Marc H. Bell | |
---|---|
Born | |
Citizenship | American |
Alma mater | Babson College, New York University |
Occupation(s) | Managing Partner, Marc Bell Capital Founder and CEO, Globix, Chairman and CEO, Terran Orbital |
Known for | Former owner of Penthouse magazine [1] [2] [3] [4] |
Board member of | Armour Residential REIT, Terran Orbital |
Marc Bell is an American financier and entrepreneur. He is the managing partner of Marc Bell Capital, a Boca Raton, Florida-based firm founded in 2002. [5] He is also a producer of plays, musicals and movies.
Bell graduated from Scarsdale High School in the Class of 1985. He later on earned his Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Babson College and a Master of Science degree in real estate development and investment from New York University. [6]
Bell founded the web hosting company that eventually became Globix Corporation in 1989 at the age of 21 [7] and served as its CEO and chairman of the board through the company's IPO in 1996 [8] and into the dot-com bubble; as the company crashed along with the stock market in 2001 as its main internet data centers were located in lower Manhattan, [9] Bell as board chairman moved Peter Stevenson into the CEO role. [10] Its market capitalization fell from almost $2.4 billion [11] in 1999 to $5.87 million in 2002 when it went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to its inability to recover from the September 11, 2001 attack. [12] [13]
In 2001, he joined the Board of Trustees of New York University and Board of Overseers New York University School of Medicine. [6] [14]
Through his company Marc Bell Capital, Bell is an investor and partner in restaurants and nightclubs in New York City in ventures such as Artichoke Pizza and Lavo. [6] [7]
In 2004, Bell and a partner acquired Penthouse magazine for $52 million in a bankruptcy auction through a vehicle they called "Penthouse Media Group", [6] [15] [16] and in 2007 Penthouse Media Group acquired Various, which included networking site AdultFriendFinder.com for $500 million [6] and Bell and his partner renamed the company Friend Finder Networks. [16] In the 2008 Bell attempted to enter the Las Vegas casino market and was interviewed by Robin Leach about his intentions; he brought Penthouse models with him to the interview. [17]
Bell has produced musicals and plays such as Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages, The Wedding Singer, August: Osage County, and A Catered Affair. [7] His production Jersey Boys won a Tony Award for Best Musical in 2006 and August: Osage County won Best Play in 2008. [18] Jersey Boys was the eighth highest grossing show in the history of Broadway with worldwide revenue of $1,644,848,098. [19] [20] Bell also won a Tony Award for Best Play in 2024 for Stereophonic (play) [21]
In 2010 Bell, through Friend Finder Networks, tried to acquire Playboy Enterprises but was rebuffed after a $210 million bid. [6] [22]
The Friend Finder Networks company and the Penthouse magazine that it owned filed for bankruptcy protection on September 17, 2013. FriendFinder’s current common stock was wiped out and was no longer traded on the open market. In August 2013, FriendFinder's stock was delisted from Nasdaq because it consistently failed to trade for more than $1. [23] [16]
In 2013 Bell created The Boca Raton Police Foundation. [24] He later retired as chairman in 2024. [25]
Bell put his house in Boca Raton on the market for $35 million; it included a room modeled after the bridge of the Enterprise D from Star Trek: The Next Generation. [26] The listing was removed in May, 2019. [27] CNBC did a special on the house in 2014. [28]
On September 13, 2017, Bell took in 70 foster kids who were displaced during a Hurricane Irma from local shelters. [29] [30] [31]
He is a co-founder and the chief executive officer for Terran Orbital, a manufacturer of small satellites. [32] [33] Terran Orbital received $100 million investment from Lockheed Martin [34] Terran added a satellite to the permanent display of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in March 2023 [35]
Penthouse is a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione and published by Los Angeles–based Penthouse World Media, LLC. It combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictures of women that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore pornographic pictures of women.
Robert Charles Joseph Edward Sabatini Guccione was an American visual artist, photographer and publisher. He founded the adult magazine Penthouse in 1965. This was aimed at competing with Hugh Hefner's Playboy, but with more explicit erotic content, a special style of soft-focus photography, and in-depth reporting of government corruption scandals and the art world. By 1982 Guccione was listed in the Forbes 400 wealth list, and owned one of the biggest mansions in Manhattan. However, he made some extravagant investments that failed, and the growth of free online pornography in the 1990s greatly diminished his market. In 2003, Guccione's publishers filed for bankruptcy and he resigned as chairman.
Revlon, Inc. is an American multinational company dealing in cosmetics, skin care, perfume, and personal care. The headquarters of Revlon was established in New York City on March 1, 1932, where it remains. Revlon was founded by brothers Charles and Joseph Revson, and chemist Charles Lachman. Revlon products are sold in 150 countries and the company has many global locations including Mexico City, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Sydney, Singapore, and Tokyo.
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Friend Finder Networks is an American internet company founded in 1996 by Andrew Conru and Lars Mapstead. Its corporate headquarters are located in Boca Raton, Florida, with additional offices in California, New York, and Taiwan.
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Mutual of America Life Insurance Company is an American provider of retirement services and investments to employers, employees and individuals. Founded in 1945, the company provides products and services to help its customers build and preserve assets.
Penthouse Comix is an American mass-market, magazine-sized comic book, published by Penthouse International/General Media Communications from spring 1994 through July 1998. Founded and initially edited by George Caragonne and Horatio Weisfeld, it originally ran 32 issues plus one special edition. Foreign versions of Penthouse Comix remained in publication through 2011.
Paddle8 was an online auction house based in New York City selling fine art including Post-War and Contemporary art, prints & multiples, photography, street art and collectibles. Paddle8's sales focus on pieces priced between $1,000 and $100,000, all vetted by specialists for authenticity. Paddle8 had offices in New York, Los Angeles, London and Hong Kong. In 2016, Paddle8 merged with the Berlin online auction house Auctionata. In February 2017, Auctionata declared insolvency and Paddle8 became an independent company once again, before selling to Native in 2018, and then to Facebank AG in 2019. In March 2020, Paddle8 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York just one week after the non-profit New American Cinema Group filed a lawsuit against the company for allegedly misappropriating funds from a charity auction.
Andrew Conru is an American internet businessman who has founded e-commerce, advertising, online dating, and personal ad sites including W3, AdKnowledge, WebPersonals, FriendFinder, and Adult FriendFinder. He is the CEO of FriendFinder Networks Inc.
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Maggie Hardy is an American billionaire businesswoman and the owner of 84 Lumber and Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, both founded by her father Joseph A. Hardy III (1923-2023). In 2023, Forbes estimated her personal fortune at around $4.1 billion.
Relativity Space Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturing company headquartered in Long Beach, California. Relativity Space is developing manufacturing technologies, launch vehicles, and rocket engines for commercial orbital launch services. The company is notable for manufacturing most of their Terran 1 and Terran R rocket parts using 3D printing. As of April 2024, Terran R is on track for initial launch in 2026.
Terran R is a heavy-lift two-stage, partially reusable launch vehicle under development by Relativity Space. The vehicle is partially constructed with 3D printing technologies, like its predecessor, the small-lift Terran 1. The first flight is expected to be in 2026.
...as the guest of Marc Bell, the CEO of the corporation that owns Penthouse Magazine...
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