Tom Hicks

Early life and career

The son of a Texas radio station owner, Hicks was born on February 7, 1946, in Port Arthur, Texas, and had graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School, in 1964. Hicks earned a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Texas in 1968, and his Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern California in 1970. He was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon social fraternity.

Hicks became interested in leveraged buyouts as a member of First National Bank of Dallas's venture capital group. Hicks and Robert Haas formed Hicks & Haas in 1984. The next year that firm bought Hicks Communications, a radio outfit run by Hicks's brother Steven – the first of several media companies bought or created by the buyout firm that involved Steven (Capstar, Chancellor, and AMFM).

In the mid-1980s, Hicks & Haas bought several soft drink makers, including Dr Pepper and 7 Up. The firm took Dr Pepper/7 Up public just 18 months after merging the two companies. In all, Hicks & Haas turned $88 million of investor funding into $1.3 billion. The pair went their separate ways in May 1989. He wanted to raise large pools to invest, while Haas preferred to work with investors deal by deal.

In 1989, Hicks co-founded the investment firm, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst with former Prudential Securities banker John Muse. The firm raised $250 million, with early investments including a life insurance company, Life Partners Group (bought in 1990 and sold in 1996). In 1991, Morgan Stanley's Charles Tate and First Boston's Jack Furst became partners. Hicks was chairman from 1989 to 2004, Hicks Muse raised $12 billion of private equity funds, consummated over $50 billion of leveraged acquisitions, and grew to become one of the largest private investment firms in the country.

But Hicks Muse hit a rough patch by the early 2000s, when investors in Equity Fund IV were burned by a $1.2 billion plunge into telecom investments in 1999. Hicks announced that he would leave the Hicks Muse on March 8, 2004, to spend more time with his family and his sports teams. (Hicks Muse was subsequently renamed HM Capital Partners.) He has remained active in his own ventures. He created Hicks Holdings, a vehicle for his sports and real estate empire, and then started buying companies again in the $10 to $250 million level, including: a Chinese electronics firm, a venture with DirecTV selling bundled TV-telecom services to condos, a landscaping materials company in the Midwest, a pet food firm in Argentina, and Gammaloy – an oil field rental outfit he bought from his wife's family, paying approximately $20 million in the 1990s.

Additionally, Hicks formed Hicks Acquisition Company I, Inc. (HACI). In September 2009, HACI merged into Resolute Energy Corporation (REN), an oil and gas firm. Hicks did not sit on REN's board of directors, but his son, Thomas O. Hicks, Jr., represents HACI on the board.

Politics

Hicks was a member of the political action committee for the 2008 presidential election campaign for former Republican Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani. Hicks was previously neighbors with former U.S. President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. Each neighbor's property shared a boundary between Daria Place and Holloway Road, within a gated community of Preston Hollow, Dallas, Texas respectively.

Hicks, with the help of then-Gov. George W. Bush, helped create the University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) to manage the Permanent University Fund. Almost a third of the $1.7 billion private equities portfolio UTIMCO invested between 1995 and 1998 was with firms personally or politically connected to then-UT Regent Tom Hicks or then-Gov. George W. Bush.

Sports

Dallas Stars

In December 1995, Hicks bought the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League (NHL) for $82 million. During his tenure as owner of the club, Hicks was the Stars' Chairman of the Board and the club's representative on the NHL Board of Governors. Hicks played an instrumental role in the development and planning of American Airlines Center. Under his ownership, the Stars won seven division titles, two Western Conference crowns, two Presidents' Trophies (as the team with the best regular season record), two consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final and the 1999 Stanley Cup championship. In April 2010, Hicks's company defaulted on $525 million in bank loans backed by the Stars and a 50% interest in the American Airlines Center.

On September 13, 2011, lenders voted to agree to have the Stars file for bankruptcy and sold at auction. On November 22, a bankruptcy court judge approved a bid by Vancouver businessman and Kamloops Blazers owner Tom Gaglardi to buy the team for $240 million.

Texas Rangers

In June 1998, Hicks bought the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball's American League from an investment group managed by George W. Bush. Under Hicks's ownership, the Rangers won the American League West Division crown in 1998 and 1999, but failed to deliver a World Series. Hicks made headlines across all MLB when he personally negotiated and signed shortstop Alex Rodriguez to the biggest contract in MLB history at that time; a ten-year, $252 million deal at the December 2000 winter meetings. That contract, however, severely limited the Rangers' ability to sign other players, and they would have only two more winning seasons during Hicks's ownership. Years later, Hicks pointed to the blockbuster contract as "one of his biggest regrets".

The Rangers also spent a large amount of money on Chan Ho Park, who signed a $65 million contract with the Rangers following the 2001 season. The Park signing would be a disaster for the Rangers as the new "staff ace" was unable to adjust to the move from pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium to the hitter-friendly American League. After finishing in last place for the division three consecutive seasons with Rodriguez, Hicks agreed to trade to the New York Yankees before the 2004 season. As part of the agreement, the Rangers would supplement a portion of his remaining contract. This agreement would continue until Rodriguez opted out of his contract in 2007. On January 23, 2010, it was announced Hicks had agreed to sell the Rangers to a group led by Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan. Hicks would have been a minority share holder in the new ownership group.

Prior to bids being placed by potential buyers, Hicks told the media the Rangers were operating under normal business with no interference from MLB. Regarding the Rangers' inability to sign 2009 first round pick Matt Purke, he said, "We were disappointed that the family insisted on $6 million. The Texas Rangers were not willing to do that. It had nothing to do with MLB restrictions. There is a clear misimpression we didn't sign Matt Purke because MLB wouldn't let us. That's not true. We didn't because of Tom Hicks, Nolan Ryan and Jon Daniels. We were not willing to go to $6 million." After his group had completed the purchase agreement, Ryan told the media the Rangers were unable to offer the first round pick the $6 million signing bonus both parties had verbally agreed upon after the draft because MLB, who were strictly overseeing the Rangers budget by this time, would not approve the amount needed to sign Purke. After the announcement of the pending sale by Hicks Sports Group (HSG), several additional hurdles occurred which had to be remedied before the sale of the team could be finalized. Several of the lenders, who were owed over $500 million, vocally objected to the deal accusing Hicks of rejecting a higher offer by Jim Crane and stated they would not sign off on the deal. Hicks has been sued by three different parties over the land adjacent to the stadium that was sold in a separate transaction as a part of the purchase by Greenberg and Ryan.

Liverpool F.C.

On February 1, 2007, it was made known through the English press that he was involved in a consortium with one-time friend and Montreal Canadiens owner George N. Gillett Jr. to purchase English Premier League club Liverpool F.C.; this takeover proposal was believed to be the front-runner after Dubai International Capital (DIC) withdrew their bid. On February 6, 2007, Hicks and Gillett's joint offer for Liverpool was formally accepted, valuing the club at £218.9 million ($432.9M) (£5,000 per share and £44.8M in debt). Liverpool became the third Premier League club to be acquired by American businessmen, the others being Aston Villa and Manchester United. When taking over the club, Hicks and Gillett made a joint declaration: "Liverpool is a fantastic club with a remarkable history and a passionate fanbase. We fully acknowledge and appreciate the unique heritage and rich history of Liverpool and intend to respect this heritage in the future." Hicks stated his foremost priority was gaining silverware, and vowed to build a new stadium for the club at Stanley Park Stadium. The preexisting plans to build the stadium were revised but the stadium never materialized.

Hicks became extremely unpopular among Liverpool fans for his failure to deliver on the promise of a new stadium or on the promise that no debt would be placed onto the club and for his allegedly misleading statements about planned and past investment in players. During Hicks and Gillett's period of ownership, Liverpool became associated with frequent boardroom wranglings as the owners fell out with each other and engaged in public battles with Parry and Benítez. Anger was also directed at the Hicks family when Tom Hicks's son, Thomas O. Hicks Jr., had to resign from the Liverpool board of directors after sending an abusive e-mail to a Liverpool fan saying, "Blow me fuck face. Go to hell. I'm sick of you."

On January 22, 2008, a majority of Liverpool fans at the game between Liverpool and Aston Villa protested against Gillett and Hicks's running of the club, urging the pair to sell their shares in Liverpool to Dubai International Capital (DIC). Neither owner, nor their representative Foster Gillett, was present at the game. George Gillett was reportedly targeted by DIC to sell his shares. It was reported that he had fallen out with Hicks and he subsequently kept silent over his dealings with the club. On March 7, 2008, it was reported that Gillett had agreed to sell 98% of his Liverpool stock to DIC, but Hicks blocked the sale. In an interview on Prime Time Sports in Canada, Gillett revealed that he and his family had received death threats from angry Liverpool fans: "The fans don't want him [Tom Hicks] to have even one share of my stake in the club, based on what they are sending to me. As a result of that we [my family] have received many phone calls in the middle of the night threatening our lives, death threats. A number came to the office and my son, Foster, and daughter-in-law, Lauren, have received them." On April 16, 2010, the club was put up for sale. Hicks claimed that he believed the club had tripled in value during his tenure, and boasted that he would be looking for a price of four times what he purchased his stake for. He claimed that, "Liverpool will be the most profitable investment I've ever made." On June 16, 2010, Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotheram tabled a motion in the House of Commons expressing dismay at the continuing ownership of the club. Hicks and Gillett were described as "asset strippers" and the club was being "drained by their greed".

Philanthropy

Tom Hicks Elementary School in Frisco, Texas, part of the Lewisville Independent School District, was given its name after Hicks donated the land for the school.

Hicks donated a gymnasium to the St. Mark's School of Texas in Dallas. Hicks was also the 1996 co-chair of the Dallas Jewish Coalition for the Homeless "Vogel Alcove" project, and received the 2000 Henry Cohn Humanitarian Award from the Anti-Defamation League.

Personal life and death

Hicks and his wife, Cinda Cree Hicks, had six children.

Hicks died from complications of heart and lung disease in Dallas, on December 6, 2025, at the age of 79.