Alex Meruelo

Alex Meruelo (born March 27, 1964) is a Cuban-American billionaire who holds business interests in banking, real estate, media, restaurants, food, casinos, and professional sports. He is the owner of Meruelo Group, as well as Meruelo Media, which owns five radio stations and two television stations in Los Angeles. In addition he is the owner of Fuji Food, two casinos, the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada and the Sahara Las Vegas in Las Vegas and is the majority owner of the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League. Biography Meruelo was born in New York City. His parents were accountants who fled the Castro regime. His family moved to Los Angeles, California, where they held a bridal shop and invested in local real estate. He also started to invest in real estate at an early age, and eventually sold a plot of land in Riverside to Walmart, making him a millionaire in his early 20s. Meruelo attended the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Rosemead, California, and received his B.S. from California State University, Long Beach. Career Meruelo began his career in his father's tuxedo business. At the age of 23, he decided to open a new type of pizza restaurant catering to Latinos in the US and offering unusual toppings such as chorizo and jalapeños. He bought a failing pizza restaurant, and called his new business La Pizza Loca. Within 5 years, La Pizza Loca opened 12 locations and reached $10 million in sales.