Pritzker is the chairman and chief executive of Hyatt Hotels, which was founded by his father, Jay. He owns shares in Hyatt as well as Royal Caribbean Cruises. Along with other family members, he also owns commercial real estate through Pritzker Realty Group and Vi Senior Living, a manager of retirement communities.
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The majority of Pritzker's wealth is derived from the proceeds and assets he received following the breakup of his family's hotel and diversified manufacturing empire. Beginning in 2001, the family underwent a decade-long restructuring program to dispose of most of the assets accumulated by third-generation brothers Jay, Robert and Donald.
The family sold the TransUnion consumer credit-reporting service, The Marmon Group, Conwood chewing tobacco and several other real estate holdings, resulting in total calculated pre-tax proceeds of $20.1 billion, according to separate company announcements about the sales. That amount was distributed to Thomas and 10 other cousins in the third and fourth generation of the family.
Pritzker retained a stake in certain family holdings including shares of Hyatt Hotels in which he owns a 21.3%, according to its 2019 proxy.
His stake in assisted living developer, Vi Senior Living, is valued using data on average value-per-unit for senior housing properties on the west coast of the U.S., according to 12 months of transaction data collected by Bloomberg Intelligence. The value of his share in the family's Pritzker Realty Group is based on the group's stated value in 2010, less the value of disclosed divestments and adjusted in accordance with the Moody's/RCA U.S. Commercial Property Price Index's performance.
The grandson of family patriarch Abram Nicholas "A.N.", Thomas J Pritzker was born in Chicago in 1951 to A.N.'s oldest son Jay. He was raised in his home town and studied at the University of Chicago where he received both a masters degree in business and a law degree in 1976.
During his career he has been involved with building businesses in various industries such as container leasing, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and hospitality. He's chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Pritzker Organization, the family's closely-held investment firm, as well as chairman and CEO of Hyatt Hotels.
Over the span of a decade beginning in 2001, Pritzker led a massive restructuring of the family's jointly-held holdings. The process, which involved keeping some assets, selling others and listing shares of Hyatt on the New York Exchange, was initiated after a group of fourth-generation cousins accused other family members of paying themselves too much to run the family enterprises, moving assets to their own trust funds and failing to disclose those actions. Rather than go to court, the family decide to restructure their assets.
The billionaire lives in Chicago with his wife, U.K.-born Margot, who became a U.S. citizen in 1994. They have three sons and one grandson.