Morgans Hotel Group
Morgans Hotel Group (NASDAQ: $MHG) was a global, publicly-traded hotel company founded by Ian Schrager, inventors of the boutique hotel category with the 1984 opening of Morgans Hotel in New York City. MHG was listed on the NASDAQ exchange for over a decade. History. 1984-2006: Ian Schrager's Morgans Hotel: World's first boutique hotel. In 1984, Studio 54 cofounder, Ian Schrager and his business partner Rubell opened their first hotel, Morgans Hotel, named after John Pierpont (JP) Morgan's Morgan Library & Museum next-door. Designed by Andrée Putman, the instant hit introduced the  boutique hotel category, becoming a "worldwide phenomenon." It has triple-arched entrances that remain today. Royalton Hotel & Paramount Hotel: Lobby socializing. Following the success of Morgans Hotel, they opened the well-received Royalton Hotel and Paramount Hotel, both designed by Philippe Starck. With these properties, Schrager introduced "lobby socializing" where the hotel lobby became a new kind of gathering place for hotel guests and New York City residents alike, and "cheap chic" was affordable luxury offered in a stylish, sophisticated environment. Delano Hotel & Mondrian Hotel: Urban resort. Schrager is also credited with inventing the "urban resort" with his Delano Hotel  in Miami and Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood, also designed by Starck. Hudson Hotel et. al: Hotel as lifestyle. These were followed by the Hudson Hotel in New York, where he fully realized his concept "hotel as lifestyle" which he continued to refine, expanding to cities such as San Francisco with the Clift Hotel and London with St. Martins Lane Hotel and the Sanderson Hotel, all designed by the prolific Starck. NASDAQ: $MHG IPO. In June 2005, Schrager sold most of his stake in Morgans Hotel Group to launch the Ian Schrager Company. Despite stepping down as Chair and  CEO, he retained $4 million in consultant pay and perks through end of 2007. On Valentine's Day 2006, $MHG IPO'ed in a $360 million-target raise underwritten by Morgan Stanley, with Schrager cashing in his remaining 450,000 shares for another $9 million. Lance Armstrong served as a Board Member at IPO, and Morgans Hotel Group was a publicly traded company on NASDAQ for over a decade. 2013: Ron Burkle vs. Alfred Taubman/Sothebys heir proxy war. In 2013, there was the end of lawsuit regarding a proxy war for Morgans control between two billionaire interests : It had no permanent CEO to lead the company since 2013. 2016-2017: Sam Nazarian's SBE Entertainment Group M&A. After years-long battle and board-rejected offers to buy MHG, Burkle partnered with Sam Nazarian's SBE Entertainment Group, who agreed to acquire MHG for $805 million, in a take-private transaction completed November 30, 2016. Burkle converted his Morgans existing equity stake into a SBE ownership stake with a board seat. SBE also received investment from Cain international, a global real estate investment company headed by Todd Boehly and Jonathan Goldstein. Nazarian retained majority ownership of SBE , remaining its Founder & CEO leading day-to-day operations. The son of Qualcomm board member and stakeholder Younes Nazarian (via M&A), Nazarian and SBE are better known as owners of LA lounges frequented by celebrity patronage and HBO's "Entourage", appearing as himself in the "No Cannes Do" episode. The merged company owned or operated over 20 hotels, including six properties under SBE's flagship SLS brand. 2017-2018 closure: No. 237 (PE luxury condo conversion). In July 2017, the building was purchased as private equity by Shel Capital and Kash Group, who closed Morgans Hotel and converted it to  luxury condos in 2018, named No. 237. Portfolio. As an independent company before M&A, MHG owned and managed 14 hotels in Doha, London, Istanbul, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, San Francisco comprising over 3,000 rooms. Each of its hotels was designed by a world−renowned designer: New York South Beach Los Angeles Las Vegas San Francisco London Doha Istanbul