Sam Zell Tells Wilbur Ross To Piss Off
November 19, 2009
Speaking at the Capital Markets conference in New York, Sam Zell took a few shots at “experts” such as Wilbur Ross who were predicting widespread problems in the commercial real estate arena.
Apparently taking issue with recent comments Mr. Ross made to the press about a huge crash hitting commercial property markets, Zell said for “all the new savants on commercial real estate (like) Wilbur Ross…I find their comments..are inversely related to our knowledge of the industry.”
He made that comment on the one hand, and on the other went on to say:
…we’ll “likely to see the kind of a massacre in the hotel industry …similar to what office (property) saw in the early 1990s.”
In a Barron’s article on the 16th, he indicated that his first foray will be into hotels, so conveniently he is dogging hotels. Perhaps once he’s ready to jump into office, then he will start to talk of the office massacre.
[via WSJ Developments]
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thats really funny. of course his comments are self serving. wilbur ross has a pretty good track record. buying hotels are fire sale prices isnt exactly a groundbreaking idea. especially if you can stand the carry cost. i really think zell may have peaked when he sold EOP. since then its been nothing but hubris from him.
I don't think Zell's track record can really be questioned as he's done very well over time and has been able to exit from a lot of his investments nicely. The Tribune is only one deal, but it is one big highly publicized deal. It takes a lot to be ABLE to buy hotels at today's fire sale prices as it's not too easy to acquire anything in the hospitality space these days.
It may be hubris, but I think its definitely deserved. Sam Zell has been very successful in this business for a long time, not to mention that the EOP deal was the greatest single deal of ALL time (from a money perspective).
im not questioning his track record. EOP was the deal of the century. but the deals in the 2000s werent the deals making zell rich. it was buying assets for nothing and holding til the market peaked. the other equity companies are doing well. ill never say the guy hasnt run a great RE company. im talking about zell and his public speaking since mid 2000s. the guy is a blow hard.