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We Study Billionaires - The Investor’s Podcast Network

TIP552: Mastering the Art of Investing: A Deep Dive w/ Sam Zell

We Study Billionaires - The Investor’s Podcast Network

Stig Brodersen

Education, Investing, Business

4.63.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2023

⏱️ 70 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On today’s show, we have the honor of interviewing legendary real estate investor and entrepreneur, Sam Zell.

Sam Zell has an impressive background, having started his career in real estate in the late 1960s. He is the founder and chairman of Equity Group Investments, a leading private investment firm. Over the course of his career, Sam has made many bold moves and investments, earning him a reputation as a savvy and fearless investor.

One of Sam's most notable achievements was his role in creating the modern-day real estate investment trust (REIT) industry. He did this by founding Equity Office Properties Trust in 1997, which became the largest office REIT in the United States. In 2007, he sold the company for a record-breaking $39 billion.

Joining us today as a co-host is David Greene, an accomplished real estate investor, and host of the BiggerPockets podcast, one of the most popular and highly-rated podcasts in the real estate investing space.


IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:

00:00 - Intro.

04:49 - How Sam helped pioneer the REIT industry and what improvements he would like to see today

30:42 - What drives him to succeed at 81 years old 

35:37 - Why Sam would raise interest rates further if he was the head of the Federal Reserve

49:36 - How Sam thinks through when to buy and when to sell

50:48 - A play-by-play breakdown of how he sold Equity Group Investments to Blackstone for nearly $40 billion dollars

1:06:08 - Why he says “liquidity = value”


Disclaimer: Slight discrepancies in the timestamps may occur due to podcast platform differences.


BOOKS AND RESOURCES


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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

You're listening to TIP.

0:03.2

On today's show, we have the honor of interviewing legendary investor in entrepreneur Sam Zell.

0:08.8

He's the founder and chairman of equity group investments, a leading private investment firm.

0:13.7

Sam began his career in real estate in the 1960s, but over time, Sam has made many bold moves

0:19.0

and investments earning him a reputation as a savvy and fearless investor.

0:23.2

He did this by founding equity office properties trust in 1997, which became the largest office

0:28.2

fee in the United States.

0:30.0

In 2007, he sold the company for a record-breaking $39 billion.

0:35.0

And on today's show, he walks us through how the deal unfolded.

0:38.6

And of all the many investment books that I've read, Sam's book titled Am I Being Too Settle

0:43.4

might be at the top of my list.

0:45.5

In this episode, we'll dive into Sam's remarkable career and discuss his insights into real

0:49.7

estate investing, entrepreneurship, and what it takes to succeed in business.

0:53.8

Joining us today as a co-host is David Green, an accomplished real estate investor and

0:58.6

host of the bigger pockets podcast, which is the number one real estate investing podcast

1:03.4

and always a top business podcast as well.

1:05.8

If you haven't already done so, I highly encourage you to go check out the bigger pockets podcast.

1:10.4

David will be joining us in the interview with Sam Zell bringing his expertise and

1:14.1

experience to the conversation.

1:15.7

So to kick things off, David and I are going to give a quick recap of our conversation with Sam.

1:20.1

So without further ado, let's get to it.

1:23.9

You are listening to the Investors podcast where we study the financial markets and read the books

...

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