Paul Bilzerian

Paul Alec Bilzerian (born 1950) is an American corporate takeover specialist. Convicted of securities and tax laws violations relating to unsuccessful takeover attempts of various companies in the 1980s, Bilzerian served a prison sentence and was also ordered to disgorge his profits, leading him to bankruptcy and ongoing disputes with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bilzerian has spent the past 28 years maintaining that he is factually and legally innocent.

One of Bilzerian's first business deals was an investment in a Tampa Bay-area radio station, WPLP, which he made with two Army colleagues from the Vietnam War who had experience in the broadcasting industry. However, the station performed poorly, and after its bankruptcy in 1980 disputes broke out between Bilzerian and his two fellow investors, leading to a lawsuit by him against them. In contrast, he was more successful in his real estate investments. In 1984, he moved to Sacramento, California where his father-in-law and another business associate with Paul Puiroux .

While living in Sacramento, in 1985 Bilzerian embarked on his first two high-profile takeover attempts, one of New York clothing manufacturer Cluett Peabody & Company, and the other of Pittsburgh construction company H. H. Robertson. Bilzerian raised his bid for the remaining 76% of Cluett Peabody in October. In response, Cluett Peabody's board of directors adopted poison pill provisions, earning them public statements of derision from Bilzerian. Cluett Peabody eventually accepted a competing merger offer by WestPoint Pepperell (now WestPoint Home) for $41 per share (in cash or equivalent value of WestPoint Pepperell common stock); Bilzerian and his fellow investors agreed separately to sell their stake to WestPoint Pepperell for $39.45 per share.

Bilzerian moved back to Florida in 1986. That July he and fellow investors William and Earle I. Mack (sons of New Jersey real estate developer H. Bert Mack) launched a takeover bid against the Hammermill Paper Company, purchasing about 3.3 million Hammermill shares at an average price of roughly $47 per share, and then offering $900 million ($52 per share) to purchase the remainder of the company. Bilzerian's offer was ultimately rejected when Hammermill sold out to International Paper instead at $64.50 per share, but Bilzerian and his fellow investors still made a profit of nearly $60 million from the deal.

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