Haim Saban
Haim Saban (/səˈbɑːn/; Hebrew: חיים סבן; born October 15, 1944) is an Israeli-American media proprietor, investor, musical composer and producer of records, film, and television.[1] A businessman with interests in financial services, entertainment, and media, and an estimated net worth of $2.8 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 232nd richest person in America.[4] Saban is the founder of Saban Entertainment, producer and distributor of children's television programs in the US such as Power Rangers. He headed up consortiums which purchased the broadcasters ProSiebenSat.1 Media and Univision Communications. He is a major donor to the United States Democratic Party and active in pro-Israel political efforts in the United States. In March 2017, Saban was honored with the 2,605th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his achievements in television.[5]
Haim Saban
October 15, 1944
Diploma, High School
Businessman, investor; record, film and television producer
Cheryl Flor (m. 1987)
4
Biography
Haim Saban was born in Alexandria, Egypt, to an Egyptian-Jewish family. In 1956, the Saban family immigrated to Israel, along with most of the Egyptian Jewish community.[1] Saban was sent to a Youth Aliyah boarding school. Expelled for being a troublemaker, he enrolled in a night high school where the principal told him: "You're not cut out for academic studies; you're cut out for making money."[6] He served as a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces.[7]
Saban is married to Cheryl Lynn (Flor) Saban,[8] with whom he has two children. He also has two stepchildren, Tifanie and Heidi Lenhart, an actress. He resides in Beverly Hills, California.[3]
Music career
Saban started his music career in 1966 as a bass player and manager[1][9] with the rock band The Lions of Judah (Ha'arayot), which was named after the Lion of Judah in Jewish Scripture. In 1969, Dave Watts from the British band The Tornados joined The Lions. That year, the band traveled to England, performed in night clubs in London and was signed up by Polydor Records. In July 1969, the band appeared on the BBC TV programme Colour Me Pop. The Lions recorded a single, "Our Love's A Growing Thing", but it was not released in the UK due to financial difficulties. The band returned to Israel and Saban focused on being a music promoter.[10]
After moving in 1983 to the United States,[11] Haim Saban and partner Shuki Levy became known for soundtrack compositions for children's television programs of the 1980s. Although Levy and Saban composed for their own properties (such as Kidd Video and Maple Town), they scored for other production companies as well (such as Inspector Gadget, The Mysterious Cities of Gold, M.A.S.K., Dinosaucers, Dragon Quest, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra: Princess of Power, and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors).
In 1998, The Hollywood Reporter reported that he did not actually compose all the music (totalling 3,700 works in 2008) he is credited for; ten composers threatened to sue and Saban settled out of court.[12]
Business career
Saban Entertainment
He then became a television producer, founding Saban Entertainment in 1988. In the 1990s, Saban's company became known for the production of Power Rangers, Masked Rider, VR Troopers, Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation and Big Bad Beetleborgs, which were Western adaptations of Japanese tokusatsu shows.
Fox Family
In 1996, News Corporation's Fox Children's Network and Haim Saban's Saban Entertainment merged to form Fox Kids Worldwide.[13][14][15][16] Also in that year, the company purchased the C&D library from Jean Chalopin.[17]
With the growing shift in children's television from over-the-air programming blocks to cable channels such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, the combined entity (half-owned by Haim Saban himself) sought to launch a competitor that would carry programming from the popular Fox Kids lineup. Eying The Family Channel, News Corp. made an offer to purchase IFE through the Fox Kids Worldwide division in 1997.[18]
On July 23, 2001, Saban announced that he and News Corporation would sell Fox Family Worldwide Inc for $5.3 billion to The Walt Disney Company.[19] and on October 24, 2001, the sale was completed[11] and the network was renamed ABC Family.[9] Saban profited about $1.6 billion from this sale.[9]
ProSiebenSat.1
In August 2003, Saban led a consortium, which acquired a controlling stake in the straggling ProSiebenSat.1 Media group from the Kirch Media Group, the then-bankrupt German media conglomerate.[20]
ProSiebenSat.1, is Germany's largest commercial television broadcasting company, which owns five German TV channels, including ProSieben and SAT.1, two of the top three stations in Germany. Collectively, ProSiebenSat.1's channels represented approximately 45% of the German TV advertising market at the time. Saban's ProSiebenSat.1 acquisition was the first time a foreigner took control of a significant German Media company.[9]
Saban oversaw a successful business turnaround of ProSiebenSat.1, recruiting former business rivals, ex-BSkyB chief executive Tony Ball and former BBC Director-General Greg Dyke to the board of the company.[21]
In March 2007, Saban Capital Group and the consortium sold its controlling interest in ProSiebenSat.1 to KKR and Permira, for 22.40 euros a share after originally paying 7.5 euros per share in 2003.[22]
Univision
On June 27, 2006, Saban Capital Group led a group of investors bidding for Univision Communications, the largest Spanish-language media company in the United States.[23] Other investors in the Saban-led group were Texas Pacific Group of Fort Worth, Texas and Thomas H. Lee Partners. The group was successful in acquiring Univision with a bid valued at $13.7 billion (USD),[24] but sold to private equity firm Searchlight Capital Partners and ex-Viacom finance head Wade Davis in 2020.[25][26]
Saban Music Group
In 2019, Saban announced that he had formed the Saban Music Group backed by $500 million of his own capital. The company will focus on global artists, particular Latin American, tapping new artists and acquiring existing businesses.[27]