'An extraordinary life:' Jazz owner Larry H. Miller 1944-2009
Miller was born and raised in Salt Lake City. He graduated from West High School with a 1.77 grade point average, but was also named a National Merit Scholar. He dropped out of the University of Utah after just six weeks. He worked a series of odd jobs for a time before he found a home in car-related businesses. In 1970, he moved to Colorado, where he became a parts manager and eventually general manager for car dealerships in the Denver area. During a vacation visit to Salt Lake City in 1979, he passed a dull afternoon by visiting an old acquaintance in the car business. By the end of the day, he owned his first dealership, purchasing a Toyota store from his acquaintance after writing up terms of the deal on a blank check.
Things happened fast after that. Miller not only became the 10th largest car dealer in the nation, with 42 dealerships in six states, but he also began acquiring other businesses in the coming years. The Larry H. Miller Group eventually included 74 business enterprises — movie theaters, auto dealerships, a world-class race track, a movie production company, an advertising agency, ranches, restaurants, TV and radio stations, a real estate development company, an NBA franchise, a professional baseball team, an NBA arena, a motorsports park, sports apparel stores and various philanthropic organizations. At one time they produced $3.2 billion in sales annually. He turned his CEO duties over to his oldest son, Greg, after suffering the heart attack in 2008.
All that Jazz
The most visible asset of Miller's business empire is his NBA franchise. Six years after buying his first car dealership, he bought half the Jazz to prevent the team from leaving Salt Lake City. Fourteen months later he bought the second half, again to keep the team in Utah.
Miller considered the Jazz his "gift to Utah." With a net worth of only $4 million, Miller convinced six lending institutions to loan him $8 million to buy half of a moribund basketball franchise that had lost $17 million in its 11-year history and, in its best year, had lost $1 million.
In 1986, it appeared the Jazz were about to leave town again, and Miller appeared unable to prevent it. He actually picked up a pen to sign a contract that would complete the sale of the team, which not only would have erased his original $8 million debt but would have given him a tidy $6 million profit — double his net worth at the time — for just a 14-month investment. After a long pause, with his pen hovering over the contract, he finally tossed it on the table and told co-owner Sam Battistone he couldn't do it. To buy Battistone's share, Miller passed up the fat profit and took on even more debt — to the tune of $14 million — for a total debt of $22 million.
Recent comments
We miss you, Larry. Thanks for everything you did for our community.
Eric | Feb. 24, 2009 at 10:24 a.m.
wery sad for larry
Anonymous | Feb. 23, 2009 at 2:11 p.m.
I happened to be in SL this past weekend from Idaho and received the...
JJ | Feb. 22, 2009 at 9:18 p.m.
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