Entrepreneur. He was best known as a television industry mogul who parlayed a small fortune into a multibillion-dollar communications empire. In the mid-1950s, he became the major stockholder of the Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation and he was the company's board chairman in control of television and radio broadcasting by 1958. From the 1960s to mid-1980s, his business interests were varied when he founded Metromedia Inc. in 1984, the nation's first major independent broadcasting entity. He controlled Metromedia subsidiaries which sold everything from television stations to lawn tractors and included a franchise of over 800 restaurants. In 1989, Forbes Magazine measured Kluge's wealth at over $7 billion and called him the richest man in America. During the 1990s, he bought many Palm Beach, Florida estate properties, a library of Academy Award-winning films and secured syndication rights to TV programs such as M*A*S*H. In 1997, he sold off most of his film library of about 2,000 titles including such Orion Studios hits as "Dances with Wolves", "Platoon" and "The Silence of the Lambs" to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $573 million. He was also very charitable, with hundreds of millions in donations to the community and to education. At the time of his death, Forbes listed Kluge as the 35th-richest American with a total fortune of $6.5 billion. He passed from natural causes at age 95.
Entrepreneur. He was best known as a television industry mogul who parlayed a small fortune into a multibillion-dollar communications empire. In the mid-1950s, he became the major stockholder of the Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation and he was the company's board chairman in control of television and radio broadcasting by 1958. From the 1960s to mid-1980s, his business interests were varied when he founded Metromedia Inc. in 1984, the nation's first major independent broadcasting entity. He controlled Metromedia subsidiaries which sold everything from television stations to lawn tractors and included a franchise of over 800 restaurants. In 1989, Forbes Magazine measured Kluge's wealth at over $7 billion and called him the richest man in America. During the 1990s, he bought many Palm Beach, Florida estate properties, a library of Academy Award-winning films and secured syndication rights to TV programs such as M*A*S*H. In 1997, he sold off most of his film library of about 2,000 titles including such Orion Studios hits as "Dances with Wolves", "Platoon" and "The Silence of the Lambs" to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $573 million. He was also very charitable, with hundreds of millions in donations to the community and to education. At the time of his death, Forbes listed Kluge as the 35th-richest American with a total fortune of $6.5 billion. He passed from natural causes at age 95.
Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith
Family Members
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