Stan Kroenke

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Enos Stanley "Stan" Kroenke (born 1947 in Columbia, Missouri) is an American business entrepreneur who is listed in the Forbes 400 as one of the richest people in the world. His wealth is estimated to be about $2.1 billion and based primarily on real estate. His wife, Anne Walton, is a Wal-Mart heir.

[edit] Biography

Kroenke obtained a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Missouri. He founded the Kroenke Group in 1983, a real estate development firm that has constructed numerous shopping centers and apartment buildings. Since his marriage to Walton, he has been in the special position to develop many of the plazas near Wal-Mart stores. He is also the chairman of THF Realty, an independent real estate development company that specializes in suburban development. He founded this corporation in St. Louis in 1991.

Kroenke is a known and powerful sports mogul. As the head and owner of Kroenke Sports Enterprise, he has been co-owner of the National Football League's St. Louis Rams since their relocation to Missouri in 1995. In 2000, he became full owner of both the National Basketball Association's Denver Nuggets and the National Hockey League's Colorado Avalanche, purchasing the team from Charlie Lyons' Ascent Entertainment Group. In 2002, he partnered with football legend John Elway and Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen to become co-owner of the Arena Football League's Colorado Crush. He continued to grow his sports empire in 2004, when he purchased National Lacrosse League's Colorado Mammoth and Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids from Phil Anschutz.

Kroenke Sports Enterprise also owns Pepsi Center in Denver and co-owns Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado, which was built by his development company. In 2004, Kroenke launched the Altitude Sports and Entertainment cable channel, a direct rival to Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain, and the current home to all games of Kroenke-owned Denver teams. Kroenke recently formed TicketHorse, a ticket company that provides in-house sales for all of his teams.

In 2006, Kroenke, in partnership with the money manager Charles Banks, acquired the Napa Valley winery Screaming Eagle.^[1]

Kroenke also became a substantial investor in English football club Arsenal FC; Arsenal and Colorado Rapids currently have a technical link-up. On April 5, 2007, it was confirmed that Granada Ventures, a subsidiary of ITV plc, had sold their 9.9% stake in Arsenal Holdings plc to Stan Kroenke's KSE UK inc.^[2] and on April 12 Arsenal confirmed Kroenke controlled a total of 10.22% of the club. Kroenke then bought a further 1.97% of the club taking his total stake up to 12.19%.^[3] However the club board have expressed skepticism that a bid would be in its best interests. ^[4]