Some were logical steps to complement existing businesses. He bought the Fanzz (formerly Pro Image) stores, which could help move Jazz apparel and souvenirs. He built the Delta Center as a home for the Jazz, as well as host concerts and other entertainment, not to mention 2002 Olympics skating events. Concessions at the Delta Center led nicely to forming a catering company based there.

He bought KXIV-TV and changed the name to KJZZ, mainly to carry Jazz games at first. That came after, first, leaving KSL because it would bump Jazz games for Brigham Young University games, and later after leaving Fox-13 when that station's owners wanted a more lucrative deal.

"They (Fox) told me I had no other alternative," Miller says. But he says Fox did not realize that KXIV, then owned by a subsidiary of Sam Skagg's American Stores, had just contacted him wanting to sell the then-money-losing station to a Utah owner. "They told me they would make me the proverbial deal I couldn't refuse. They were right," and he bought it.

Miller says he sees the Jazz, the Delta Center and KJZZ as "a triangle of support. The Delta Center wouldn't be worth much without a team. KJZZ buoyed up the team, and the team helped attract ratings for it."

Meanwhile in the auto world, to help make it easier for car customers to obtain financing, he formed financing companies, most prominently Prestige Financial. To help provide a supply of used cars, he formed LHM Fleet Lease to buy cars at auctions nationwide, provide the best to his dealerships and then wholesale the rest elsewhere.

He would tend to buy many more "troubled" dealerships in the West and fix them. "Many others would have tried to sell dealerships that they fixed" for a quick profit," Miller says. "But we are operators of dealerships, and we like to keep most of them."

The number of all his holdings changes enough that Miller actually had a somewhat difficult time providing a list of them, or correcting one developed by the Deseret Morning News.

It appears that he owns, or is a principal in, 41 car dealerships now. Not all have his name on them — including Karl Malone Toyota, Stockton to Malone Honda, Lexus of Lindon and others.

Other ventures that grew logically out of his holdings include insurance companies, real estate development and the Larry H. Miller Advertising Agency. The latter, he says, "mostly handles advertising for our businesses, but it does some for outside people, too."

Close to the heart

But some quirky parts of the Miller empire come from pursuing dreams of his heart — or unusual opportunities that looked too good to pass.