J. Joe Ricketts (born July 16, 1941) is the founder, former CEO and former chairman of TD Ameritrade, one of the largest online discount brokerages in the world, based in Omaha, Nebraska.[1] In addition to serving as a Director of TD Ameritrade, Ricketts owns and operates several early stage companies, including DNAinfo.com, The American Film Company, High Plains Bison, and The Lodge at Jackson Fork Ranch.
Contents |
Personal life [link]
Ricketts was born and raised in Nebraska City, Nebraska and obtained a bachelor's degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska in 1968.[2] Ricketts is married with four children, Tom, Pete, Laura and Todd. In 2009, Ricketts ranked #371, according to Forbes Magazine, of the 400 wealthiest Americans, with a net worth of $1 billion. He currently resides in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.[3].
TD Ameritrade [link]
In 1975, Ricketts and a few partners formed First Omaha Securities, a retail securities brokerage firm that through mergers and acquisitions grew into TD Ameritrade.[4]
Ricketts announced that he would retire from the TD Ameritrade board to concentrate on entrepreneurship and philanthropy, effective October 20, 2011.[5]
Business ventures [link]
In 2004, Ricketts founded High Plains Bison, a retailer of natural bison meat. In addition to online and offline sales channels, High Plains Bison is the official bison vendor at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.[6] Some of the bison are raised on a Wyoming ranch owned by Ricketts. A four-bedroom lodge named The Lodge at Jackson Fort Ranch is located on the same property.[7][8]
In 2008, Ricketts founded The American Film Company, which produces feature films about true stories from American history.[9] The Conspirator is a 2010 historical drama film directed by Robert Redford. It served as the debut film of The American Film Company.[10][11]
In 2009, Ricketts founded DNAinfo.com, a digital news service that currently covers neighborhood news in New York City.[12][13]
Chicago Cubs baseball team [link]
In October 2009, the Ricketts family acquired a 95 percent controlling interest in Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field, as well as 25 percent of Comcast Sportsnet Chicago. The Ricketts family represents the eighth ownership group in the 133-year history of the team. While Ricketts is not directly involved in the team’s operations, his son, Tom Ricketts, is Cubs chairman and his three other children (Pete, Laura and Todd) are on the board of directors.[14] In November 2010, the Cubs announced a plan to seek $200 million in state-backed bonds for renovations to Wrigley Field.[15]
Political activities [link]
In 2010, Ricketts led a campaign against special-interest earmarks and wasteful spending in the federal government.[16][17] Ricketts founded a right winged conservative organization called Taxpayers Against Earmarks and classified every Member of Congress as either a spending “hero” or “hooligan.”[18] Ricketts has been credited with convincing Members of Congress to adopt a moratorium on earmarks.[19][20] Taxpayers Against Earmarks changed its name to Ending Spending in 2011.[21]
Ricketts established and funded The Ending Spending Fund, a political action committee, in 2010.[22] The Ending Spending Fund spent over $1 million sponsoring independent advertisements in several Congressional races. The goal of the advertising expenditure was to highlight incumbents’ earmark-related policies.[23][24] The Ending Spending Fund spent the largest amount of its money on the United States Senate election in Nevada, 2010 in an effort to defeat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Although not required by law, Ricketts willingly disclosed his identity due to his belief in transparency.[25]
Ricketts served on the board of trustees of the American Enterprise Institute from 1999-2007.[26] His son is on the Republican National Committee.[27] "His daughter, Laura, is a lesbian activist and prominent bundler for Obama." [28]
On May 17, 2012, a report written by Jeff Zeleny and Jim Rutenberg from the New York Times announced a right winged conservative group's ten million dollar, 54-page plan entitled, "The Defeat of Barack Hussein Obama: the Ricketts Plan to End His Spending for Good." It described the establishment of a super PAC to "attack President Obama in ways that Republicans have so far shied away." The plan, which Mr. Ricketts has distanced himself from after the report was made public knowledge, called for "running commercials linking Mr. Obama to incendiary comments by his former spiritual adviser, the Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright." The Reverend Wright's race-related sermons were focal points by conservatives in the 2008 Presidential Campaign in an attempt to connect President Barack Obama to extremist views, but nobody cared. Because of his extreme practices, many people are withdrawing their investments from Ricketts TD Ameritrade. The report came to light when an unidentified person, who was not connected to the proposal, leaked it to the New York Times.[29]
References [link]
- ^ "Yahoo Finance: AMTD". Yahoo Finance. https://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=AMTD.
- ^ Highbeam, May 1999
- ^ Forbes, Sept 2009
- ^ Forbes, July 1999
- ^ Reuters, Sept 2011
- ^ ChicagoTribune.com, May 2010
- ^ YellowstoneGeoTourism.org
- ^ Time.com, June 2009
- ^ New York Times, April 2011
- ^ Wall Street Journal, Speakeasy, Sept 2010
- ^ New York Times ArtsBeat, Sept 2010
- ^ Crains New York, Dec 2010
- ^ NY Observer, May 2010
- ^ "Ricketts Family Assumes Control of Chicago Cubs". cubs.com. 2009-10-30. https://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20091030&content_id=7582312&vkey=pr_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc.
- ^ "ricketts-no-plan-b-if-state-wont-back-wrigley-bonds". Dead link at chicagobreakingbusiness.com, November 2010.
- ^ Politico, Sept 2010
- ^ Politico, Nov 2010
- ^ NYTimes The Caucus, Sept 2010
- ^ Politico, Dec 2010
- ^ Bluey, Rob, "How conservatives beat the establishment on earmarks", Dailycaller.com, 11/16/2010.
- ^ Dailycaller.com, July 2011
- ^ Omaha.com, Nov 2010
- ^ Omaha.com, Nov 2010
- ^ Gibson, Jake, "New TV ad by 'The Ending Spending Fund' Targets Reid over Earmarks", Foxnews.com, October 28, 2010.
- ^ Terkel, Amanda (2010-10-22). "The One-Person Funded Super PAC: How Wealthy Donors Can Skirt Campaign Finance Restrictions". Huffington Post. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/21/super-pac-taxpayers-earmarks-concerned-citizens-campaign-finance_n_772214.html.
- ^ AEI.org
- ^ Saletan, William, "The Wrath of Cons, A proposed super-PAC assault on Obama exposes the right’s rage", Slate, 17 May 2012.
- ^ Blake, Aaron, and Sandhya Somashekhar, "Joe Ricketts, a wealthy donor, getting attention in presidential contest", Washington Post, May 17, 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
- ^ Zeleny, Jeff; Jim Rutenberg (2012-05-17). "G.O.P. ‘Super PAC’ Weighs Hard-Line Attack on Obama". New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/us/politics/gop-super-pac-weighs-hard-line-attack-on-obama.html. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
External links [link]
- Official site - www.joericketts.com
