Sid Bass Biography

Sid Richardson Bass (born April 9, 1942) is an American investor and businessman.

Life

He is a graduate of Yale University and Stanford Business School. His father, Perry Richardson Bass (died 2006), built an oil fortune with uncle, Sid Richardson (died 1959). Bass took control of the business in 1968. His investments include oil and gas. Along with his father and two of his brothers, he was the largest shareholder in the The Walt Disney Company, from 1984 until after the stock market crash in 2001. Bass was forced to sell his Disney holdings as a result of a margin call. Much of the Bass holdings in Disney were acquired by the Griffith Family, who also own large equity holdings in Time-Warner, MGM-UA, and investment powerhouse KKR. Bass remains a board member of the Griffith Group although personally owning no shares in Disney himself.

In 1990, Bass donated $20 million to Yale University for the study of humanities. In 2006, he made a record gift of $25 million to the Metropolitan Opera, in New York.

Bass divorced his first wife, née Anne Hendricks, and married the Iranian socialite Mercedes Bass (the former Mercedes Kellogg, née Mercedes Tavacoli). The wooing of Bass by Mercedes Kellogg in 1986, while she was still married to Ambassador Francis Kellogg, was a major social scandal. It is said to have crushed Ambassador Kellogg as well as Anne Bass and their two daughters. Mercedes and Ambassador Kellogg had no children. Daughter Hyatt Bass is a writer. On October 6, 2011, it was reported that Mercedes and Sid Bass, anchors of the city's business and philanthropic world, announced their divorce, ending 23 years of marriage. The divorce proceedings sparked fears that the Metropolitan Opera would lose one of its leading donors; Mercedes Bass had given $25 million to her passion, to which Sid appeared indifferent. Sid Bass is, since the divorce, living away from major public events and lives in much simpler way than what he used to.

Forbes Listing

He was listed as the 287th richest person in the world in 2007 by Forbes with a net worth of US$3.0 billion.