Darwin Deason (born 1940) is an American
billionaire
A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultr ...
businessman and political donor. He founded
Affiliated Computer Services
Affiliated Computer Services Inc. (ACS) was a company that provided information technology services as well as business process outsourcing solutions to businesses, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. ACS was based in Dallas, Texa ...
in 1988, and sold it to
Xerox
Xerox Holdings Corporation (, ) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduc ...
for $6.4 billion in 2010, eventually becoming Xerox's largest individual shareholder (c.12%, as of 2023).
Career
Deason grew up on a farm near
Rogers, Arkansas
Rogers is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. Located in the Ozarks, it is part of the Northwest Arkansas region, one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country. Rogers was the location of the first Walmart store, whose cor ...
.
[ He moved to ]Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...
after graduating from high school, and he got a job at Gulf Oil
Gulf Oil was a major global oil company in operation from 1901 to 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the Seven Sisters (oil companies), Seven Sisters oil companies. ...
.[ Deason got a job for a data processing company, and eventually took control of a struggling subsidiary of a Dallas company that he spun out from MBank he renamed MTech.] While trying to take MTech private, it was purchased by EDS.
After selling MTech to EDS, Deason founded Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) in 1988. ACS became one of the first companies to outsource office work to places outside of the United States. The company went public in 1994. Deason retired as CEO of the company in 1999, but remained Executive Chairman until its sale to Xerox in 2010.
In 2007, Deason attempted to buy control of ACS with the help of Cerberus Capital Management
Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is an American global alternative investment firm with assets across credit, private equity, and real estate strategies.Leaders Magazine"Providing Economic Opportunity: An Interview with The Honorable Dan Qua ...
, but the deal collapsed due to board disagreements, and members of the ACS board resigned in protest. Deason used the opportunity to reconstitute the company's Board. In 2009, Deason negotiated a deal to sell ACS to Xerox
Xerox Holdings Corporation (, ) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduc ...
. Due to a negotiated additional premium/the value placed on his voting stock, shareholders sued Deason. the suit was settled, and the sale closed in early 2010.
In October 2016, Darwin Deason sued Xerox to block a restructuring plan that would eventually see his company spun out of Xerox, arguing the deal would misallocate his ownership between Xerox and its spin off, later named Conduent, and the transaction would have resulting in a poor allocation of debt between the Xerox' investment-grade business.and Conduent. Xerox had just announced its plan to split its operations into is core copier and printers related businesses (Xerox), and the business process outsourcing business (Conduent
Conduent Inc. is an American business services provider company headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey. It was formed in 2017 as a divestiture from Xerox. The company offers digital platforms for businesses and governments. , it had over ...
Inc). By the end of October 2016, the suit was settled and Deason's preferred shares were split between the companies (180,000 shares of Xerox's preferred stock and 120,000 preferred shares of Conduent).
Political activity
Deason and his family are major financial backers of the Republican Party. They donated $250,000 to support Rick Perry
James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 in the first administration of Donald Trump. He previously served as the 47th governor of Texas fr ...
's 2012 presidential candidacy.
In the 2016 presidential election, Deason again supported Perry, donating $5 million to his campaign. After Perry withdrew from the race in September 2015, Deason asked for his contribution to be returned. Deason then endorsed Ted Cruz
Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...
's campaign.
Between 2017 and June 30, 2019, Deason donated $1 million to the America First Policies
America First Policies (A1P) is an organization created following the inauguration of Donald Trump in 2017 to promote the America First policy agenda of his administration. It was founded by Trump campaign people including Nick Ayers, Rick Gat ...
-tied America First Action super PAC. Deason later contributed $405,000 to Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
's 2020 presidential campaign.
Deason's son, Doug Deason, is also a major Republican donor, and a member of the Koch Brothers
The Koch family ( ) is an American family engaged in business, best known for their political activities in the Koch network and their control of Koch Inc, the 2nd largest privately owned company in the United States (with 2019 revenues of $ ...
' political network. During the 2017 attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Doug Deason told Senator Mitch McConnell
Addison Mitchell McConnell III (; born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky, a seat he has held since 1985. McConnell is in his seventh Senate term and is the long ...
and other senior Republicans that they would not make political contributions if Congress did not reduce taxes and repeal the Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deason, Darwin
Living people
1940 births
American billionaires
People from Rogers, Arkansas
Businesspeople from Dallas
Texas Republicans