Wayne Huizenga, a billionaire who made Waste Management Inc. and Blockbuster Video the leaders in their industries and used his wealth to buy professional baseball, football and hockey teams, has died. He was 80.
His death was confirmed by his daughter, Pamela Huizenga Alexander, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Huizenga was a longtime resident of South Florida.
After founding Waste Management and vastly expanding a fledgling Blockbuster, Huizenga also created AutoNation, the leading auto superstore, and co-founded Extended Stay America Inc., the long-term hotel chain.
He was the initial owner of the Florida Marlins, a Major League Baseball expansion team that won the World Series in 1997. He also owned the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers and the Miami Dolphins, a National Football League club. He was the only person at the time to own three major-league professional teams simultaneously.
He typically sold off his assets at considerable profit after they had become industry leaders.
“For Wayne Huizenga, the making of money, as he is often quoted as saying, has become akin to a game,” Gail DeGeorge wrote in her 1994 biography, “The Making of a Blockbuster: How Wayne Huizenga Built a Sports and Entertainment Empire from Trash, Grit and Videotape.” “The money is simply a way to keep score. By that benchmark, he has done quite well, indeed.”
By 2017, Huizenga was worth $2.2 billion, according to Forbes.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.
