Evening Standard: Profile - Haim Saban
By David Rowan
HE is the secretive Israeli-American billionaire who made a fortune from the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and co-wrote the Dallas theme tune. But with Haim Saban's emergence in a partnership hoping to buy the Telegraph Group, the papers' journalists are wondering why one of America's leading political donors would want to gain an influential new role in the British press.
Saban's people are eager to play down his role in the joint bid for the papers with the German publisher Axel Springer. His London spokesman points out that the colourful entrepreneur did not even join the Germans' representatives last week for a crucial meeting at Canary Wharf. There has been speculation that Saban's only real interest is in owning the Jerusalem Post. But a source close to the bidding process dismisses the rumour as mere "propaganda".
"If Saban just wanted the Post, he could have had it for $100 million simply by asking Conrad [Black]," the source says. "Why would he have got involved in a deal worth over $1 billion for a product worth $100 million?"
What makes Saban's position intriguing is his formal link with the Springer group, in which he has become a 20 per cent shareholder. "This is a much more serious partnership than previously thought," suggests the source. "He's played it very skilfully."
It remains unclear what the partnership will involve, but there are suggestions that Saban's involvement has been strengthened to minimise tax implications for the Springer group on such an acquisition. Saban is said to have agreed his role personally with Friede Springer, the widow of the group's founder.
Telegraph journalists are concerned to know what Saban wants from the titles. They are anxious about his lack of experience in the newspaper industry - and about potential editorial interference by a man who recently identified a "pro-Arab bias" in the British media.
"The problem is that not many people here know much about him," says Charlie Methven, in charge of drawing up the Telegraph journalists' response to the takeover. "Most of the bidders have track records in the business, but Saban doesn't. He obviously wants The Jerusalem Post, but it's not clear which other parts of the empire he'd be interested in."
Saban's interest in the Middle East is well established. He spent $3.3 million creating the Saban Centre for Middle East Policy in Washington, and founded the Saban Institute for the Study of the American Political System at the University of Tel Aviv. His views of British media coverage became clear at the Royal Television Society convention last September, when he berated the BBC and Sky for what he said was hostile reporting from Israel.
Saban - who would not be interviewed for this article - has called himself "someone who has an abiding interest in promoting Arab-Israeli peace and preserving American interests in the Middle East". But even in Israel some see his political involvement, in support of the Labour party, as excessively intrusive.
Before the last Israeli election, he organised a fundraising dinner in Los Angeles for Ehud Barak's campaign, raising a six-figure sum. He has also been a substantial donor to the US Democrat s. A $7 million gift before the 2002 midterm elections was the largest single donation outside a presidential election. Bill Clinton, who calls Saban "my great friend", made him an adviser on trade issues.
FRIENDS insist that Saban's politics would never intrude on his businesses. "He would not get involved in the political coverage in any media that he owns," says Ynon Kreiz, a long-time associate. "He has two set-ups in the US, as an entrepreneur and as a donor to charitable and political causes - the two are completely unrelated."
What makes him tick, associates say, is the entrepreneurial drive that has brought him a fortune estimated by Forbes at $1.7 billion. Born in Alexandria in 1944, he grew up in poverty in Tel Aviv. He moved to Paris in 1975, where he established a business promoting music, and eight years later to Los Angeles, where he set up a venture licensing music for use in television cartoons.
His breakthrough came when he bought the rights to a Japanese show that he licensed as Power Rangers to Rupert Murdoch's Fox Kids Network. But the real money came when he sold his stake in the Fox Family Channel to Disney in 2001 for around $1.5 billion.
"He is smart, hardworking and has terrific people skills," says one colleague. Others say that his brashness, even arrogance, belies a down-to-earth nature. "When invited to speak at the Royal Television Society event in Cambridge last year, the organisers wanted to send a car for him so he wouldn't have to rely on the trains," recalls a British associate. "He brushed the suggestion aside, saying, ' Nonsense, I'm just a cartoon schlepper.' He ended up buying everyone tea at the station kiosk."
Saban and his wife Cheryl, a writer and TV producer, have four children. Beyond that, he is determined to protect his secrecy. "His private life is his private life," says his spokesman, firmly.
What we do know is that Saban is plotting his latest media shopping spree. Last summer he took control of the German pay-TV channel, ProSieben Sat 1. At the Royal Television Society conference he declared that, "under the right circumstances", he would also see buying the ITV network as "a great opportunity". Newspapers, too, have been on his list for a while, as he revealed two years ago in a Washington Post interview.
"My preferences are the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times," he said audaciously. He added that he had already been on the phone to the owner of the Los Angeles Times.
Asked why he wished to acquire a newspaper, Saban addressed the reporter using the affectionate Yiddish term for grandma - "Bubby, I think it's an area where I can bring a lot to the table. I've always had the good fortune of achieving my goals."
(Evening Standard, April 21 2004)
HE is the secretive Israeli-American billionaire who made a fortune from the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and co-wrote the Dallas theme tune. But with Haim Saban's emergence in a partnership hoping to buy the Telegraph Group, the papers' journalists are wondering why one of America's leading political donors would want to gain an influential new role in the British press.
Saban's people are eager to play down his role in the joint bid for the papers with the German publisher Axel Springer. His London spokesman points out that the colourful entrepreneur did not even join the Germans' representatives last week for a crucial meeting at Canary Wharf. There has been speculation that Saban's only real interest is in owning the Jerusalem Post. But a source close to the bidding process dismisses the rumour as mere "propaganda".
"If Saban just wanted the Post, he could have had it for $100 million simply by asking Conrad [Black]," the source says. "Why would he have got involved in a deal worth over $1 billion for a product worth $100 million?"
What makes Saban's position intriguing is his formal link with the Springer group, in which he has become a 20 per cent shareholder. "This is a much more serious partnership than previously thought," suggests the source. "He's played it very skilfully."
It remains unclear what the partnership will involve, but there are suggestions that Saban's involvement has been strengthened to minimise tax implications for the Springer group on such an acquisition. Saban is said to have agreed his role personally with Friede Springer, the widow of the group's founder.
Telegraph journalists are concerned to know what Saban wants from the titles. They are anxious about his lack of experience in the newspaper industry - and about potential editorial interference by a man who recently identified a "pro-Arab bias" in the British media.
"The problem is that not many people here know much about him," says Charlie Methven, in charge of drawing up the Telegraph journalists' response to the takeover. "Most of the bidders have track records in the business, but Saban doesn't. He obviously wants The Jerusalem Post, but it's not clear which other parts of the empire he'd be interested in."
Saban's interest in the Middle East is well established. He spent $3.3 million creating the Saban Centre for Middle East Policy in Washington, and founded the Saban Institute for the Study of the American Political System at the University of Tel Aviv. His views of British media coverage became clear at the Royal Television Society convention last September, when he berated the BBC and Sky for what he said was hostile reporting from Israel.
Saban - who would not be interviewed for this article - has called himself "someone who has an abiding interest in promoting Arab-Israeli peace and preserving American interests in the Middle East". But even in Israel some see his political involvement, in support of the Labour party, as excessively intrusive.
Before the last Israeli election, he organised a fundraising dinner in Los Angeles for Ehud Barak's campaign, raising a six-figure sum. He has also been a substantial donor to the US Democrat s. A $7 million gift before the 2002 midterm elections was the largest single donation outside a presidential election. Bill Clinton, who calls Saban "my great friend", made him an adviser on trade issues.
FRIENDS insist that Saban's politics would never intrude on his businesses. "He would not get involved in the political coverage in any media that he owns," says Ynon Kreiz, a long-time associate. "He has two set-ups in the US, as an entrepreneur and as a donor to charitable and political causes - the two are completely unrelated."
What makes him tick, associates say, is the entrepreneurial drive that has brought him a fortune estimated by Forbes at $1.7 billion. Born in Alexandria in 1944, he grew up in poverty in Tel Aviv. He moved to Paris in 1975, where he established a business promoting music, and eight years later to Los Angeles, where he set up a venture licensing music for use in television cartoons.
His breakthrough came when he bought the rights to a Japanese show that he licensed as Power Rangers to Rupert Murdoch's Fox Kids Network. But the real money came when he sold his stake in the Fox Family Channel to Disney in 2001 for around $1.5 billion.
"He is smart, hardworking and has terrific people skills," says one colleague. Others say that his brashness, even arrogance, belies a down-to-earth nature. "When invited to speak at the Royal Television Society event in Cambridge last year, the organisers wanted to send a car for him so he wouldn't have to rely on the trains," recalls a British associate. "He brushed the suggestion aside, saying, ' Nonsense, I'm just a cartoon schlepper.' He ended up buying everyone tea at the station kiosk."
Saban and his wife Cheryl, a writer and TV producer, have four children. Beyond that, he is determined to protect his secrecy. "His private life is his private life," says his spokesman, firmly.
What we do know is that Saban is plotting his latest media shopping spree. Last summer he took control of the German pay-TV channel, ProSieben Sat 1. At the Royal Television Society conference he declared that, "under the right circumstances", he would also see buying the ITV network as "a great opportunity". Newspapers, too, have been on his list for a while, as he revealed two years ago in a Washington Post interview.
"My preferences are the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times," he said audaciously. He added that he had already been on the phone to the owner of the Los Angeles Times.
Asked why he wished to acquire a newspaper, Saban addressed the reporter using the affectionate Yiddish term for grandma - "Bubby, I think it's an area where I can bring a lot to the table. I've always had the good fortune of achieving my goals."
(Evening Standard, April 21 2004)
posted by David Rowan at Wednesday, April 21, 2004
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