F rank Fertitta III, along with his younger brother Lorenzo, is an American billionaire who built a vast fortune in the casino and mixed martial arts industries. The brothers inherited a small casino business from their father and transformed it by creating Station Casinos, a company that pioneered the concept of high-end casinos targeted at Las Vegas locals, rather than tourists on the Strip. They took the company public, then private in a massive leveraged buyout, and then public again.
Their most famous and lucrative venture was their acquisition of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). In 2001, they bought the struggling, near-bankrupt mixed martial arts promotion for a mere $2 million. With their high school friend Dana White installed as president, they transformed the UFC from a controversial fringe sport into a global sports and entertainment behemoth. In 2016, they sold their majority stake in the UFC to an investment group led by Endeavor for a staggering $4 billion, one of the largest transactions in sports history. They have also founded their own private equity firm, Fertitta Capital.
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