Michael G. Rubin

Michael G. Rubin (born July 21, 1972) is an American businessman.[1] He is the executive chairman of Fanatics,[2] the world's leading provider of licensed sports merchandise;[3][4][5] and Rue Gilt Groupe, the premier off-price e-commerce portofilo company. [5] He previously founded GSI Commerce in 1998, selling it to eBay in 2011 for $2.4 billion.[1]

Michael G. Rubin
Born (1972-07-21) July 21, 1972
CitizenshipUnited States
OccupationChairman of Fanatics, Rue La La, ShopRunner
Co-owner Philadelphia 76ers
Known forFounding GSI Commerce (1998) Kynetic (2012)
Net worthUS $2.9 Billion
Spouse(s)Meegan Rubin (divorced)
Children2
Parent(s)Paulette Rubin, Ken Rubin

Most recently, Rubin started the viral “All In Challenge”, where celebrities, influencers and brands donated valuable possessions or once-in-a lifetime experiences to raise $60 million to fight food insecurity during the Covid-19 pandemic. [6] [7] [8]

Rubin also is a co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team and the New Jersey Devils hockey team.[9][10]

He is also the co-chair of the Reform Alliance, a criminal justice reform organization that he launched in January 2019, together with Jay-Z, Meek Mill, Robert Kraft, Robert F. Smith, Ciara Wu Tsai, Daniel S. Loeb, Michael Novogratz and Laura Arnold. [11] [12] [13]

Rubin has been included in the Forbes 400: The Richest People in America and the Forbes: The World's Billionaires list.[14][15] His personal wealth, as of January 2019, was valued at $2.9 Billion.[15]

Early life and education

Rubin was born to a Jewish family, the son of Paulette and Ken Rubin.[16] His mother is a psychiatrist and his father is a veterinarian.[17] He grew up in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania where he started a ski-tuning shop in his parents' basement when he was 12[18] and two years later - using $2,500 in bar mitzvah gifts as seed capital and a lease signed by his father - he opened a formal ski shop in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.[16] named Mike's Ski and Sport.

By the age of 16, he was some $120,000 in debt and was able to settle with his creditors using a $37,000 loan from his father under the condition he attend college.[16] Rubin agreed, continuing to operate the business, which grew to five ski shops before he entered college.[16] He attended Villanova University[17] for a semester before dropping out after realizing a large gain on an opportunistic transaction (buying $200,000 in overstock equipment at a deep discount with $17,000 borrowed from a friend and re-selling it for $75,000).[16]

Career

Using the proceeds from his serendipitous overstock transaction and after selling his ski shops, he went on to found the athletic equipment closeout company KPR sports - named after his parents' initials - which bought and sold over-stock name brand merchandise.[16] In 1993, the year Rubin turned 21, KPR reached $1 million in annual sales;[17] by 1995, KPR reached $50 million in sales.[16] In 1995, Rubin purchased 40% of the women's athletic shoe manufacturer Ryka.[16]

In 1998, Rubin created Global Sports, which would later turn into GSI Commerce, a multibillion-dollar e-commerce company.[19] At 38, Rubin sold GSI to eBay for $2.4 billion reaping a $150 million windfall.[20][21] As eBay just wanted the order fulfillment business for large retailers so it could better compete with Amazon.com, Rubin was able to buy back the consumer businesses of GSI at a fire sale price.[21] He repurchased: Fanatics, Inc., a licensed sports merchandiser; Rue La La, a flash seller, and Shop Runner, a retail benefits program, merging the three companies into a new entity named Kynetic.[21] Rubin serves as executive chairman on each of his three companies' boards.[21] In 2019, it was announced on CNBC that Simon Property Group would team up with Rubin to take their mall inventory online and contribute $280 million to the venture. [22]

Philadelphia 76ers and NJ Devils ownership

In October 2011, Rubin bought a minority share in the Philadelphia 76ers.[23] Rubin is a member of the investment group that won a $280 million bid for the team. The other members of the investment group include Joshua Harris of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, portfolio manager Art Wrubel, former Sacramento Kings executive Jason Levien, former Vail Resorts CEO Adam Aron, Martin J. Geller, David B. Heller, Travis Hennings, James Lassiter, David S. Blitzer, Will Smith & Jada Pinkett Smith, and Indonesian businessmen Handy Soetedjo & Erick Thohir.[24][25] Comcast-Spectacor began talks with the investment group in the summer of 2011. The deal was announced on July 13, 2011.[26] The NBA formally approved the deal on October 13, 2011.[27]

Two years later, as a member of the same investment group, Rubin bought a share in the New Jersey Devils hockey team and management of the Prudential Center for $320 million.[10] The deal was approved by the NHL and announced August 15, 2013.[28]

Media appearances

In addition to appearing in Forbes, Rubin has been interviewed or quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Entrepreneur, and People Magazine.[16][29][30][31][32]

In 2010, he appeared in the premiere season of the CBS television show Undercover Boss, where he worked undercover in GSI Commerce's warehouse and call center.[17] Once his identity was revealed at the end of the show, he gave an employee, who had recently struggled with the death of a baby, $10,000 so he and the baby's mother could have a dream wedding.[17]

Rubin has been a featured speaker and panelist at e-commerce and sports industry events including the Shop.org 2014 Summit, the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics 2014 and 2015 Conferences.[33][34]

Accolades

Rubin was honored by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) at its Philadelphia Visionary Gala in 2011 for representing "the true spirit and determination of an entrepreneur" and serving as an inspiration to NFTE students.[35]

In 2011, Forbes named him one of the year's "20 Most Powerful CEOs 40 and Under."[36]

Personal life

An avid sports fan since his youth, Rubin lives in the Philadelphia area, near where he grew up.[16][37] Rubin is divorced from local dance teacher Meegan Rubin. They have one daughter.[38][39] He formerly dated CNN news anchor, Nicole Lapin.[40]

Rubin is close personal friends with rapper Meek Mill, advocating for his release from jail in 2018.[41][42]

In 2018, it was reported that Rubin purchased a $43.5 million penthouse in Manhattan. [43][42]

References
  1. Colao, J.J. (November 19, 2012). "Newly-Minted Billionaire Is Spinning eBay Scraps Into Gold". Forbes. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  2. https://www.forbes.com/profile/michael-rubin/#32a105b3da94
  3. Badenhausen, Kurt. "Neymar And Brazil Have The Best-Selling World Cup Jerseys In U.S." Forbes. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  4. Burns, Mark (June 13, 2014). "World Cup 2014: Merchandise sales spike as games begin". Sporting News. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  5. Belson, Ken (September 20, 2013). "Ensuring Team Items Are Just a Click Away". The New York Times.
  6. https://www.si.com/nba/76ers/news/76ers-michael-rubin-all-in-challenge-20-million
  7. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/all-in-challenge-michael-rubin-food-banks-coronavirus-justin-bieber-kevin-hart/
  8. https://www.kxan.com/sports-general/athletes-teams-celebs-are-all-in-to-feed-hungry/
  9. "Group led by Joshua Harris completes purchase of 76ers". NBA. Archived from the original on 2013-10-18. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  10. "Devil's Off Thin Ice". New York Post. August 15, 2013.
  11. https://reformalliance.com/#about
  12. https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/8494699/meek-mill-jay-z-reform-alliance-criminal-justice-reform
  13. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2020/6/24/with-prisoners-facing-covid-risks-a-nonprofit-rallies-donorsincluding-a-tech-billionaire
  14. "The Forbes 400: The Richest People in America 2014". Forbes. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  15. "Forbes: The World's Billionaires, The Richest People on the Planet, 2015 Ranking". Forbes. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  16. Neil, Michael (1995-10-02). "Sneaker Stud". People. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
  17. AOL: "Very Different Kind of Undercover Boss" By Lisa Johnson Mandell March 20, 2010
  18. Huang, Patricia (2006-07-06). "America's Youngest CEOs". Forbes. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
  19. Liberman, Noah (2001-11-05). "Michael Rubin Profile". Sports Business Daily. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  20. DiStefano, Joseph (2011-09-12). "Facebook, Zynga, Groupon ... and Philly's Kynetic". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  21. Forbes: "Newly-Minted Billionaire Is Spinning eBay Scraps Into Gold" November 19, 2012
  22. "Simon Property Group and Michael Rubin Partner".
  23. "Indonesian businessman first Asian to own NBA team". The Star. 2011-10-20.
  24. Philadelphia Inquirer: "Those who know him say Joshua Harris, soon-to-be Sixers owner, lives for competition and success" By Kate Fagan August 02, 2011
  25. ESPN: "Group led by Joshua Harris completes purchase of Sixers" Archived 2013-10-18 at the Wayback Machine October 18, 2011
  26. Sale of 76ers to Joshua Harris finished. ESPN, 2011-07-13.
  27. Group led by Joshua Harris completes purchase of 76ers Archived 2013-10-18 at the Wayback Machine. Philadelphia 76ers, 2011-10-13.
  28. "Devil's Announce Sale of Team". NJ.com. August 15, 2013. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  29. Bensinger, Greg (June 6, 2013). "Score! Web Sports Retailer Fanatics Inc. Tops $3 Billion Valuation". The Wall Street Journal.
  30. Zipkin, Amy (August 7, 2010). "Trust Your Instincts". The New York Times.
  31. "The Brilliance of Failure, In the Words of a Self-Made Billionaire". Entrepreneur.com. December 4, 2013.
  32. "Self-Made Billionaire Michael Rubin: E-Commerce is Rapidly Changing". Entrepreneur.com. Entrepreneur. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  33. "REI President and CEO to Kick Off Shop.org Summit". National Retail Federation. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  34. "8th Annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference". MIT. Archived from the original on 2015-08-10. Retrieved 2015-07-28.
  35. "NFTE Philadelphia to Honor Michael G. Rubin at Annual Visionary Gala". BusinessWire. Network for Technology Education. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  36. Smith, Jacquelyn (2011-02-14). "20 Most Powerful CEOs 40 and Under". Forbes. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
  37. "Shop.org Summit, 2014 Speakers". Shop.org. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  38. Main Line Today: "LibertyMe Dance Studio in Bryn Mawr Teaches Dance Technique and Charity for Kids" By J. F. Pirro February 12, 2013
  39. Philly Style magazine: "The Secrets to Michael Rubin's Success" retrieved July 21, 2013
  40. La Roche, Julia. "It Sounds Like Nicole Lapin Has A Bone To Pick With Page Six". Business Insider. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  41. "76ers co-owner Michael Rubin says Meek Mill is free". SI.com. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
  42. Rys, Richard (September 29, 2018). "How Michael Rubin, Meek Mill's Billionaire Bestie, Got Woke". Philadelphia. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  43. "Record Sale for West Village with Pool". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-08-31.
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