Thomas O. Hicks, a man of multiple career milestones,was a central figure in putting his native city on the map, helping Dallas evolve into the magnet for new businesses and residents it is today.
The former teenage disc jockey with a self-professed fondness for the Bee Gees, who then became one of the definitive movers and shakers of high finance — died on Saturday.
The University of Texas and University of Southern California grad established a Texas Business Hall of Fame-winning career that included ownership stakes in the Dallas Stars, the Texas Rangers and Liverpool Soccer Club.
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Together with former business partner Bobby Haas — his former business partner who was content to retreat into relative obscurity before his death in September 2021 — Hicks used the alchemy of leveraged buyouts to spin the soft drink market into gold — which he then used to invest in and promote his hometown professional sports teams.
Business Briefing
Back in 1984, Hicks and Haas formed their eponymous firm with a nominal investment. Within four years, the duo took an equity investment worth $55 million in soft drink company Dr. Pepper and 7Up, converting it into a payday worth over $1 billion.
The two men “were the right two people at the right time in the right market,” Hicks told The Dallas Morning News in a 2021 interview, speaking about their five-year partnership.
“We had unbelievable success. I will always look back at that with fond memories.”
Once Haas departed the business, the re-christened Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst firm completed more than $50 billion in leveraged buyouts between its founding year and 2004.
The role he played in the development of the American Airlines Center, where the Dallas Mavericks currently play, was instrumental in helping cement Uptown as one of the city’s hottest zip codes and a draw for upscale living, billionaire magnate Ross Perot Jr. told The News in an interview on Sunday.
“That partnership we put together in the 90s to build the arena…truly transformed the city,” said Perot, who also chairs the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“And you look at the arena development, the [Goldman Sachs campus under development],and all that activity in uptown, that partnership, we’re still partners, and it survived all these decades, and that was unique,” he added.
‘Buy and build’
At one juncture, Hicks & Haas commanded of a third of the market segment comprising 7Up, Sprite, ginger ale and other non-cola soft drinks.
“You don’t get many opportunities to restructure an entire industry. That’s what happened in 1985 and 1986,” Hicks wrote in a 2010 D Magazine article, explaining how “a small Dallas investment firm” simultaneously came to control hometown soft drink company Dr. Pepper, plus 7Up, A&W Root Beer.
“Bobby Haas and I began the firm with a commitment to a few important principles. One of those was to ‘buy and build’ great companies. We also knew the importance of strong, effective management. At that time, the soft drink industry didn’t necessarily run itself with those strategies and tactics.”
According to Perot, Hicks “had great vision. He’s in all these different industries, all these different companies, but he always let the operating partner, from my experience, he let the operating partner go out there and do their job,” he told The News.
Hicks was also adept at grabbing headlines for his personal deals. Back in 2013, when he made waves by listing his palatial Preston Hollow estate for a bank-breaking $135 million — at the time the most expensive home on the market, according to Forbes. (The more low-key Haas listed his property for a far more modest $25 million).
Eventually, both men pivoted away toward career changes. While Haas leaned into photography and started a museum dedicated to motorcycles, Hicks invested his riches in the professional sports scene, helping to build the Rangers and Stars into championship powerhouses.
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Tom Hicks, former owner of Stars, Rangers, dies at 79
Hicks co-founded Hicks & Haas in 1984 and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst in 1989.