Roy Speer

Roy Speer (June 23, 1932 - August 21, 2012) was the financial backing behind the Home Shopping Network. He was the first CEO of the company and saw its revenue from $1.9 million to over $1 billion annually. He is also an attorney and real estate developer and graduated from Stetson University College of Law.^[1]

Early life

Speer was born in Key West, Florida. the home of a U.S. Naval Base. He was raised in very simple surroundings by his Mother and Grandparents who were of Spanish descent. As a young boy, he earned money by selling newspapers and polishing the shoes of Navy personnel. From his roots in Key West, saltwater fishing and boating were his great personal enjoyments throughout his life. One of the crowning moments of his life occurred when he won the coveted Ernest Hemingway Billfish Tournament - The Masters - of Deep Sea Marlin Fishing.

Roy attended the Gordon Military Academy located on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia. He later joined the Army but suffered a severe ankle injury during paratrooper training. He received a medical discharge in 1953.

Under the G.I. Bill, Roy was able to obtain an undergraduate education from Southern Methodist University. He subsequently attended Stetson University College of Law where he received his Bachelor of Law Degree. He passed the Florida Bar exam later in the same year. He often said that no matter how many business failures or financial difficulties one might experience in life, there is one thing that can never be taken away - your education. Roy often encouraged people to further their education and often sponsored people when they took his advice and pursued a college degree.

Roy married his wife Lynnda on July 22, 1960 at Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Florida. They had two children, Richard and Lisa. Roy also had a son, Robert, from a previous marriage.

Career

Early in his legal career, Roy worked for the State of Florida in Tallahassee as a Special Assistant Attorney General. He also worked as Assistant Trial Staff Counsel for the U.S. Labor Relations Board. During this period, Roy developed a very close working relationship with A. Jay Cristol who is now Senior Federal Judge of the Southern Federal Bankruptcy Court. After leaving Tallahassee, he became a chief lobbyist for the City of St. Petersburg, specializing in water rights and laws. Later, Roy was appointed Assistant State Attorney for Pinellas County by Governor Haydon Burns. He then practiced law with John DeVito and Elizabeth Kovachevich, who is now a highly respected Senior Federal Judge.

Roy soon grew restless with the practice of law and decided to apply his legal background to the world of business. He often commented that his legal background provided the foundation to build his business career. Roy established his first of many business partnerships with Estlon and JoAnn Pippin, experienced single-family homebuilders in Pasco County. They formed Tahitian Homes, Inc. and proceeded to build homes in western Pasco County. Later, Roy expanded his real estate development activities into a large multi-corporation company called Lanbanque, Inc. In order to supply utilities to his ever-expanding real estate projects, Roy and the Pippins established Aloha Utilities, Inc. which was the largest private water and sewer utility in Pasco County. During a slow-down in the real estate business, Roy spent three years in Europe, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait formulating TACET (Technology and Capital Exchange Trust).

Although his real estate development activities provided financial resources, Roy was not content to operate solely within this environment. Given a fertile mind and boundless energy, he pursued other fields of interest: growing vegetables in Puerto Rico; owning a beautician school, restaurants, lounges, a marina, marine dredging, data processing services, multi-level marketing of vitamins and cosmetics, cement block manufacturing, country-western music publishing and recording studios, telecommunications companies, a high-end boutique shop, general insurance agency, internet connection and data center, a walk-in medical clinic, wholesale gasoline and diesel fuel distribution operation, a travel agency, home security monitoring, mail order medical and diabetic supply company, a Big & Tall men's clothing store, an AM radio station, a mobile medical screening company, a book publishing company, a warehouse fulfillment and distribution company, an advertising media consulting firm, television stations, mobile home parks, a 225 room hotel in Nassau, Bahamas, a 500,000 square foot commercial warehouse complex in Las Vegas, and a five-star 23 story resort hotel and residences on Ft. Lauderdale Beach.

In early 1980, Roy formed U.S. Hydrocarbons Drilling and Development, Inc., and oil and gas drilling exploration operation in southeastern Texas. Within a few years the world market price of oil decreased drastically causing the business to fail. There were numerous Texas banks supported by Roy's personal guarantee. The banks forced him into bankruptcy. Over the next four years Roy successfully emerged from bankruptcy with all unpaid claims fully satisfied.

Home Shopping Network

During this tumultuous and intense period of significant litigation when most other business men would have become extremely wary of risky speculations, Roy forged ahead. In 1982, he and Bud Paxson formed Home Shopping Network to sell merchandise on television using a local cable network. This developed as an offshoot of an AM radio program. This became an ideal platform for Roy to apply his years of legal and business expertise. The effort created a completely new industry - retail merchandising through television. When the local venture expanded dramatically, they acquired access on a satellite channel in 1985, enabling the company to sell merchandise throughout the United States from the Clearwater facility. On May 13, 1986, Home Shopping Network went public on the American Stock Exchange. Within five years, the company would achieve over one billion dollars in annual net sales, a testament to Roy's vision and leadership. The success of this venture was so impressive that the Harvard M.B.A. Program assigned its students to analyze and critique the company's success. Of all his ventures, his oil and gas drilling operations in Texas and the development of Home Shopping Network had the most significant impact on his business career.

With his financial success, Roy was able to benefit others through the establishment of the Roy M. Speer Foundation in 1986. Through this foundation, Roy has been able to provide support to charitable, religious, scientific, literary, and educational organizations. Some of these are the Dr. Parker Mahan Facial Pain Center at the University of Florida College of Dentistry, Pasco County YMCA Family Center, The Florida Orchestra, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Presidential Prayer Team, Hurricane Relief Fund, New Port Richey's Super Playground, Billy Graham Crusade, numerous local Christian churches, and many other benevolent projects.

In 1993, Speer was charged in a class-action suit that alleged he improperly accepted compensation from vendors; that the Company paid Nando DiFilippo, former executive vice-president, general counsel and secretary of the Company, to prevent him from disclosing such vendor bribes; and that the Company had failed to properly disclose certain related party transactions in its filings with the SEC.

Also, in 1993 another suit was brought against Speer alleging a breach of fiduciary duties owed to the Company and its stockholders by failure to exercise due care and diligence in the management and administration of the affairs of the Company. The suit challenged the validity of a license agreement with Richard Speer (Roy Speer's son) pursuant to which the Company was given the exclusive rights to certain software and alleges that the Company wrongfully made payments to Richard Speer pursuant to a computer services agreement which was allegedly terminated. The suit alleged that the Company wrongfully made payments to Richard Speer of $3,502,000, $3,286,000 and $3,084,000 during the Company's 1992, 1991 and 1990 fiscal years, respectively, pursuant to the agreement. Merchandise that is unsuitable for sale via the Company's programs or outlet stores was sold by Richard Speer, who received a commission of 15% on the amount realized upon disposition. Richard Speer received $1,469,000, $1,615,000 and $1,427,000 and through this arrangement during the Company's 1992, 1991 and 1990 fiscal years, respectively. The suit also alleged that this 15% commission was commercially unreasonable. The suit alleged that the above-described arrangements would not have been entered into by the Company with an unrelated third party and that Roy and Richard Speer owned undisclosed interests in unspecified firms which sell merchandise to the Company.

Speer settled all claims with the Plaintiffs before they ever went to trial.

References

• Source: HOME SHOPPING NETWORK INC Form:10-K Filing Date:3/29/1994
• http://sec.edgar-online.com/1994/03/29/00/0000950144-94-000739/Section4.asp