Our History
Hyatt was founded by Jay Pritzker in 1957 when he purchased the Hyatt House motel adjacent to the Los Angeles International Airport. Over the following decade, Jay Pritzker and his brother Donald Pritzker, working together with other Pritzker family business interests, grew the company into a North American management and hotel ownership company, which became a public company in 1962. In 1968, Hyatt International was formed by Pritzker family business interests and subsequently became a separate public company. Hyatt Corporation and Hyatt International Corporation were taken private by the Pritzker family business interests in 1979 and 1982, respectively.
Prior to June 30, 2004, Hyatt Corporation, which primarily consisted of the North American hotel management and franchise companies, was owned by HG, Inc. (HG). H Group Holding, Inc. (H Group), which is owned by Pritzker family business interests, owns HG. In addition to owning Hyatt Corporation, HG owned various other North American hospitality related businesses (primarily consisting of hotel properties and the vacation ownership business) and on June 30, 2004 contributed these hospitality related businesses to Hyatt Corporation. Following such contribution, the stock of Hyatt Corporation was distributed to the Pritzker family business interests that owned H Group. We refer to this transaction as the “June 2004 Transaction.”
Following the June 2004 Transaction, substantially all of the hospitality assets owned by Pritzker family business interests, including Hyatt Corporation and Hyatt International Corporation, were consolidated under a single entity. On August 4, 2004, Global Hyatt, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware and subsequently changed its name to Global Hyatt Corporation. On December 31, 2004, pursuant to a Master Contribution Agreement, the stock of Hyatt Corporation and the stock of AIC Holding Co. (AIC), the owner of Hyatt International Corporation and other international hospitality related assets and operations, as well as hospitality related assets and operations held by certain other entities owned by Pritzker family business interests, were contributed to Global Hyatt Corporation by their respective owners in exchange for shares of Global Hyatt Corporation common stock. As a result of this transaction, Hyatt Corporation, AIC and Hyatt International Corporation became wholly-owned subsidiaries of Global Hyatt Corporation. The contribution was reflected as a transaction between entities under common control as of January 1, 2004. On June 30, 2009, Global Hyatt Corporation changed its name to Hyatt Hotels Corporation.
On November 10, 2009, we completed an initial public offering of 43,700,000 shares of our Class A common stock, of which selling stockholders sold 38,000,000 shares and we sold 5,700,000 in connection with the underwriters’ exercise of their option to purchase additional shares. In connection with the offering, our Class A common stock began trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “H” on November 5, 2009.
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When the shares are sold, the Pritzkers' ownership would decline to less than half of Hyatt's outstanding common stock for the first time since the company went public in November 2009. But family members would continue to control 73 percent of the voting power thanks to a dual-stock structure that gives the Pritzkers 10 times the voting power of other shareholders.
"Having somebody enjoy control — which is what happens with this arrangement — but not have the majority of the economic exposure; it's a misalignment," said Beth Young, a senior research fellow at The Corporate Library who teaches a course in shareholder activism at Harvard University.
In a statement, Hyatt Hotels Corp. said it operates its business "for the benefit of all our shareholders and in a manner intended to create long-term value." The company added that a potential sale of stock by individuals or a group would not alter its strategy or structure.
"They might sell and they might not," David Loeb, a senior research analyst at Baird who covers the hotel industry, said of the Pritzkers. He predicts the stock will react positively if more shares are offered publicly.
Several analysts predict Hyatt's stock to trade at more than $50 a share by year-end, a doubling in price since the initial offering when the hotel chain sold 38 million Class A common shares at $25 apiece.
The potential to offload shares in Hyatt is part of an agreement among the 11 heirs of Hyatt founder Jay Pritzker to divest and divide the family's assets by the end of 2011. The deal was inked in 2001 following disagreements about how the family's assets should be divided. As a result, the Pritzkers have been selling assets and stakes in various family-controlled companies.
Among those divestitures, in August 2010, the Pritzker family sold its majority stake in TransUnion, the Chicago-based credit reporting company, for an undisclosed amount to Chicago-based private-equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC. In March 2008, the family sold a majority stake in the Marmon Group to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. for $4.5 billion, and in 2006, the family sold Conwood, a smokeless tobacco company, for $3.5 billion to cigarette company Reynolds American Inc.
According to company filings, family members and other Class B shareholders (who control about 20 percent of the Class B shares) are permitted to sell 30 million of their more than 130 million shares by Nov. 4. An additional 7 million shares can be sold at any time, and another 6 million can be sold anytime after May 13. Filings lay out a schedule that would allow the Pritzkers and other Class B shareholders (Madrone Capital LLC and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.) to divest of their holdings by the end of 2015.
sieht so aus wenn dem Guten Warren Buffet bald fast alles gehört. Wusste ich auch nicht. Auch gut. Der glaubt wenigstens an Kerngeschäfte.