Schnucks restructures at top

ACBJ Chair Ray Shaw (1934-2009)BY ERIK SPANBERG espanberg@bizjournals.com

On a Monday morning in January of 2007, Washington Business Journal publisher Al-ex Orfinger called his boss, American City Business Jour-nals Chairman Ray Shaw in Charlotte, with devastating news. John McCalla, the paper’s 38-year-old editor, had died.

Four hours later, Shaw was in Washington offer-ing comfort to the shellshocked staff.

“It left an indelible mark,” Orfinger said. “Nobody ever forgot that.”

Memories like those poured forth this week as colleagues, industry executives, and friends and family grappled with Shaw’s death. He died July 19 of complications from a yellow jacket sting. Shaw was 75.

His death marked the end of a two-act career that first took a poor kid from Dust Bowl-era Oklahoma to the top of one of the country’s leading media companies,

BY CHRISTOPHER TRITTOctritto@bizjournals.com

Schnuck Markets Inc. is implementing a major restructuring of its senior manage-ment. Scott Schnuck, chief executive of the family-owned supermarket chain, appoint-ed younger brother Todd Schnuck as chief operating officer and promoted six others to new executive positions.

The moves are designed to provide man-agement continuity and reaffirm the fami-ly’s long-term commitment to the $2.5 bil-lion business.

Todd Schnuck, 50, has served as the chief financial officer for the past 22 years. He added the title of president in 2006 when older brother Craig Schnuck, 61, stepped down as CEO and passed the reins to Scott, 59. In addition to managing the finances of the Schnucks stores and The Desco Group, the family’s real estate development com-pany, Todd took on responsibility for hu-man resources, legal issues and informa-tion technology. But Scott, who had served

as COO for 17 years, maintained his head operational role in the stores.

That’s changing now. Following a three-and-a-half-month evaluation of the man-agement structure, the brothers developed a new long-term plan.

“Todd and I stepped back and really tried to look at how we could position ourselves for the future and create an organization that can evolve into bigger and better things,” Scott Schnuck said. “At the same time, we had to look at the quality of our management team and our succession,

Todd Schnuck appointed COO, six others promoted

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SHAW | 42

Kroenke’s growing global empire

GREEN BUSINESS: Energy companies invest in alternatives 19

RAY SHAW

BY CHRISTOPHER TRITTOctritto@bizjournals.com

S t. Louis Rams minority owner Stan Kroenke increased his stake in English Premier League soc-cer team Arsenal this month to nearly 29 per-

cent, strengthening his posi-tion as the largest sharehold-er of the north London club that has been referred to as “the Bank of England.”

Kroenke’s latest move rein-forces his reputation as a savvy, if quiet, operator in the sports industry and beyond. And it serves as a reminder that as brother-and-sister duo Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodri-guez explore a sale of their 60 percent share of the Rams, Kroenke is sure to play an in-fluential role in determining their successor.

Despite modest beginnings in small-town Missouri, Kroenke has built a business empire that includes vast real es-tate holdings, seven professional sports franchises, an arena and a sta-dium, a regional sports television net-work, the largest privately held cattle ranch in Canada, and two California wineries. His assets are valued at $3 billion, according to a recent estimate by Forbes. His wife, Ann, a daughter of late Wal-Mart co-founder James “Bud” Walton, inherited her own fortune,

now valued at about $2.6 billion.Yet for someone with such high-profile assets, Kroen-

ke remains a strikingly elusive character. He rarely speaks in public. He avoids the attention some other team owners relish, preferring instead to slip in and out

KROENKE | 40

SCHNUCKS | 39

SEE MAP Kroenke’s assets in North America and the U.K. |41

BRIAN CASSIDY

Todd Schnuck and Scott Schnuck run the family’s $2.5 billion supermarket chain.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL BEHRENS

AUCTION ACTIONNick Pacino sold on

$10 million Ritchie facility | 5

© 2009 ST. LOUIS BUSINESS JOURNAL

40 St. Louis Business Journal July 24-30, 2009stlouis.bizjournals.com

of the Edward Jones Dome out of sight of reporters.

Michael Staenberg, Kroenke’s business partner at THF Realty in Chesterfield, said the two have a policy not to talk about each other. Tom Irwin, executive director of Civic Progress, an organization of executives of St. Louis’ largest companies, said Kroenke

doesn’t attend their meetings. And business associates who previously worked for Kroen-ke did not return calls from the Business Jour-nal but notified Kroenke’s office in Denver about them. An assistant said he was un-available for an interview for this story.

Defenders say Kroenke is simply a busy businessman with interests that stretch from coast to coast and beyond. But even among fellow billionaire owners, Kroenke is said to be respected yet reclusive.

“Kroenke is known to most NFL owners, but I have not seen a personal closeness with any of them,” said Marc Ganis, president of Sportscorp Ltd., a Chicago-based consulting firm that helped the Rams negotiate their former stadium naming-rights deal with TWA. “I am at most league meetings, and he focuses on business and leaves when busi-ness is over. He usually holds his cards close to the vest, has strong legal positions, and is well-capitalized so he has no real need for cash. He is in an enviable position.”

Phil Thomas, a former Rams vice presi-dent of sales and marketing and now presi-dent of Chesterfield-based P.A.T. Consult-ing, said Kroenke would come to St. Louis for nearly every Rams home game and shares a love of sports. But he carries him-self with measured reserve.

“His passions are his family, sports and business. He goes 100 percent with almost anything he is involved with,” Thomas said. “But he would be a world-class poker player because he always has a game face. He doesn’t speak very often. But when he does, everybody listens.”

For all his reserve, though, Kroenke is not shy about making power plays. He beat out a group led by former Denver Broncos quar-terback John Elway to buy the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, NHL’s Colorado Avalanche and the Pepsi Center arena for $450 million in 2000 after an acquisition attempt by Kroenke’s brother-in-law Bill Laurie fell flat. Kroenke purchased his 40 percent stake in the Rams and helped relocate them to St. Louis from Los Angeles in 1995 after an attempt to land an NFL expansion team here flopped.

A MOGUL FROM MORAEnos Stanley Kroenke, 61, was re-

portedly named after St. Louis Cardi-nals greats Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial, fitting monikers for a boy who would grow up to be a sports mogul. He was raised in Mora, Mo., a tiny town between Kansas City and Spring-

field. His family owned a hardware store there. After high school he moved to Columbia to attend the University of Missouri. He earned a bachelor’s de-gree in business followed by an MBA and met his wife, who was a nursing student at Mizzou, during a vacation in Colorado. The two have made a home in Columbia ever since and raised their daughter, Whitney, and son, Josh, in the campus’ shadow. Josh played basketball for the Tigers before graduating in 2004.

Early on, Kroenke developed a close rela-tionship with the late Bud Walton and Bud’s brother, Wal-Mart co-founder Sam Walton. They mentored him about business and real estate development. In the mid-1970s, Kroenke began developing Wal-Mart-an-chored shopping centers throughout the Midwest.

In 1985 he started The Kroenke Group, a private real estate investment and develop-ment firm based in Columbia. And in 1991 he co-founded THF Realty here with Staen-

berg. The shopping center developer’s acro-nym stands for “To Have Fun.” Kroenke’s companies have run with their Wal-Mart connections and developed big-box shop-ping centers across the country. Today THF Realty manages 20 million square feet of re-tail and office space in 17 states. It reported 2008 revenue of $222.3 million. In Mis-souri alone, THF Realty has developed more than a dozen major projects.

It’s unknown how much Kroenke has

made doing business with the world’s larg-est retailer. But while Kroenke served on Wal-Mart’s board of directors from 1995 through 2000, company proxy filings pub-licly disclosed he collected $130 million in rents and fees from Wal-Mart between 1994 and 2000. In his final year on the board, Kroenke’s take totaled nearly $23.5 million. He also owned 1.08 million shares of Wal-Mart stock. If he still owns them to-day, they are worth about $52.4 million.

Kroenke’s successful retail real estate deals, along with the treasure chest his wife brings to the table, have helped fuel many of his other purchases.

Kroenke’s sports holdings have ex-

‘He doesn’t speak very often. But when he does, everybody listens.’

Phil Thomas | P.A.T. Consulting

CHIP ROSENBLOOM

Rams majority owner

MICHAEL STAENBERG

THF Realty president

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KROENKE: Named after St. Louis Cardinals greats Enos Slaughter and Stan MusialCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

July 24-30, 2009 St. Louis Business Journal 41stlouis.bizjournals.com

panded to include Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids and their outdoor stadi-um, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park; the Na-tional Lacrosse League’s Colorado Mam-moth; and a one-third interest in the Are-na Football League’s Colorado Crush. In 2004, Kroenke Sports Enterprises also launched Altitude Sports & Entertain-ment, a 24-hour regional TV network that broadcasts Kroenke’s Colorado teams’ games and other programming.

NEXT MOVESNow Kroenke appears to be on the

verge of more big moves. In St. Louis, he has the rights to match any offer for the majority interest in the Rams or require an acquirer of the Rosenbloom/Rodri-guez stake to buy him out as well.

Chairman Dave Checketts of SCP Worldwide, the owner of the St. Louis Blues and Major League Soccer’s Real

Salt Lake, is putting together a bid for the football team. FedEx founder and CEO Fred Smith’s name also has been f loated as a potential suitor, though the Memphis Commercial Appeal cited

an unnamed source who said Smith is not interested in a majority share.

If Kroenke decides to take the lead

role with the Rams himself, NFL cross-ownership rules would require him to sell his NBA and NHL teams in Denver, where the NFL’s Broncos play. Unless he could persuade his fellow owners to waive the rule for the first time, he would have to say goodbye to the Nug-gets, and by all accounts, basketball is Kroenke’s true passion.

“If that’s your first love, it is hard to envision giving that up,” Ganis said. “But on a business level, the NFL is the league to be in, and Stan is a business man. Other than owning a specific team like the Yankees, owning a team in the NFL is considered the highest status in American sports.”

Then there is Arsenal, a powerhouse franchise with global growth opportu-nities. If Kroenke achieves the 30 per-cent ownership mark as many expect he could soon, he would trigger an

ownership clause that would require him to make an offer for all of the soc-cer club’s remaining shares. Arsenal Holdings plc has a market capitaliza-tion of about $722 million. But in April, Forbes estimated Arsenal’s val-ue at $1.2 billion, behind only Man-chester United and Real Madrid among the world’s most valuable soccer fran-chises.

Selling his Rams stake, estimated to be worth about $350 million, could be one way for Kroenke to raise funds for an Arsenal takeover.

Whatever he decides, it looks like Kroenke is in a position to determine his own course.

“It will be a choice based on lifestyle more than anything else,” Ganis said. “He creates business opportunities that end up being his choice instead of someone else’s.”

KROENKE’S KINGDOM

UNITED KINGDOMArsenal (English Premier League)

Kroenke is the London soccer club’s largest shareholder with a nearly

29 percent stakeArsenal Broadband Ltd. Kroenke owns 50 percent of Arsenal’s digi-

tal media rights, including its TV channel and Web site.

HAWAIIHotel Hana-Maui

MONTANAPV Ranch, Hysham, 160,000 acres

Cedar Creek Ranch, Ennis, about 25,000 acres

WYOMINGQ Creek Land & Livestock Co., Medicine BowAt 570,000 acres, Q Creek is the largest contiguous

ranch in the Rocky Mountains

CANADADouglas Lake Ranch, British ColumbiaWith 20,000 head of cattle on 500,000 acres, it is

the largest privately held cattle ranch in Canada

MISSOURISt. Louis Rams (NFL)Kroenke owns a 40 percent minority shareTHF Realty, OverlandReal estate development firm owned by

Kroenke and partner Michael Staenberg manages 20 million square feet of retail and office space in 17 states, including more than a dozen major projects in Missouri; re-ported 2008 revenue of $222.3 million.

The Kroenke Group, ColumbiaReal estate investment and development firmCentral Missouri Aviation Inc., ColumbiaProvides charter and rental airplanes, hanger

facilities, fuel and maintenance services at Columbia Regional Airport

‘He creates business opportunities that end up being his choice instead of

someone else’s.’Marc Ganis | Sportscorp Ltd.

COLORADODenver Nuggets (NBA)

Colorado Avalanche (NHL)Colorado Rapids (Major League Soccer)

Colorado Mammoth (National Lacrosse League)Colorado Crush (Arena Football League)

One-third ownership with former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway and Broncos owner Pat Bowlen

Pepsi Center, Denver sports arenaDick’s Sporting Goods Park, soccer stadium

Altitude Sports & Entertainment, regional TV sports networkNorth Star Ranch LLC, La Veta-based horse breeding facility

Multiple commercial real estate developments

CALIFORNIAScreaming Eagle Winery and Vine-

yards, 54-acre vineyard in Napa ValleyJonata Winery, 600-acre Santa Barba-

ra County wineryMeadowood Napa Valley, 250-acre

resort in St. HelenaRANCH

THF REALTY

WINERY

SPORTS TEAM

TV NETWORK

CHARTER PLANES

HOTEL

FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

States where THF owns commercial properties

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL BEHRENS