Business Blog: Hoover’s Business Insight Zone

I never watched his talk show, but growing up I spent far too many hours parked in front of game shows that Merv Griffin invented. A quick read of his New York Times obituary — he died on Sunday, in case you hadn’t heard — reveals the number of businesses he started and sold. A sampler of the companies he touched:

• Coca-Cola, which bought Merv Griffin Enterprises for $250 million in 1986.
• Sun International (now Kerzner International), which bought most of Griffin’s casino interests in 1993.
• The Beverly Hilton hotel, which he refurbished and sold in 2003.

The upshot of all this was enormous influence over modern television and a huge personal fortune. Although Griffin claimed not to know his exact net worth, it has been estimated above $1 billion. He built it out of a restless mind — one innovation after another — and by making shrewd deals. Among many others smart moves, Griffin retained the rights to the Jeopardy! song (which he wrote) even after he sold the television show (which he invented); he estimated that royalties from the song alone brought him more than $70 million.