Robert F.X. Sillerman, SFX Entertainment Founder And Former Station Owner, Dead At 71

Sillerman

ROBERT F.X. SILLERMAN, the founder of SFX ENTERTAINMENT and a former radio and TV station owner, died SUNDAY (11/24) of a respiratory illness at 71.

SILLERMAN and "COUSIN BRUCIE" MORROW partnered to buy several radio stations as SILLERMAN-MORROW BROADCASTING starting in 1978, ultimately acquiring stations in the CATSKILLS; HUDSON VALLEY; MASSACHUSETTS; DOVER, NJ; and WPLR/NEW HAVEN, as well as independent WATL-TV/ATLANTA. He then partnered with CARL HIRSCH to buy several major market stations as LEGACY BROADCASTING, selling the group to WESTINGHOUSE in 1989 for $727 million.

That year, SILLERMAN founded CAPSTAR and COMMAND COMMUNICATIONS to buy more stations, merging them as SFX BROADCASTING and amassing 71 stations before selling the stations for $2.1 billion in 1998 to HICKS, MUSE, TATE & FURST INC. In the deal, SILLERMAN held onto the concert promotions businesses he had also acquired (including BILL GRAHAM PRESENTS, DELSENER/SLATER, PACE CONCERTS, and CELLAR DOOR CONCERTS), renaming the business SFX ENTERTAINMENT; he sold that company to CLEAR CHANNEL in 2000 for $4.4 billion (it later became LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT).

SILLERMAN later created CKX, INC., which bought 19 ENTERTAINMENT and marketing rights to GRACELAND. That company was sold in 2011. SFX ENTERTAINMENT was revived as an EDM promotion company in 2012 but later filed for bankruptcy in 2016 and was rebranded as LIVESTYLE. The SEC fined SILLERMAN $179,000 earlier this year for misrepresentation of his company FUNCTION(X)'s finances and diverting funds to his personal account.

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