Jim Crane Net Worth: James Robert Crane, a businessman from Houston, Texas, was born on January 17, 1954. Crane oversees Crane Capital Group, Crane Worldwide Logistics, & Crane Freight and Shipping as chairman and CEO. Additionally, he is the owner and chairman of the Major League Baseball team Houston Astros, which has won two World Series victories under his ownership (2017, 2022).
Jim Crane Net Worth
Jim Crane is an American businessman with a $2.5 billion fortune. In the logistics sector, he made his first significant wealth. As the owner of the Houston Astros baseball team, he later amassed a second fortune.
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Jim Crane Early Life
Jim Crane, also known as James Robert Crane, was born in Dellwood, Missouri, and later earned an industrial safety degree from Central Missouri State University. He started working in the insurance industry as soon as he graduated from college. In order to advance his profession, he moved to Houston, Texas in the early 1980s.
He started Eagle USA Airfreight in 1984 with a $10,000 loan from his sister, which would later become Eagle Global Logistics. Eagle Global went public in 1995, and at its height, it employed more than 100,000 people and generated annual revenues in the hundreds of millions. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charged Eagle with discriminating against black, Hispanic, and female employees in the years following its public disclosure. According to the EEOC, Crane refused to hire black workers because he thought his existing racist employees would treat them unfairly.
A $9 million settlement was reached in 2001 to end the problems.
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Eagle settled claims of fraud, price-fixing, profiteering, and paying bribes relating to the Iraq war in 2006 by paying the US Government a $4 million settlement. The business is accused of defrauding the government out of over $1 million in fictitious “war risk fees.”
2007 saw the merger of CEVA Logistics and EGL. Crane held 17.6% of the company’s shares at the time of the merger. He started Crane Capital Group after getting a windfall in the several hundred million dollar range.
In addition to controlling CCG, he is a shareholder in Western Gas Holdings and Crane Worldwide Logistics, LLC, as well as a director of Champion Energy Holdings, LLC and Fort Dearborn Life Insurance Company. He also owns The Floridian National Golf Club and is the top-ranked CEO golfer in the country. Jim Crane was named the best CEO golfer by Golf Digest.
Has He Bought Houston Astros?
The Houston Astros of MLB were bought by Jim Crane for $680 million in late 2011. It was the second-highest sum ever spent for a baseball team at the time. Some MLB team owners have doubts about Crane becoming an owner. One example is that in 2008 he withdrew from a bid to purchase the Astros.
He attracted attention for his prior financial practises as well. Allegations of prejudice, sexual discrimination, price manipulation, and cheating the US government to benefit from the Iraq War have been made against his former company. In the end, the 2011 Astros transaction was successful. For agreeing to relocate the team from the National to the American league, he supposedly received a 10% discount.
The team’s value now has tripled to $1.8 billion. The Houston Astros won the World Series on November 1, 2017. the first in the history of the organisation. They defeated the Dodgers in game 7 in Los Angeles. The Astros stole signage during their 2017 championship season, it was later discovered. Before pitches were delivered, players reportedly gave hitters pitch information by knocking on a garbage can from the dugout. Crane always denied being aware of and taking part in the operation.
Home in Pebble Beach: Jim Crane put his stunning Pebble Beach mansion for sale in 2017 for $37,9 million. He first reduced the cost to $29 million, then to $25 million. In the end, he was unable to locate a buyer (as of this writing). At the time, he paid $5.5 million for the home.
