Jahm Najafi

Jahm Najafi is an Iranian-American businessman. He runs Najafi Companies, a Phoenix-based private-equity firm, and is partial owner of the Phoenix Suns NBA team.[1]

Jahm Najafi
NationalityIranian-American
EducationUniversity of California, Berkeley
Harvard University
OccupationInvestor
Known forVice Chairman of Phoenix Suns
Spouse(s)Cheryl Najafi
Children3

Career

Najafi worked for Salomon Brothers, a Wall Street firm that became part of Citigroup,[2][3] before he served as CEO of Pivotal Private Equity[4] and partner and COO of the parent company, The Pivotal Group,[5][6][7] which he ran with his brother, Francis Najafi. Pivotal focused on the purchase of commercial properties, such as The Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, Alameda, California-based Harbor Bay and 650 California Street in San Francisco.[8][9]

Najafi was a founding partner of Social Venture Partners, a philanthropic venture capital fund that invests in emerging nonprofit organizations, as well as on the board of Urban Land Institute and the Arizona State University Committee for Design Excellence. He was named to the Phoenix Business Journal's Forty under 40 list in 2001.[6]

He serves as partial owner and vice chairman of the Phoenix Suns professional basketball team[2][10] and a governor on the board of the National Basketball Association. He has also served on the board of directors for the Phoenix Symphony and Phoenix Metropolitan Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, and as chair of the board of trustees of Phoenix Country Day School.[7]

Najafi Companies (Najafi Cos.), a private-equity firm, was established in 2002. Najafi, head of the company, invests only his own capital. The company makes investments in companies with transaction value up to $1 billion and holds investments from five to ten years.[1][2][7][11]

Investments

In 2003, Najafi, through Najafi Cos., purchased Network Solutions from Verisign Inc. for $20 million. In 2007, it sold Network Solutions to General Atlantic for $800 million.[1] Najafi led the company through the acquisitions of the Pert Plus shampoo brand and Sure deodorant brand from Procter & Gamble in 2006,[11][12] and Trend Homes Inc. in 2008,[13] Also in 2008, Najafi and Najafi Cos. purchased Direct Group, the parent company of the Book of the Month Club, Columbia House and BMG Music Service, from Bertelsmann AG, a German book publisher. The company later acquired the France, Belgium, Switzerland and Quebec operations of Direct Group.[2][14][15]

Najafi and his company Najafi Cos. were named highest bidder in negotiations to buy out Borders Group from bankruptcy protection in 2011. The bid fell through when Borders was liquidated.[2][16][17][18] Najafi and Najafi Cos. also bid to buy The Boston Globe in 2013.[19] The company invested approximately $200 million to Jeff Berg's talent agency, Resolution, after Najafi negotiated the deal in 2013.[10][3][20]

In 2014, Najafi, through Najafi Cos., invested between $75 and $100 million to Paula Deen and Paula Deen Ventures to fuel her rebranding after she was fired from The Food Network in June 2013.[21][22][23][24]

In 2017, Najafi bid for ownership of Time Inc. through his company, Najafi Cos. Time is the owner of publications including Sports Illustrated, Fortune and People. Opposing bids came from former Warner Music Group executive Edgar Bronfman Jr., Iowa-based company Meredith Corporation, and private equity firm Pamplona Capital Management.[25][26]

Personal life

Najafi has a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1986, he received a master's degree in business economics from Harvard University.[2][27] Najafi and his wife, Cheryl Najafi, live in Arizona with their three children.[27]

Bibliography
  • Jahm Najafi (1987). Elements of Design for a Commercial Mortgage Security: An Issuer's Primer. Roberta Paula Books, Salomon Bros.
gollark: It's undefined, but you know.
gollark: sqrt(x) is smaller than x so we can ignore it, and x/-x is -1.
gollark: Hmm. I would have thought it was -1.
gollark: Ugh, I am either going to have to define SO MANY types or do stuff inelegantly.
gollark: I'm not sure an array language is suited for Minoteaur™'s cool graph-based™™ design.

References
  1. Alec Kinnear (May 31, 2007). "Network Solutions bought for $20 million, sold for $800 million three years later". Foliovision. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  2. Shira Ovide (June 7, 2011). "Possible New Owner for Borders: Meet Jahm Najafi". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  3. Mike Fleming Jr (June 11, 2014). "Resolution COO Jeff Franklin Exits Agency". Deadline. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  4. "Pivotal Private Equity to Acquire World's Largest Domain Name Registrar, Network Solutions". Business Wire. October 16, 2003. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  5. HotelBusiness. 6. ICD Publications. 1997.
  6. "Forty under 40 winners". Phoenix Business Journal. April 1, 2001. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  7. "Jahm Najafi". NBA. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  8. Jesus Sanches (February 27, 1999). "Phoenix Investors Group Buys Century Plaza Hotel". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  9. Amanda Bishop (September 24, 2000). "Pivotal plunking down $138M for office tower". San Francisco Business Journal. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  10. Keith J. Kelly (September 17, 2013). "Najafi kicks Penske's tires; no Deadline deal". New York Post. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  11. Chad Graham (July 7, 2006). "Phoenix firm buys P&G brand". The Arizona Republic.
  12. Dennis K. Berman and Ellen Byron (September 26, 2006). "P&G Sells Sure Deodorant Label To Closely Held Innovative Brando". The Wall Street Journal.
  13. Betty Beard (February 1, 2008). "Najafi to acquire Trend Homes". The Arizona Republic.
  14. Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg and Mike Esterl (July 12, 2008). "Bertelsmann Sells Book, Music Clubs". Wall Street Journal.
  15. Russ Wiles (May 24, 2011). "Najafi to purchase French book firm". The Arizona Republic.
  16. Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg (January 5, 2016). "Penguin Random House Sells Self-Publishing Company". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  17. "Borders Picks Najafi Companies as Lead Bidder". New York Times Deal Book. June 30, 2011. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  18. Daniel Duggan (June 8, 2011). "Report: Phoenix investor competes with Alec Gores in bid for Borders Group". Crains Detroit. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  19. Beth Healy (June 19, 2013). "June 27 deadline looms for bids to buy Globe". Boston Globe. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  20. Stephen Galloway (March 5, 2013). "Jeff Berg Speaks: Plans for New Agency, What Really Happened at ICM (Exclusive)". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  21. Allen Salkin (2014). From Scratch: The Uncensored History of the Food Network. Penguin.
  22. Zach Johnson (February 13, 2014). "Paula Deen Lands $75 Million to $100 Million Business Deal—She's Making a Comeback, Y'all!".
  23. "Paula Deen makes $75M deal to re-boot her empire". UPI. February 12, 2014. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  24. Michelle Tauber, Liza Hamm, Raha Lewis, Ana Calderone (March 10, 2014). "Paula Deen 'I'm Fighting To Get My Name Back'". People.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  25. Daniel Roberts (March 10, 2017). "NBA team owner may soon own Sports Illustrated's owner". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  26. Paola Boivin (March 11, 2017). "Boivin: The story behind Sean Miller's questionable timeout vs. UCLA". Arizona Central. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  27. "Supporting the Quest for Knowledge". Harvard Alumni. January 29, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
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