Planned IPO Of Levi Strauss & Co. Will Mint New Denim Billionaire
ByAmy Lamareon March 6, 2019inArticles›Billionaire News
It is hard to believe, but Levi Strauss & Co, one of the most venerable brands in the United States, has been around since its founding in San Francisco in 1853. It is still a private company that is controlled by the Haas family – descendants of founder Levi Strauss. The company recently filed the paperwork with the SEC to make its IPO. Six members of the Haas family own a combined 63% of Levi’s, according to the SEC filing. Mimi Haas, the widow of Peter Haas Sr., the great grandnephew of Levi Strauss, is the largest individual shareholder. Her 17% stake is worth at least $1 billion, making her another billionaire with a fortune made in the business of denim. Renzo Rosso of Diesel Jeans owes his $3 billion net worth to denim as well.
In 2018, Levi Strauss had revenues of $5.6 billion, which was a 14% increase from the previous year. Based on that revenue, valuation of the company is roughly $6.4 billion. The six members of the Haas family’s stakes are cumulatively worth about $4 billion.
Back in 2015, 44% of Levi Strauss was owned by more than 200 people – most of whom were relatives of Levi Strauss. It is assumed that many of these shareholders would prefer to have their wealth in public stock so that it is easier to cash out. Levi Strauss has not released a statement on why the company is going public now, 165 years after its founding.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Levi Strauss’ filing set an amount of $100 million that it would like to raise during the initial public offering. However, a November report from CNBC claimed to have information from sources close to the company, said that Levi’s is hoping to raise between $600 million to $800 million at a $5 billion valuation. The company is expected to make its IPO during the first quarter of 2019.
Levi Strauss, moved to the United States from Bavaria at age 18 with his mother and two sisters. They were joining his brothers Jonas and Louis, who had immigrated to New York City and started a wholesale dry goods business called J. Strauss Brother & Co. He eventually made his way to San Francisco, where, in 1853, he started the west coast branch of the family dry goods business servicing the miners working the California Gold Rush.
By 1873, Strauss had created the first pair of denim overalls, which were embraced by the miners as the fabric stood up well to the strain of gold mining. The company created their first pair of Levi’s 501 Jeans in the 1890s. Soon, those denim blue jeans became the company’s signature product and 165 years later, Levis are sold in more than 50,000 stores around the world. The iconic red label on the back pocket have become a symbol that is unmistakably American.
Levi Strauss did not have any children of his own. When he died in 1901, he left the business to his four nephews and since then it has been passed down and down and down over the generations At the time of his death, Levi Strauss had a net worth of $125 million, which is comparable to about $3.5 billion today. After World War II, Peter Haas Sr. and Walter Haas Sr. took over the family business. They are largely credited with turning it into an international brand.
Mimi Haas, Peter Haas Jr., his sister Margaret Haas, and their cousin Robert Haas own nearly 40% of Levi Strauss. Other relatives own a collective 12% of the company. The charitable foundation the Peter E. Haas Jr. Family Fund owns 7.7%. The company’s CEO Chip Bergh has the option to acquire 2.4% of the company’s stock.
If it seems weird that the company is just going public now, more than a century and a half after its founding, rest assured that it isn’t the first time. Levi’s went public in 1971, but the Haas family took it private again in 1985. It is a good time for the denim company to go public. The athleisure trend is slowing down and denim is picking up again. Sales of denim jeans grew 5% in the year ending July 2018 compared to the same time period the previous year. The U.S. jean market is currently a $16.4 billion business.
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ByBrian Warneron November 13, 2024inArticles›Billionaire News
Last week, a philanthropist named Daniel Lurie was elected to serve as the next mayor of San Francisco. Why are we talking about this on CelebrityNetWorth? Good question!
(Photo by Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Necessity Gives Birth
Daniel Lurie was born on February 4, 1977, in San Francisco. His father, Brian Lurie, is a rabbi. His mother Miriam Lurie (née Ruchwarger), goes by “Mimi.” Unfortunately, Brian and Mimi divorced when Daniel was just two years old. When he was four, Mimi remarried. Daniel’s new stepfather was a guy named Peter E. Haas.
Peter Haas was born in 1918, the son of Walter A. Haas and Elise Haas (née Stern). Walter’s father was a German immigrant who founded a grocery store called Hellman, Haas, and Company. Today, that grocery store is called Smart & Final. But this is not the invention/fortune we’re talking about today.
Peter’s mother, Elise, was the daughter of Sigmund Stern. Sigmund was the son of David and Fanny Stern (née Strauss). In the 1840s, Fanny and David operated a modest clothing and merchandise import company in San Francisco.
In the late 1840s, gold was discovered in Northern California. What we now call the “Gold Rush of 1849” inspired an estimated 300,000 people from all over the world to flock to California to seek their own gold fortunes. Miners became known as “49ers.” They toiled tirelessly for years in grueling conditions.
At the time, most work pants used by the average 49er were made out of canvas. Canvas could rip to shreds after a few days of mining so most 49ers took to laboring in their skivvies because their pants were so bad.
As the gold rush boomed, Fanny Stern’s brother moved out to San Francisco to work in the family business. He was intrigued by the obvious flaw created by canvas pants, so he got to work seeking a better alternative.
This budding entrepreneur’s goal was to create a pair of pants made of extremely durable fabric. Fabric that wouldn’t rip even under the most grueling gold mining conditions. The fabric he landed on was denim.
To make the pants extra reinforced, he added one more innovation: Circular metal rivets at various stress points, like the pocket corners.
The design was patented in 1873.
If you’ll recall from a moment ago, Fanny Stern was born Fanny Strauss. Fanny’s brother was named Levi. His patented invention was Levi Strauss denim jeans.
Levi Strauss
When Levi died on September 26, 1902, at the age of 73, he left behind an estate valued at $30 million . That’s the same as around $900 million in today’s dollars. He was never married and had no kids. He left the majority of his wealth to various charities and orphanages.
He left his company, plus $6 million in working capital, to his four nephews. One of those nephews was Sigmund Stern. In 1914, Sigmond’s daughter Elise married Walter A. Haas. For the next 100+ years, members of the Haas family have controlled and been enriched by Levi Strauss’s invention.
Walter A. Haas had three children. A daughter named Rhoda and two sons, Walter Jr. and Peter E. Haas . In 1981, Peter married a recently divorced single mom named Mimi Lurie. Peter died in 2005 at the age of 86. He left his entire fortune to Mimi.
The Haas family took Levi Strauss public in 1971. They took it private in 1985. In 2019, they took it public again . When Levi Strauss went public in 2019, roughly 200 Haas family members owned a collective 63% of the company. The largest individual shareholder, with a 17% stake, was… Mimi Haas. The widow of the great-grand-nephew of Levi.
Today, she owns around 11% of the company, which has a current market cap of just under $7 billion. That means today, Mimi Haas has a net worth of $1.5 billion .
The extended Haas family is worth a collective $5.5 billion , all thanks to a single invention patented by a man who, to many of them, would be their great-great-grandfather’s grand-uncle-in-law.
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