Sardar Biglari

Sardar Biglari (Persian: سردار بیگلری‎‎; born August 30, 1977) is an American entrepreneur and is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Biglari Holdings,^[1] a holding company that trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BH. Biglari controls the Steak 'n Shake Company, First Guard Insurance, Maxim Magazine and the Western Sizzlin corporation among others, which are subsidiaries of Biglari Holdings.^[2] Biglari is also Founder, Chairman and CEO of Biglari Capital, the general partner to The Lion Fund.

Early History

Biglari was born in Iran in 1977, two years before the Iranian Revolution. The family escaped Iran as refugees and in 1984, the family moved to San Antonio, Texas.^[3]

Business career

He founded an Internet Service Provider at the age of 18 by raising $15,000. In 1999 with concerns about the tech bubble, he sold the business to Internet America ^[4] With the proceeds of the sale, Biglari started an investment partnership at the age of 22. The fund bought shares in restaurant companies including Friendly Ice Cream and Western Sizzlin Corp., which he became chairman and CEO of in 2006. Friendly Ice Cream founder, Prestley Blake, found an ally in Biglari ^[5] and he cashed out and profited when Friendly's was bought out by a private-equity firm.^[6] The case was covered by Harvard Business School Professors Fabrizio Ferri, V.G. Narayanan and James Weber.^[7]

Steak n Shake

In August 2008, Biglari took over Steak n Shake, which had been losing more than $100,000 a day. Biglari turned the company around from near insolvency to one making more than $100,000 a day.^[8] By 2015, the company had attained 24 consecutive quarters of same-store sales increases under Biglari.^[9]

Cracker Barrel

Biglari bought 4.7 million shares of Cracker Barrel in 2011.^[10] In 2014, Harvard Business School professors Suraj Srinivasan and Tim Gray wrote a case study on Biglari and Cracker Barrel.^[11]

Maxim

On February 27, 2014, Maxim was bought by Biglari who commented, "We plan to build the business on multiple dimensions, thereby energizing our readership and viewership.".^[12] In January 2016, Biglari officially took over as Editor-in-Chief of Maxim, though a Maxim staffer said that the new masthead title just formalizes what has always been clear: Biglari exercises full editorial control over Maxim. At one point last year, the staffer said, he decided to throw out a nearly-complete version of the December issue in order to completely redesign the magazine.^[13] On January 13, 2016 Gilles Bensimon joined Biglari as a special creative director. "What drew me to Maxim was Sardar's vision for the brand," said Bensimon.^[14]

First Guard Insurance

ON March 19, 2014 Biglari purchased First Guard Insurance Company. First Guard Founder and CEO Ed Campbell said: " I couldn't imagine a better, more fitting owner of First Guard.".^[15]

References