Talking Rubbish — H. Wayne Huizenga
Hard work and humble beginnings ...
At the age of 22, Wayne Huizenga (pronounced “hi- zen - ga”) found himself unsure of his future. He had varied employment experience in mostly low-wage jobs. He had little formal education beyond high school. His own family had emigrated from Holland to America. Despite meagre academic success, among his many awards for achievement in business is Yale University’s Gordon Grand Fellow Award, the highest non-academic award bestowed by the school. What changed his life was beginning a door-to-door selling job peddling rubbish collection services. It would transform his life and ultimately lead to a milestone in the world of commerce through entrepreneurship.
H. Wayne Huizenga is the only person to have started three Fortune 500 companies. He is the only person in America to be responsible for six companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He created Waste Management, Inc., the global leader in the refuse industry, as well as the third largest U.S. rubbish disposal company, Republic Services. Additionally, he was the CEO of Blockbuster Entertainment, the global leader in video entertainment; and the founder of AutoNation, Inc., the country’s first and world’s largest public automotive dealership. He was also founder of Boca Resorts, Inc., an owner and operator of luxury resort hotels, and co-founder of Extended Stay America, which operated in the lodging industry in many areas around the United States.
Mr. Huizenga’s numerous entrepreneurial achievements were recognized by the Horatio Alger Association, which has honoured such luminaries as Henry Kissinger and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Business and academic groups have honored him seven times as “Entrepreneur of the Year.” In 2004 he received the Ernst & Young United States Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and in 2005 he was named Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year.
The rise from garbage man to billionaire is testimony of the transformative power and vast universe of opportunity through business entrepreneurship. The garbage company that he founded, which became a corporate giant and staked him his first fortune was Waste Management, Inc. Wayne began the company driving the truck himself alongside brother-in-law Whit Hudson. The two would rotate driving and bucket dumping duties at the business end of the truck during a workday that began as early as 4:00 AM. By 9:00 AM when the day’s pick-up duties were finished, Wayne would change into a suit and tie and call on businesses to acquire new accounts.
From an austere beginning where he convinced an established trash company’s owner to sell him a used truck and $500 worth of established customers’ accounts, the young entrepreneur parlayed this stake into a booming concern. With the help of a $5,000 (€3,965) loan from his father-in-law and his father as his partners, Huizenga launched half a dozen garbage-collection companies. What made him unique in trash business circles was his successful efforts to acquire other trash haulers in consolidation of what had been a fragmented industry comprised of many small firms. He got other companies to sell out and to join his company by paying them for their business with shares of stock in his growing concern. This approach of paying with stock rather than borrowed cash led to a publicly traded company where Huizenga maintained key management personnel. It eventually became an industry leader due in no small part to Huiznega’s work ethic and shrewd business sense.
Huizenga decided to leave Waste Management Incorporated (WMI) in 1984 to settle full-time in Florida. But the entrepreneur spirit left him restless. He began acquiring small, service-oriented companies, which led to a visit to a new video rental store that a friend recommended because he was impressed with the operation. It was Blockbuster Video. Huizenga was also impressed by the establishment's bright, family atmosphere, and after crunching numbers, bought into the company and was soon its chairman. The key to success and meteoric growth was that Wayne brought the same management team and family insiders with him that had built WMI. They pursued a methodical policy of buying out competitors and establishing category-killer stores. At a time when video rental operations were chiefly small, poorly capitalized, local operations, Blockbuster stores were large and maintained impressive stock depth in every title for rent. He targeted an industry dominated by mom-and-dad, family operations, and eliminated the competition by purchasing them or pricing them out of business. This allowed him to raise fees for rentals based upon guaranteed availability of movie titles. Huizenga eventually sold his interest in Blockbuster Entertainment to cable TV giant Viacom for a whopping $8.4 billion dollars (€6.6 billion) in 1994.
Subsequent business ventures led to ownership of several car rental firms and ultimately founding AutoNation, Inc., which became the world’s largest car dealership.
H. Wayne Huizenga became the master of business consolidation to achieve operating efficiencies and industry dominance. He not only achieved great personal wealth but also revolutionized the industries that he chose to make his playing field. In the end, the prevailing law of American aristocracy can sum his life: Make enough money and people quit asking how. Regarding business success, he says: Money is how you keep score!
Source: Jack.Pinkowski@dublincity.ie
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