Halsey Minor

Halsey McLean Minor[1] (born 1964 in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA) is a technology entrepreneur who founded CNET in 1993 (initial plans for the company began in 1992). Minor ran CNET for 8 years during which time it became one of the Internet's first companies to achieve profitability. From 1999 to 2001, CNET was a member of the NASDAQ-100 index. CNET was purchased by CBS for $1.7 billion in 2008 and is now CBS Interactive. Minor also developed 2 other spin-off companies which independent of CNET became public entities: Vignette Software and Snap/NBCi. Minor is currently investing in new companies in a broad range of fields via Minor Ventures. One such example is the service Google Voice, which was developed by Minor Ventures and then sold to Google.

Minor co-founded and was the largest financial investor and second largest shareholder in salesforce.com, one of the most successful technology companies of the decade and a pioneer in "cloud computing". Starting in 2000, Salesforce.com had achieved a market capitalization in excess of $15 billion.

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Education

Minor attended Woodberry Forest School and the University of Virginia, where he was a member of St. Elmo Hall and received a degree in anthropology. After graduation, he worked at Merrill Lynch, before moving on to start his own company. In the late 1980s, he collaborated briefly with Jeff Bezos, the future founder of Amazon.com on a personalized news business plan.

Business projects

On September 4, 2007, Minor announced the development of a new 5-star hotel located in historic downtown Charlottesville called the Landmark. The planned 10-story hotel would be part of Minor Family Hotels, a series of 5 star boutique hotels located in historical districts around the world. By early 2009, however, construction on the hotel had stopped as a result of financial problems involving the project developer and the bankruptcy and FDIC receivership of the construction lender. Minor alleges the FDIC's failure to act on the note for 2 years while costing taxpayers $11 million in legal fees.[2]

On December 19, 2007 the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation announced that Halsey purchased the historic Carter's Grove plantation on 400 acres (1.6 km2) on the James River for $15.3 million and that he "plans to use the mansion as a private residence and use the site as a center for a thoroughbred horse-breeding program."[3] The plan is to preserve the historic home and give it a use in keeping with its time, when Tidewater Virginia was the capital of horse racing in America.

As of July 2008, Minor made known his interest in acquiring Hialeah Park Race Track, which opened in 1925. He stated that he wished to buy Hialeah Park and restore it to its original state and begin the process of restoring the popularity of thoroughbred racing. Minor had been discussions with John Brunetti, the owner of Hialeah Park, however they never were able to agree on a price.[4] Minor then challenged Brunetti's ownership in Hialeah in Florida Federal court with a trial expected before the end of 2011. In October 2010 Minor bid for 5 tracks belonging to the MI Developments including Santa Anita, Golden Gate Fields, Laurel Park Racecourse, Pimlico and Portland Meadows.

Legal complications

Minor was engaged in lawsuits beginning in 2007 with both Christie's and Sotheby's.

On May 22, 2008, Minor was the winning bidder in a Sotheby's auction of Edward Hicks' The Peaceable Kingdom, with a hammer price of $9.6 million, a record for the artist. Minor also won two other paintings, Diamond Dust Shoes by Andy Warhol and Paris, Winter Days by Childe Hassam. The Peaceable Kingdom had been on loan to the American Folk Art Museum from 2000 until 2008. The painting was owned by Ralph O. Esmerian, who took it back to pay his debts to Sotheby's, Christie's, and Merrill Lynch.

In September 2008 Minor was sued for failure to pay for these paintings while allegedly waiting for Sotheby's to provide the promised documents that showed their actions had not violated New York law.[5] In October, Minor countersued, contending the Sotheby's had had an interest in The Peaceable Kingdom that they did not disclose. Minor sought to have his countersuit designated as a class action October 1, 2008, in Northern District California but this claim was dismissed.[6]

The outcome of this complex litigation has been both favorable and unfavorable to Minor.

On March 30, 2010, Sotheby's won on all counts, and Minor was ordered to pay them nearly $4.4 million, plus interest, late charges and legal fees.[7] That amount represents the perceived drop in the resale value of Mr. Minor's artworks during the five months that Christie's kept the pieces鈥攁 lag that took place between late May and early November 2008 as the art market spiraled into recession.[8] This case is currently under appeal.

On the other hand, a May 21, 2010 jury verdict found for Minor in U.S. District Court. Judge William Alsup ordered Christie's to pay $8.57 million in damages to Mr. Minor.[9] Christie's was found guilty of fraud, theft and failure to honor a contract by a 10 person jury in federal court. Christie's then faced another $1.14 billion in outstanding litigation, the most threatening from billionaire Bill Koch. On March 18, 2011, this suit was settled in Christie's favor.[10]

Three days later, however, on May 24, 2010, Manhattan federal Judge Barbara Jones ordered Minor to pay the $6.6 million-plus he owed Sotheby's (see March 30, 2010 award cited above) for reneging on his winning bids for three paintings. Minor satisfied the judgment and appealed in June 2010.[11]

Tax liability

According to the state of California, Halsey and his Wife Shannon are listed as #1 on the Top 250 Delinquent Taxpayers [12] with unpaid taxes estimated at $14,247,341.09.

Lawsuits and countersuits

In addition to the suits cited above with the Landmark Hotel in Charlottesville, Minor now has actions against John Burnetti in Florida, Merrill Lynch in California and an appeal of Sotheby's non-trial verdict in New York Federal court. Merrill Lynch is being sued under the Rosenthal Act which defines the rights of debtors to be protected from abusive treatment by financial institutions.

Minor v. Merrill, filed March 10, 2009, State Superior Court, Los Angeles. Merrill filed a demurrer October 7, 2009; a hearing was set for November 25, 2009.[13]

Philanthropy

Minor has dedicated time and money to community efforts in Charlottesville, Va, Los Angeles, CA, and San Francisco, CA. Minor's largest initiative is the development of a global curriculum for separated parents, and children of separated parents, to better deal with the acute stresses brought about by parental separation. Over the last 4 years, Kids Turn has developed a low-cost curriculum that can be integrated across the globe to help municipalities without the resources to develop, test and improve such programs on their own. The new curriculum launches for the first time in 2010.[14]

References

  1. ^ http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2008/11/27/COVER-amalg.aspx
  2. ^ ref needed
  3. ^ Carter's Grove mansion sells for $15.3 million | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com
  4. ^ http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/49738/hialeah-okd-for-quarter-horse-racing
  5. ^ "Sotheby's Sues Buyer of Peaceable Kingdom", antiquesandthearts.com, 2008-09-09.
  6. ^ "Lawsuits Galore: Minor v. Danielson", readthehook.com, 2009-11-19.
  7. ^ "CNet Founder Owes Sotheby's $4.4M For Paintings", Hilary Russ, Law360.com
  8. ^ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704226004575262392116440742.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
  9. ^ http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/judge-awards-8-57-million-in-suit-against-christies/
  10. ^ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-18/christie-s-wins-dismissal-of-koch-s-counterfeit-wine-suit.html
  11. ^ http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/net_tycoon_minor_told_to_pay_to_wOR95UUWrD6UORgmzruVnO
  12. ^ http://www.ftb.ca.gov/individuals/txdlnqnt.shtml
  13. ^ http://www.readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2009/11/19/lawsuits-galore-minor-v-danielson-hearing-friday/
  14. ^ http://www.kidsturn.org

External links