has traded for Prince Fielder, which will cost $138 million over the next seven years, and signed Shin-Soo Choo at a $130 million price tag for seven years.

 

Put those big expenditures alongside the $111 million investment in Yu Darvish, another $80 million (or $96 million if an option vests) for third baseman Adrian Beltre and the $15 million per season the Rangers will pay Elvis Andrus starting next year through 2022, plus another option year if the club wants it. And none of that includes extensions for the rotation.

 

All of it happened since Simpson and Davis, along with a slew of other investors, purchased the club.

 

Simpson estimates that between player signings, ballpark improvements and investments in the club's international operations, ownership has put in an additional $120 million since acquiring the organization a little more than three years ago.

 

Simpson, who was at Choo's introductory news conference Friday, said not to expect anything else big this winter. He was asked about Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka and indicated it was unlikely the club would be high bidders for the right-hander.

 

"We're probably comfortable where we are in terms of financial commitments," Simpson said. "Tanaka would be a tough thing."

 

Simpson has a bigger goal in mind: Make the Rangers a sustainable club financially to ensure they can compete consistently each season but without reaching the spending heights of the New York Yankees, for example.

 

"I'd always thought from personally watching the Rangers that this is possible -- you could eventually achieve top-five baseball team every year and have a model where it sustains itself," Simpson said. "It does take an aggressive fan support to make this happen, but we've had two records the last couple of years and we've proven that the Metroplex is a baseball town."

 

Simpson said he and Davis aren't looking for "a big take-home check" but rather an investment that stands on its own and produces a winner.

 

"You can't always subsidize it and you don't want to because it will last longer if it feeds itself, and so we've bridged it since we got a hold of it with the knowledge, but that's the way we've planned," Simpson said. "So success comes first, but we appreciate the growing fan base and it's going to take both of us to make this happen where we're prepared to support an off-year if we had to but where the fans come year after year."

 

Simpson just wants it to pay off with a World Series ring. He said the Rangers should be considered the favorite in the American League West now.

 

"Part of what we think we've done is bring a new level of play to the Metroplex, and the momentum was gathering when we bought the team and momentum is a hard thing to get," said Simpson, who helped buy the team just a few months before the franchise's first World Series appearance in 2010. "So what we're trying to do is now that we've captured it is to preserve it."

 

He believes his front-office staff, the investments in marquee players and the club's farm system will allow the team to stay competitive and eventually reach the goal of bringing a championship to its fans.

 

"Fans aren't going to come without the success, but they will come," Simpson said. "This is a baseball town, and we're betting on it."

 

 

Let's hope they can do something similar with Villa.

[AVTuco]

All we can get from their estimated worth is a feel for how rich they are, it doesn't give us any indication of how much they want to invest. I'm still positive.

Well yes, they may try to run Aston Villa as a business improving revenue rather than putting their own money in.

Who knows.

This is what I don't like in a consortium. My sense is that it means more efficiency and a tighter budget. Books will be better balanced long term, but entertainment value won't be the same.

I think one multi billionaire would invest more than two billionaires. If one of the two doesn't want to invest at some point, the other one won't either. What I'm trying to say is that it's not reasonable to calculate 2 + 2 bln and compare that to a single mono-billionaire (is that a word?).

[samjp26]

Can someone please post a list of the current Prem owners and their estimated respective wealth? That would be interesting, and put the wealth of Simpson and Davis into a bit of context.

They would be the 4th richest in terms of wealth, behind the owners of Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal.

[juanpabloangel18]

 

Again, does anyone mind playing a link to where these names were posted? Are we sure its these guys?

Thebellsareringing.co.uk > thread title is something like 'announcement, new owners'. It's still a rumour, but the guy posting the names is the same guy who posted the original rumours of a takeover. (You have to skip a few posts where he congratulates his own forum and tells posters to invite their friends to look at the thread, before you get to the actual 'news').

 

 

He also knew about Culverhouse and Karsa before anyone else

[Supervillan78]

Still a rumour though.

[samjp26]

At least they have good experience with a sporting team, just looking at some other stats, the Rangers have I think the 2nd highest attendance in their league.

[useless]

Some people (Not me) on this forum knew about Culverhouse before it was mentioned on TBAR as well.

[Supervillan78]

Can someone copy and paste what he says please. Thanks.

[dudevillaisnice]

http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2014/02/texas-rangers-sign-deal-to-rename-stadium-globe-life-park-in-arlington.html/

 

They sold their naming rights 2 months ago apparently the deal is comparable to any top tier naming rights contract in Baseball.

 

So wouldn't put it past it happening to us if we indeed get taken over by them.