Brad M. Kelley

Last updated
Brad M. Kelley
Born1956 (age 66–67)
Bowling Green, Kentucky, US
OccupationBusinessperson
Known forNinth-largest U.S. landholder
SpouseSusan
Children3

Brad Maurice Kelley (born 1956) is an American businessman who is the 9th largest landowner in the U.S. [1] , with an estimated net worth of US$2.2 billion in 2018. [2] He founded the Commonwealth Brands tobacco company in 1991 and sold the company in 2001 to Houchens Industries for US$1 billion. [3] As of 2014, Kelley's business interests include Calumet Farm, NC2 Media and the Center for Innovation and Technology business park.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Kelley was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He was raised in Simpson County, Kentucky, and went to Franklin-Simpson High School in Franklin, Kentucky, where he was a secretary for the Future Farmers of America and was named Kentucky high school conservationist of the year. [4] He bought his first piece of land, a farm near his childhood home, at age 17, and his first warehouse at age 20. [5] He attended Western Kentucky University for a short period but left before the completion of his studies to pursue business interests.

Career

Kelley grew up on a farm that included tobacco, and his early business ventures were a response to changes in the tobacco industry. Because of declining production in the 1980s, many old warehouses in Kentucky stood vacant. He started buying these warehouses, converting them to other uses, and then leasing them out. This interest evolved into manufacturing. In 1991, he founded Commonwealth Brands, a tobacco company that manufactured low-cost cigarettes, headquartered in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The company was later sold in 2001 to Houchens Industries for US$1 billion. [3] Kelley has never smoked, and he said in 2012, "I've never defended [smoking]. Hopefully it will be phased out of society."

In May 2012, Kelley became the operator of the historic Calumet Farm in Lexington. He was already involved in Thoroughbred breeding and racing operations. He was formerly the largest shareholder and a board member of Churchill Downs. In May 2013, his colt Oxbow won the Preakness Stakes.

According to the Land Report's 2022 ranking of the top 100 land holders in the U.S., Kelley owns 1 million acres of American ranching land in Texas, Florida and New Mexico, which ranks him as America's ninth-largest private land owner. His landholdings have decreased after he sold several Texas ranches, including 49,723 acres in San Jacinto and 10,000 acres near Alpine. [6]

In March 2013, the commercial arm of the BBC, BBC Worldwide, announced the sale of Lonely Planet to Kelly's NC2 Media. Lonely Planet is a guidebook publisher that has printed over 100 million guidebooks, in addition to magazines, digital content, and other travel services. [7]

In January 2020, Kelley put up for sale many of his West Texas ranches, offering roughly 500,000 acres with a listing price of $404 million. [8]

In December 2020, NC2 Media sold Lonely Planet to Red Ventures for an undisclosed amount. [9]

Personal life

Kelley is married with three children. He rarely gives interviews and does not use email. Kelley is active in the conservation movement. He supports many environmental and wildlife conservation interests, including Punta Gorda, Florida's Center for Conservation of Tropical Ungulates. The center supports many animal species, including rhinoceros, tapir, wild cattle, and antelope. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parnell, Missouri</span> City in Missouri, United States

Parnell is a city in northeast Nodaway County, Missouri, United States, near the Platte River. The population was 191 at the 2010 Census. It was home to the father-son horse trainers Ben and Jimmy Jones, whose horses won eight Kentucky Derbies and two Triple Crowns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lonely Planet</span> Publisher of guidebooks and other media related to travel

Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imperial Brands</span> British tobacco company

Imperial Brands plc is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in London and Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco and the world's largest producer of fine-cut tobacco and tobacco papers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of agriculture in the United States</span> Aspect of history in the United States

The history of agriculture in the United States covers the period from the first English settlers to the present day. In Colonial America, agriculture was the primary livelihood for 90% of the population, and most towns were shipping points for the export of agricultural products. Most farms were geared toward subsistence production for family use. The rapid growth of population and the expansion of the frontier opened up large numbers of new farms, and clearing the land was a major preoccupation of farmers. After 1800, cotton became the chief crop in southern plantations, and the chief American export. After 1840, industrialization and urbanization opened up lucrative domestic markets. The number of farms grew from 1.4 million in 1850, to 4.0 million in 1880, and 6.4 million in 1910; then started to fall, dropping to 5.6 million in 1950 and 2.2 million in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calumet Farm</span> Thoroughbred racing and breeding operation

Calumet Farm is a 762-acre (3.08 km2) Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of the Bluegrass, a well-known horse breeding region. Calumet Farm has a record history of Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown winners and 11 horses in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

Houchens Industries is an American employee-owned company, in business since 1917 when it began as a small grocery operated by founder Ervin Houchens in rural Barren County, Kentucky. The company is headquartered in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The company currently operates more than 325 retail grocery, convenience, and neighborhood market stores across 14 states, through their Houchens Food Group subsidiary. Complemented by a strong foundation of diverse companies and over 15,000 employees corporate-wide, Houchens Industries is listed by Forbes as one of the largest 100% employee-owned companies in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Tompkins</span> Chilean-American businessman and environmentalist (1943–2015)

Douglas Rainsford Tompkins was an American businessman, conservationist, outdoorsman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and agriculturalist. He founded the North Face Inc, co-founded Esprit and various environmental groups, including the Foundation for Deep Ecology and Tompkins Conservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rancocas Farm</span> American horse racing stud farm and racing stable

Rancocas Farm was an American thoroughbred horse racing stud farm and racing stable located on Monmouth Road in the Jobstown section of Springfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey.

Woolford Farm raised thoroughbred race horses in eastern Kansas, in what is now the city of Prairie Village, a suburb of Kansas City. The 200-acre (0.81 km2) was owned by Herbert M. Woolf. Trainer Ben A. Jones worked there before going to Calumet Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. Woolf had hired Ben Jones after he had established a reputation of training and breeding horses at the family ranch in Parnell, Missouri. Ben was accompanied by his son Jimmy Jones. After Lawrin won the Kentucky Derby the two trainers went to work for Warren Wright, Sr. at Calumet Farm. At Calumet the two trained seven horses that won the Kentucky Derby including two Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing winners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Bacon</span> American hedge fund manager and billionaire

Louis Moore Bacon is an American investor, hedge fund manager, and philanthropist. He is the founder and chief executive of Moore Capital Management.

Henryk Richard de Kwiatkowski was a Polish-born member of the Royal Air Force who became an aeronautical engineer, made a fortune in business in North America, and who owned Calumet Farm, one of the most prestigious thoroughbred horse breeding and racing farms in the United States, which throughout its history of over 87 years, has produced some of the greatest Thoroughbred horses of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strike the Gold</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Strike the Gold was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1991 Kentucky Derby. Upon the death of 1987 Derby winner Alysheba in March 2009, Strike the Gold became the oldest living Kentucky Derby winner, until his own death in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newhall Land and Farming Company</span>

The Newhall Land and Farming Company is a land management company based in Valencia, Santa Clarita, California, United States. The company is responsible for the master community planning of Valencia and previously developed other areas such as Canyon Country and Newhall which together with Saugus and Valencia would merge to create the city of Santa Clarita in 1987. The company is also responsible for the management of farm land elsewhere in the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Ventures</span> American media company

Red Ventures is an American media company that owns and operates brands such as Lonely Planet, CNET, ZDNet, The Points Guy, Healthline, and Bankrate. Red Ventures focuses on news, advice, and review websites. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Indian Land, South Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hansjörg Wyss</span> Swiss businessman and donor

Johann Georg Wyss known as Hansjörg Wyss is a Swiss billionaire businessman and donor to politically liberal and environmental causes in the United States. He is the founder and the former president and chairman of Synthes Holding AG, a medical device manufacturer. His Wyss Foundation has more than $2 billion in assets. As of March 2022, Wyss had a net worth of US$5.1 billion, according to Forbes. Having donated hundreds of millions of dollars to environmental causes, he has more recently increased his donations to groups promoting progressive causes. He is currently the co-owner of Premier League football club Chelsea.

Eric O'Keefe is an American author, editor, and journalist based in Texas. His most recent book is the Palm Beach polo murder mystery The Perfect 10. He authored the book The Cup and co-wrote the screenplay for the Village Roadshow feature film The Cup. O'Keefe has served as the editor-in-chief of The Land Report since its founding in 2007. In January 2021, The Land Report published O’Keefe’s investigative report on the extensive farmland holdings of Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates. His cover story revealed Gates to be the largest private farmland owner in the United States with 242,000 acres in 16 states in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prologis</span> American real estate company

Prologis, Inc. is a real estate investment trust headquartered in San Francisco, California that invests in logistics facilities. The company was formed through the merger of AMB Property Corporation and Prologis in June 2011, which made Prologis the largest industrial real estate company in the world. As of December 2022, the company owned 5,495 buildings comprising about 1.2 billion square feet in 19 countries across North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. According to The Economist, its business strategy is focused on warehouses that are located close to huge urban areas where land is scarce. It serves about 6,600 tenants. Prologis began to expand its non-real estate business, Essentials, in 2022, offering customers solar power, racking systems, forklifts, generators, and EV charging infrastructure. and other logistics tech equipment for purchase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxbow (horse)</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Oxbow, an American Thoroughbred racehorse, is best known for winning the second jewel in the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, the 2013 Preakness Stakes. A bay colt, sired by a winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic and out of a full sister to another Breeders' Cup Classic winner, Oxbow was sold as a yearling at Keeneland for $250,000 and is owned by Brad Kelley of Calumet Farm. He was trained by D. Wayne Lukas and was ridden in his Triple Crown races by Gary Stevens.

Kentucky is an agricultural producer in the United States. Value of agricultural products was $5 billion in 2012, of which slightly less than half was crops. Crops grown in the state include corn, soybeans, hay, wheat and tobacco. Historically, hemp has been a cash crop in the state. Finished agricultural products produced in the state include Kentucky bourbon and Kentucky wine.

USA Gold is an American brand of discount cigarettes currently owned and manufactured by ITG Brands, a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco. USA Gold brands were founded by Commonwealth Brands in 1991. Until previous year, Imperial had steered clear of the U.S. market for fear of being embroiled in litigation brought against tobacco companies. With a number of rulings going in favor of U.S. tobacco companies in that past year, that litigation risk appears to have faded.

References

  1. ↑ "2022 Land Report: Who owns the most land in the United States?". Successful Farming. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  2. ↑ "Brad Kelley". Forbes. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  3. 1 2 Munk, Nina (September 25, 2005). "Don't Blink. You'll Miss the 258th-Richest American". The New York Times. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  4. ↑ "FS Hall of Fame Induction & Reception 2014 – FS Educational Excellence Foundation". www.fseef.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  5. ↑ Keates, Nancy (2012-10-26). "The Man With a Million Acres". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  6. ↑ "The Land Report 2022.4 Page 132". editions.mydigitalpublication.com. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  7. ↑ Clampet, Jason (March 19, 2013). "BBC confirms sale of Lonely Planet to U.S. billionaire". Skift.com. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  8. ↑ Clarke, Katherine (March 10, 2020). "Tobacco Billionaire Brad Kelley is Selling Over 500,000 Acres for $500 Million". www.mansionglobal.com. Archived from the original on 2020-10-20. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
  9. ↑ "Red Ventures Acquires Lonely Planet" . Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  10. ↑ "A Road Trip Across Philanthropic America | Excellence in Philanthropy | The Philanthropy Roundtable" . Retrieved 2017-01-03.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.