John Kluge
John Werner Kluge (born
September 21,
1914) is an
entrepreneur who was born in
Chemnitz,
Germany, best known as a
television industry mogul in the
United States. He gained an undergraduate degree from
Columbia University in
1937. Kluge has three children and was divorced three times. He is currently living in
Charlottesville, Virginia with his wife, Maria Tussi Kluge.
Kluge's major move into media was by purchasing stock in the
Metropolitan Broadcasting Company in the mid-
1950s. The Metropolitan Broadcasting Company was the successor of the
DuMont Television Network, which was spun-off from
DuMont Laboratories after the television network ceased operations in 1956. Metropolitan Broadcasting consisted of two stations, WABD in New York City and WTTG in Washington, D.C., both former DuMont outlets now operating as independent stations. Kluge joined the company as its board chairman and largest stockholder in 1958, acquiring the bulk of his shares from founder
Allen B. DuMont for about
USD $7,000,000.
After gaining control, Kluge began the company's expansion further into broadcasting, with holdings in television and radio. In the early 1960s, Kluge bought an outdoor advertising firm, and in
1961 the company's name was changed to
Metromedia to reflect the diversity of its interests.
In
1986, Kluge sold the Metromedia television stations to the
20th Century Fox film studio, which was now controlled by
Rupert Murdoch's
News Corporation, for a reported USD $4 billion. Those stations would later form the core of what would become the
Fox television network. The following year,
Forbes Magazine placed John Kluge at the top of its list as the richest man in America.
Following the Fox disposal, Kluge's activities have been carried out through a private venture named Metromedia Company in which he is a partner with
Stuart Subotnick. Metromedia's more recent activities have included
Eastern European,
CIS and
China telecom/cable/radio ventures through Metromedia International Group and the ill-fated US telecom backbone operation Metromedia Fiber Network.
In celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the
Library of Congress, Kluge donated an unprecedented $60 million to create the
John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress. It was created as an academic center where accomplished senior scholars and junior post-doctoral fellows might gather to make use of the Library's incomparable collections and to interact with members of
Congress. In addition, his gift would establish a $1 million dollar prize to be given in recognition of a lifetime of achievement in the human sciences, comparable to the
Nobel Prizes in literature and economics. The
Kluge Prize would honor lifetime intellectual achievement in the same way as the
Kennedy Center Honors recognize lifetime achievement in the performing arts.
Acknowledging the scholarship funds that enabled him to attend, Kluge gave more than $110 million to
Columbia between 1987 and 1993, primarily to endow financial aid for undergraduates from underprivileged backgrounds. His donations also help many of these students pursue Ph.D.s after they graduate by financing their doctoral studies.
*
List of billionaires*
Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People 2004*
Kluge, John
