Tom Hicks: Billionaire, Entrepreneur, Texas Ranger Fan

When he's not out buying struggling companies, Tom Hicks enjoys hosting charity auctions where the highest bidder can dine with him at his $34 million home in Dallas, with the food being cooked by all-star professional chefs. But it's not easy being rich.

While it must be a blast to own the region's local baseball team, it must be stressful dividing attention between the Texas Rangers and the other teams ranging from rodeo to English football. Yet, owning these sports teams might be the least stressful part of his worries.

Having at your disposal billions of dollars and a record of good business decisions, at some point pride can get in the way of caution. A business of buying poorly performing companies and selling them for record profits is a good business indeed. However, when you're as successful as Tom Hicks, pride is your worst enemy. So in 1999, when he poured over a billion dollars into various internet companies, it must have been a very humbling period when he saw the potential simply bleed out. A billion dollar loss is nothing to laugh at, even for Tom Hicks.

After the incident, Tom Hicks' firm, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst had a difficult time with their investors. Just because you're worth over a billion dollars, doesn't mean anyone wants to trust their money to someone who might lose it all. Fortunately, Tom Hicks saw the error of his ways and was determined to go back to his basic principle of "buy low and sell high". And it's also important to only deal with recognized branded products. Often a well-known product simply needs a face-lift into the modern age when the old chairmen run out of ideas. This is what Hicks is renown for, revitalizing an old name.

Tom Hicks may have made some mistakes, but he still does his job well. Investors may be more cautious about lending large sums of money to a man who no longer hits a home run with every swing, but he's still a good bet.

But I have to wonder, does he ever take advantage of his position and gain entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame, go to the Texas Rangers display and relieve the moments that led up to the team's entry under his watch? If you had as much influence and money as Tom Hicks, why not?

http://www.guidelive.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/columnists/apeppard/stories/DN-peppard_0502gl.ART.State.Edition1.46da542.html, Alan Peppard, GuideLive.com

http://www.forbes.com/2001/04/23/0423faceshicks.html, Debra Lau, Forbes.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Hicks, Wikipedia entry