Anschutz

"ordinary entrepreneur might have simply declared victory after parlaying $90 million into SI.4 billion, but not Anschutz. While cashing in his railroad investment, he held on to a fiber-optics operation he had constructed along the Southern Pacific’s rights-of-way. The company, Qwest Communications International, went public less than a year after the Union Pacific-Southern Pacific merger cleared its last regulatory hur¬ dle. Within six months, the stock had risen by about 175 percent. The 85 percent stake that Anschutz retained was valued at S3.5 billion; his initial investment in the venture amounted to only $55 million.5'"

"In 1984, at a market peak in energy prices, Anschutz sold half of the ranch-land mineral rights for $500 million, $90 million of which became his cash investment in the Denver & Rio Grande Western.61 He also made a sizable investment in independent producer Forest Oil. By pumping in substantial sums he helped to revive its moribund exploration program and effect a turnaround in profits."

"Like most successful deal makers, Anschutz showed a keen eye for value from his earliest days. He was only 27 when he learned of a collection of western art in the basement of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway’s Chicago headquarters. The railroad had originally commissioned the paintings as models for travel posters. Managing to gain an interview with the company’s chairman, Anschutz offered to catalog the largely forgotten works in exchange for the right to purchase a few. The 85 paintings that he bought for a song a few days later were eventually valued at several million dollars.63"