Marvin Davis Net Worth

What is Marvin Davis's Net Worth?

Marvin Davis was an American industrialist who had a net worth of $6 billion at the time of his death in 2004. Marvin Davis made his fortune as the chair of his father's company Davis Oil, a leading independent oil and gas producer in the United States.

In 1981, Marvin liquidated most of his oil holdings for $600 million. That's the same as roughly $2.2 billion in today's dollars. Later that same year, he and a partner bought movie studio 20th Century Fox for $725 million. Just four years later, he sold the studio to Rupert Murdoch. The sale earned Marvin personally a $300 million profit. Around this time, he began to acquire real estate assets such as the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Aspen Skiing Company, and the Pebble Beach Corporation, which owns the Pebble Beach Golf Links. He sold his shares in Pebble Beach in 1990 for $841 million.

Early Life and Education

Marvin Davis was born on August 31, 1925 in Newark, New Jersey to Jewish parents Jean and Jack. His father was a successful fashion buyer and entrepreneur who later co-founded the Davis Oil Company. Marvin Davis had one sibling, a younger sister named Joan. For his higher education, he went to New York University, from which he graduated in 1947 with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering.

Davis Petroleum

After graduating from NYU, Davis joined his father's oil business, which drilled in the American West. Starting in the 1960s, it became a leading independent oil and gas producer in the country, and owned a 150-mile pipeline in Wyoming. Davis became the chair of the company, and developed it substantially over the years. He also generated controversy during his tenure, as he was sued by business partners for allegedly inflating the results of his oil wells. In 1981, after he sold the majority of his oil holdings to the Canadian company Hiram Walker-Consumers Home for $600 million – the equivalent of $2.2 billion in today's dollars.

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Other Companies and Properties

During his tenure at Davis Oil, Davis became a major real estate developer in Denver, Colorado, where he owned a shopping center and an office complex. His biggest acquisition outside of the oil industry was the media conglomerate 20th Century Fox, which he purchased for $722 million in 1981. Davis's assets under the company included the Aspen Skiing Company, Pebble Beach Golf Links, and Fox Plaza in Century City. In 1984, Davis sold his interest in 20th Century Fox to Rupert Murdoch for $250 million; Murdoch later bought out his remaining stake for $325 million. Davis went on to purchase the Beverly Hills Hotel for $135 million in 1986, outbidding Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah. He later sold the property to Bolkiah at a $65 million profit. Later in his life, Davis attempted unsuccessful takeovers of various companies, including US Airways, Northwest Airlines, NBC, and CBS. He also tried and failed a takeover of the NFL's Denver Broncos.

Philanthropy

On the philanthropic side of things, Davis frequently donated to medical research. A building at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles is named after him, and with his wife, he founded the Children's Diabetes Foundation. The Foundation hosts the biannual Carousel of Hope, which raises money to research juvenile diabetes, which his daughter Dana had.

Personal Life and Death

In 1951, Davis married Barbara Levine. They had five children together: Dana, Gregg, Patricia, John, and Nancy. Dana became a diabetes activist; Gregg the president of Davis Petroleum; John a film producer; and Nancy an advocate for Multiple Sclerosis research. Nancy's two children, Brandon and Jason Davis, would later become notable gossip subjects. Unfortunately, Jason died in February 2020 at the age of 35.

In 1984, the Davises purchased a 45,000-square-foot mansion called "The Knoll" in Beverly Hills from singer-songwriter Kenny Rogers. Later, in 1993, masked gunmen robbed them of around $10 million in jewels and $50,000 in cash while they were vacationing in France.

Davis suffered from several serious health issues during the last decade of his life, including diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and sepsis. On September 25, 2004, he passed away at the age of 79 at his home in Beverly Hills. Davis's death was followed by major family disputes over his estate; his daughter Patricia sued her mother, siblings, and multiple family advisers for allegedly stealing her trust fund, while daughter Nancy took her brother Gregg to court over the sale of Davis Petroleum in 2006.

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