Leonard Asper (born May 31, 1964) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

businessperson A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

. He was president and CEO of

Canwest Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place (now called 201 Portage). It held radio, ...

from 1999 through its bankruptcy in 2010. He would later establish

Anthem Sports & Entertainment Anthem Sports & Entertainment Inc. (formerly Anthem Media Group) is a Canadian multinational media company based in Toronto, Ontario and founded by Leonard Asper. Anthem is majority-controlled by Asper via his Sygnus Corporation. Fight Holdings ...

(initially Anthem Media Group) which owns television specialty channels and has interests in

combat sports A combat sport, or fighting sport, is a contact sport that usually involves one-on-one combat. In many combat sports, a contestant wins by scoring more points than the opponent, submitting the opponent with a hold, disabling the opponent (''knocko ...

and film distribution.

Family and education

Leonard Asper is the son of the late

Izzy Asper Israel Harold "Izzy" Asper (August 11, 1932 – October 7, 2003) was a Canadian tax lawyer and media magnate. He was the founder and owner of the now-defunct TV and media company CanWest Global Communications Corp and father to its former CE ...

, founder of CanWest Global Communications Corp. He is the younger brother of Gail Asper and

David Asper David Asper (born November 26, 1958) is a Canadian lawyer and businessman, and a former acting dean of Robson Hall, the law faculty of the University of Manitoba. Asper is the son of Izzy Asper, the founder of Canwest, and is now the head of ...

. He is a graduate of

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

and the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

Law School A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for b ...

, and is a member of the

Ontario Bar Association The Ontario Bar Association (OBA) is a bar association representing more than 16,000 lawyers, judges, notaries, law teachers, and law students from across Ontario. It is also a branch of the Canadian Bar Association. Approximately two-thirds of a ...

and

The Law Society of Upper Canada The Law Society of Ontario (LSO; ) is the law society responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1797 as the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC; ), its name was changed by statu ...

Career

Canwest

Asper began his career in 1991 as Associate General Counsel at Canwest's

Global Television Network The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language, English-language terrestrial television, terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's se ...

. In 1994, Asper took over the role of corporate development for Canwest.BrandeisReview of Journalism, Summer 2001
Master plan In 1999, Asper became CEO of Canwest while leading its acquisition of

Western International Communications WIC Western International Communications Ltd. (or WIC) was a Canadian media company that operated from 1982 to 2000, with operations including broadcast and specialty television, radio, and satellite distribution via a majority interest in Ca ...

(WIC). Soon afterward, Canwest acquired most of the Hollinger newspapers in Canada in a $3.2 billion transaction. In 2001, Asper was named "CEO of the Year" by '' Playback'', a media industry publication for the Canadian television and film production community. During Asper's tenure as CEO, Canwest grew to be Canada's largest media company with 38 television channels, including the national

and Canada's largest publisher of paid English-language daily newspapers with one of the largest digital portals in the country, Canada.com and its group of 80 associated websites. Internationally, Canwest had properties in New Zealand, Australia, Turkey, Indonesia, Singapore, the U.K. and the U.S. Canwest's revenues nearly quadrupled between 1999 and 2008 to total $3.2 billion, while operating profit grew at annual rate of 8.5% between 1999 and 2008 to $551 million. During the 2008-2009 financial crisis, Canwest's filed for bankruptcy under the

Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act The ''Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act'' (CCAA; ) is a statute of the Parliament of Canada that allows insolvent corporations owing their creditors in excess of $5 million to restructure their businesses and financial affairs. The CCAA with ...

(CCAA) in September 2009. As part of that filing, the Asper family and bondholder group announced a plan whereby the Asper family would reinvest in a restructured company.

Shaw Communications Shaw Communications Inc. was a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian telecommunication, telecommunications company which provided telephone, Internet, television, and mobile services. The company was founded in 1966 as Capital Cable Televisio ...

subsequently bid $2 billion for the broadcasting assets. The Canwest newspaper group was sold to a group led by GoldenTree Asset Management. Asper stepped down as Canwest CEO on March 3, 2010, to participate in a competing bid in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Catalyst Partners, which was ultimately rejected by the court, paving the way for Shaw to acquire the broadcast assets.

Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp.

In September 2010, Asper formed Sygnus Ventures, established to invest in and nurture digital media companies. On December 8, 2010, Asper's Sygnus Corp. acquired a "significant ownership stake" in

, the parent company of

Fight Network Fight Network is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment. The network broadcasts programming related to combat sports, including mixed martial arts, boxing, kickboxing, and professional wres ...

and several other sports-oriented specialty channels.

Philanthropy

Asper served on the Board of Trustees of

for five years, during which time he founded the Asper Center for Global Entrepreneurship atBrandeis International Business School. He currently serves on the board of overseers of Brandeis IBS. Asper also served for five years on the board of the

University of Winnipeg The University of Winnipeg (UWinnipeg, UW, or U of W) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It offers undergraduate programs in art, business, economics, education, science and applied health as well as graduate progra ...

Foundation and holds an honorary doctorate in laws from that institution. Asper is the vice chair of the Asper Foundation and a member of the board of governors of the Saul and Claribel Simkin Center, a seniors' housing complex in Winnipeg.

References

External links

The Asper Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asper, Leonard 1964 births

Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English language, English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate from the Old High German ''Leonhard'' containing the prefix ''levon'' ("lion") from the Greek wikt:Λέων#Greek, Λ ...

Living people Canadian television executives Canadian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Brandeis University alumni University of Toronto alumni Lawyers in Manitoba 21st-century Canadian Jews Global Television Network people Canadian chief executives Anthem Sports & Entertainment Total Nonstop Action Wrestling executives