Ronald Burkle, the Los Angeles businessman who employs former President Clinton, stands to make millions following the sale of Wild Oats to Whole Foods.
Burkle is Wild Oats’ largest shareholder – his Yucaipa Cos. holds 17.3 percent, or 5.1 million shares – of the supermarket’s stock. Based on Wild Oats’ closing price Wednesday of $15.72, Burkle would stand to reap a profit of $14.2 million on the premium alone, which doesn’t factor in the price he paid for the shares over the past two years.
Burkle, 54, has made successful investments over his career, ranking him as the 117th-richest American on Forbes’ 2006 list. He was listed with an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion.
Burkle began investing in Wild Oats in February 2005, reporting in March of that year that he had spent $20 million acquiring just more than 9 percent of the company’s stock. A year later, he had 14.9 percent.
At the time, Wild Oats had a so-called poison pill in place, preventing anyone from holding more than 15 percent of the company. The Wild Oats board of directors amended that rule, and by August, Yucaipa held more than 17 percent of the company.
Box boy to entrepreneur
Burkle began his career in the supermarket industry as a box boy and grew up to invest in chains such as Fred Meyer, Food 4 Less and Ralphs, all of which were sold to Kroger in 1999. Burkle sold Chicago-based Dominick’s to Safeway for $1.8 billion in 1998 after purchasing it three years earlier for $700 million. He also owns a sizable stake in Northeast grocery-store chain Pathmark.
Burkle’s other investments include rap and hip-hop music producer Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Sean John clothing line and Al Gore’s Current TV.
He’s also dabbled in the news industry, attempting to buy The Philadelphia Inquirer. He also made a bid for the Tribune Co., which includes the Los Angeles Times, late last year.
Former President Clinton is a senior adviser to Yucaipa and, according to the Forbes article, shares in the profits from various Yucaipa funds.
Burkle is scheduled to host a fundraiser for presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., at his home next month.
Burkle sits on the board of Yahoo Inc., Occidental Petroleum Corp. and KB Home.
Staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson can be reached at 303-954-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com.
