The Billionaire You’ve Never Heard Of: How Philip Anschutz Quietly Built a $10 Billion Empire

5 min read

Here’s the thing about billionaires: most of them like the spotlight. They want the fame, the headlines, the big Twitter followings. Not Philip Anschutz. While people are busy talking about Elon, Bezos, or Zuck, Anschutz has been quietly running a $10 billion empire out of the shadows. And what’s wild? He might be the most interesting billionaire of them all.

But before he was buying sports teams and running concert venues, Philip Anschutz was just another guy trying to make it big.

The Beginning: A Gamble in the Oil Fields

Anschutz didn’t start with a silver spoon. His father, Fred Anschutz, was an oil wildcatter—a guy who rolled the dice drilling for oil in unexplored territories. Philip grew up watching his dad swing for the fences, sometimes hitting oil and sometimes hitting nothing but debt. It was from his dad that Philip learned two important lessons: how to spot opportunities where others see risk and how to stomach the ups and downs.

In the early 1960s, Anschutz decided to follow in his father’s footsteps. After graduating from the University of Kansas, he started drilling for oil in Wyoming. But here's where things get interesting: Anschutz didn’t just play it safe. He made one massive, all-in bet.

In 1968, he bought 10,000 acres of land in the middle of nowhere, Wyoming. Why? He suspected there was oil beneath it. And guess what? He was right. That land produced one of the biggest oil strikes in Wyoming history, catapulting Anschutz into millionaire status before he even turned 30. But the crazy part? Right before the oil hit, his drilling rig caught fire. Instead of backing off, Anschutz insured the rig for $100,000 and sold the footage of the fire to Universal Pictures for a Hollywood movie.

Diversifying Like a Pro

That oil money gave Anschutz the capital to expand. First, he moved into real estate, buying up massive chunks of land across the western U.S. He didn’t just buy random plots; he had a knack for picking land that would appreciate, like a 250,000-acre ranch in Colorado, or prime real estate in downtown LA.

Then, he made another genius move. While most investors were chasing quick wins, Anschutz played the long game, especially in industries people thought were risky or flat-out dead. Railroads, for instance, were a thing of the past by the 1980s, right? Wrong. Anschutz bought the Southern Pacific Railroad for dirt cheap, merged it with Union Pacific, and flipped his stake for billions.

The Man Behind the Curtain: How Anschutz Shaped Sports, Entertainment, and Media

By the 1990s, Anschutz was sitting on piles of cash. But instead of just coasting, he took his empire in a new direction, one nobody saw coming: live entertainment and sports.

He went all-in on this vision, buying up the Los Angeles Kings hockey team and a stake in the Lakers. But that was just the appetizer. Anschutz started the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), which now owns or operates over 100 sports teams, arenas, and entertainment venues worldwide, including Coachella and the Staples Center.

Then there’s soccer. When MLS was on the verge of collapsing, Anschutz stepped in and bought multiple teams, single-handedly keeping the league alive. Fast forward to today, soccer is booming in the U.S., and Anschutz owns the LA Galaxy, one of the league’s most valuable teams.

His empire didn’t stop at sports and entertainment. Anschutz also dipped his toes into media, founding The Washington Examiner and The Weekly Standard, using these platforms to push conservative political agendas. But true to his style, you won’t see him spouting opinions on Twitter. He’s always working in the background.

So, What’s His Secret?

Anschutz didn’t build this empire by accident. His strategy is simple: stay quiet, stay focused, and make smart bets.

While most billionaires chase the spotlight, Anschutz goes for undervalued, overlooked assets. He buys them, holds them, and watches them appreciate. Whether it’s oil fields, railroads, soccer teams, or concert venues, Anschutz finds value where others don’t. He’s not looking for overnight success; he’s playing a game of decades.

Even now, at 84 years old, Anschutz is still at it, running deals out of his Denver office. No flash, no big media appearances, just quietly moving chess pieces on a global board.

Lessons from Anschutz’s Playbook

If you want to learn something from Philip Anschutz, here it is: don’t chase trends. Chase opportunity. Find the value in places others overlook. And when you make a move, commit.

Anschutz didn’t just stumble into a $10 billion empire. He built it with calculated risk, a long-term mindset, and the ability to stay under the radar.