Henry R. Silverman (born August 1, 1940) is an American entrepreneur and
private equity
In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...
investor. Silverman is best known for his role in building
Cendant Corporation into a multibillion-dollar business services company that provided car rentals, travel reservation services as well as real estate brokerage services and was also the largest franchisor of hotels globally.
Among the brands that Silverman controlled included hotels and motels such as
AmeriHost Inn,
Days Inn
Days Inn is a hotel chain headquartered in the United States. It was founded in 1970 by Cecil B. Day, who opened the first location in Tybee Island, Georgia. The brand is now a part of the Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, headquartered in Parsippany ...
,
Howard Johnson's
Howard Johnson's, or Howard Johnson by Wyndham, is an American hotel chain and former restaurant chain. Founded by Howard Deering Johnson in 1925 as a restaurant, it was the largest restaurant chain in the U.S. throughout the 1960s and 1970s, ...
,
Ramada,
Super 8 and
Travelodge
Travelodge (formerly TraveLodge) refers to several hotel chains around the world. Current operations include: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and several countries in Asia. However, ma ...
; car rental operators such as
Avis Rent a Car System
Avis Car Rental is an American car rental company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. Avis, Budget Rent a Car, Budget Truck Rental and Zipcar are all units of Avis Budget Group.
Avis Budget Group operates the Avis brand in South Afric ...
and
Budget Rent a Car
Budget Rent a Car is an American car rental company that was founded in 1958 in Los Angeles, California by Morris Mirkin. Budget is a subsidiary of the Avis Budget Group, with its operations headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey.
History ...
; real estate brokerages such as
Coldwell Banker
Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC is an American real estate franchise owned by Anywhere Real Estate, with headquarters in Madison, New Jersey. It was founded in 1906 in San Francisco, and has approximately 3000 offices in 49 countries and territ ...
,
Century 21 Real Estate
Century 21 Real Estate LLC is an American real estate agent franchise company founded in 1971. The system consists of approximately 14,000 independently owned and operated franchised broker offices in 86 countries and territories worldwide with ov ...
and
Sotheby's International Realty
Sotheby’s International Realty is a luxury real estate brand founded in 1976 by Sotheby's fine art dealers. Sotheby's International Realty operates as a franchise focusing on brokering and marketing of residential real estate.
As of 2018, the ...
; as well as
Orbitz Worldwide.
Early life and education
Born to a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family, in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, the son of the chief executive of commercial finance firm James Talcott Inc.
[BusinessWeek: "HENRY SILVERMAN: THE REAL ARTIST OF THE DEAL? - This empire builder is riding high, but investors are jittery" By Joseph Weber]
June 14, 1997 Silverman graduated with a B.A. from
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...
and then a J.D. from
University of Pennsylvania Law School
The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Law or Penn Carey Law) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is among the most selective and oldes ...
.
He served in the United States Navy Reserves and then practiced tax law.
Career
Early career (1965-1990)
Silverman began his career in business as an assistant to
Steve Ross, who was then assembling the future Warner Communications. Silverman had graduated from
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...
with a BA in Art History in 1961 and spent the following three years earning a JD from the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, where he graduated in 1964. Silverman left the job with Ross, which had been secured by Silverman's father, a well known businessman himself, to join
White, Weld & Company an investment banking firm.
After a short stint in investment banking, Silverman pursued a number of entrepreneurial ventures in the late 1960s and through the 1970s. In 1984, Silverman joined Reliance Group Holdings, which was run by corporate raider
Saul Steinberg
Saul Steinberg (June 15, 1914 – May 12, 1999) was a Romanian-American artist, best known for his work for ''The New Yorker'', most notably '' View of the World from 9th Avenue''. He described himself as "a writer who draws".
Biography
S ...
. Silverman then served as president and CEO of Telemundo, the Spanish-language television network from 1986 through 1990. While at Reliance, Silverman acquired
Days Inn
Days Inn is a hotel chain headquartered in the United States. It was founded in 1970 by Cecil B. Day, who opened the first location in Tybee Island, Georgia. The brand is now a part of the Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, headquartered in Parsippany ...
, the US hotel chain in a $590 million deal. Silverman is estimated to have made a $125 million profit on the sale of Days Inn..
In 1990, Silverman accepted a position as partner at
Blackstone Group
Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate bu ...
, a
private equity
In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...
firm. However his tenure at Blackstone was cut short because of litigation between Prudential Insurance, one of Blackstone's largest investors, over a Steinberg deal in which Silverman had been involved. In 1991, he left to head Hospitality Franchise Systems, an investment of Blackstone's that Silverman had overseen. He would later build HFS into
Cendant Corporation.
Creating Cendant Corporation (1991-2006)
Building on his experience with Days Inn, while at Blackstone Silverman created Hospitality Franchise Systems (HFS) which would acquire a number of hotel franchises. Among Silverman's purchases were such brands as
Ramada and
Howard Johnson's
Howard Johnson's, or Howard Johnson by Wyndham, is an American hotel chain and former restaurant chain. Founded by Howard Deering Johnson in 1925 as a restaurant, it was the largest restaurant chain in the U.S. throughout the 1960s and 1970s, ...
as well as
Days Inn
Days Inn is a hotel chain headquartered in the United States. It was founded in 1970 by Cecil B. Day, who opened the first location in Tybee Island, Georgia. The brand is now a part of the Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, headquartered in Parsippany ...
, which he was able to buy for $290 million (almost half what he had sold it for) after the company had filed for bankruptcy in 1991. Hospitality Franchise Systems went public in a 1992
IPO
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
.
HFS was among the fastest growing companies of its size in the 1990s and the company's stock had risen from its IPO price of $4 per share to $77 per share by 1998. However, in 1998, Silverman led Cendant into what would prove a disastrous merger with CUC, a direct marketing company that operated
Shoppers Advantage and
Travelers Advantage (now part of
Affinion Group
CXLoyalty (formerly Affinion Group and CUC International, CUC) is a private company based in Stamford, Connecticut that provides customer engagement and loyalty programs. Affinion designs, markets, and services programs that deal with customer r ...
. The $14 billion merger of HFS and CUC resulted in Cendant Corporation, which was formed in December 1997. Also, as part of the merger, Silverman announced he would reduce his day-to-day involvement with the company and assume the company's chairmanship in preference of CUC's founder and CEO
Walter Forbes
Walter Forbes (born 1942/43) is an American corporate executive and former Federal prisoner.
He was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey and convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, a ...
.
Just months after the merger, in April 1998 Cendant uncovered massive accounting improprieties at CUC and resulted in one of the largest financial scandals of the 1990s. After the accounting scandal was uncovered, Silverman and the Cendant board forced Forbes’ resignation and Silverman assumed the CEO post. Under Silverman, Cendant bounced back from the accounting scandal far outperforming the markets in the early 2000s.
Silverman's compensation was the subject of scrutiny in 2004. In 2002, on the back of strong performance at Cendant, Silverman signed a 10-year contract that provided for medical benefits, office space as well as travel perks including a corporate airplane and a company car and driver. Of greater attention was the compensation Silverman received in 2003. Silverman's 2003 compensation was estimated at $60 million, which included $14 million in cash salary and bonus, $37 million in stock options and $4.6 million paid as premiums on a company funded life insurance policy.
In September 2006, Silverman championed the separation of
Cendant Corporation into four independent companies. Cendant spun off its real estate brokerage division,
Realogy
Anywhere Real Estate Inc., formerly Realogy (), is an American publicly owned real estate services company. It owns and franchises several real estate brands and brokerages, and offers consumer programs, lead generation, relocation, and title ...
which was sold to
Apollo Global Management and sold its travel distribution services division,
Travelport
Travelport Worldwide Ltd provides distribution, technology, payment solutions for the travel and tourism industry. It is the smallest, by revenue, of the top three global distribution systems (GDS) after Amadeus IT Group and Sabre Corporation.
...
, to
The Blackstone Group
Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate b ...
. Cendant's hospitality services division, is now a separate company
Wyndham Worldwide
Travel + Leisure Co. (formerly Wyndham Destinations, Inc. and Wyndham Worldwide Corporation) is an American timeshare company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. It develops, sells, and manages timeshare properties under several vacation ownershi ...
. The remaining Cendant Corporation, which renamed itself
Avis Budget Group
Avis Budget Group is American car rental agency holding company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. It is the parent company of several brands including Avis Car Rental, Budget Rent a Car, Budget Truck Rental, Payless Car Rental and Zipca ...
, operates the company's car rental businesses.
Career since 2006
In February 2009, Silverman assumed a position as chief operating officer of
Apollo Global Management, a New York-based
private equity
In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...
firm.
In March 2012, Silverman assumed a position as Vice Chairman of Asset Management at
Guggenheim Partners
Guggenheim Partners is a global investment and advisory financial services firm that engages in investment banking, asset management, capital markets services, and insurance services.
Organization
The firm is headquartered in New York City an ...
, a New York-based
private equity
In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...
firm.
Personal life
Silverman has been married three times. In 1965, he married Susan Anne Herson; they had two children and divorced in 1977. In 1978, he married Nancy Ann Kraner; they had one child and divorced in 2012 after 30 years of marriage. In 2009 he moved into an apartment in
15 Central Park West
15 Central Park West (also known as 15 CPW) is a luxury residential condominium along Central Park West, between 61st and 62nd Streets adjacent to Central Park, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was constructed from 2005 t ...
in Manhattan.
References
Taking Henry Silverman Private TIME, Apr. 19, 2007
New York Times, January 20, 2002
New York Times, March 23, 1999
Business Week, February 28, 2000
Business Week, November 9, 1998
TIME, Mar. 17, 1997
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silverman, Henry
1940 births
Living people
American hoteliers
Apollo Global Management people
The Blackstone Group people
Corporate raiders
Hotel executives
Private equity and venture capital investors
University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni
Williams College alumni
American chief executives
20th-century American Jews
American chief operating officers
21st-century American Jews