70 likes | 277 Views
John Kluge. A t one time the richest person in America By Marshall Parrish. John Werner Kluge . Immigrating. Kluge was born in Chemnitz, Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1922. . Business Career.
E N D
John Kluge At one time the richest person in America By Marshall Parrish
Immigrating • Kluge was born in Chemnitz, Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1922.
Business Career • Kluge's major move into media was by purchasing stock in the Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation in the mid-1950s. • In 1986, Kluge sold the Metromedia television stations to the 20th Century Fox film studio, which is now controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, for a reported $4 billion dollars. Those stations would later form the core of what would become the Fox television network. • Kluge reached his greatest successes in television by buying the syndication rights to M*A*S*H.
Generosity • In celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the Library of Congress, Kluge donated an unprecedented $60 million to create the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress. • In 2001, Kluge donated his 7,378-acre estate in Albemarle County, Virginia to the University of Virginia. The estate, valued in excess of $45 million, was the largest gift in the University's history. • He paid for life saving surgery for British cancer patient Craig Shergold after being asked to send a greeting or business card to the young patient. Kluge decided that the child needed medical treatment instead of a Guinness world record for most cards