Phil Anschutz
Strategic Concepts & Mechanics
Primary Evidence
"Phil Anschutz’s migration to fiber optics, a dynamic growth area of his era, has many historical parallels. John D. Rockefeller Sr. began his career as a commission agent dealing in produce, with no particular ex¬ pertise in the oil business. Breaking in was comparatively easy, however. The petroleum industry had just been born with Edwin Drake’s 1859 discovery and (no less important) successful extraction of oil in Ti¬ tusville, Pennsylvania. Rockefeller’s home base, Cleveland, was well situ¬ ated to become a refining center. It was as an investor in a start-up refinery that he began his ascent to monopolistic power through the Standard Oil Company."
"Phil Anschutz, for example, hit it big in fiber optics after earlier success in oil and railroads. Shrewd deal making was a key to Anschutz’s attaining billionaire status before entering the sort of young, high-growth industry from which the superrich more commonly spring."
"Anschutz’s triumphs in railroads, real estate, and telecommunica¬ tions do not exhaust the range of his activities. His other ventures have in¬ cluded uranium and coal mining in Colorado and tungsten and antimony mining in South America. In addition, Anschutz has acquired profes¬ sional franchises in hockey and soccer. The stock market has been an¬ other productive field of activity for Anschutz, who cleared close to $100 million on sallies into ITT and Pennwalt. At one point he invested $60 million in cement producer Ideal Basic, clearing a $30 million profit on a deal that looked extremely iffy.60 All in all, it is easy to forget that Phil An¬ schutz made his first billion in oil."
"“I might be a seller, I might be a buyer. It depends on who looks like a good dance partner.”48 That is how Phil Anschutz sized up his options as a key player in the railroad industry in 1992. To most of the rest of the world, his options looked considerably less rosy."
"Phil Anschutz I am a student of strategic timing and cycles,47"
"“It’s important to have your back to the wall,” Phil Anschutz com¬ mented, recollecting the oil-field fire. “It teaches you how to think outside the box.”66 Sheer determination has been a consistent theme of the marathon runner’s long-run success in amassing wealth. As one associate observed, “He lays down his stipulations and then won’t budge. He’s a smart guy out to make a buck. The amount he’s already made doesn’t matter.”67"