Alan Smolinisky | $1B+
Get in touch with Alan Smolinisky | Alan Smolinisky is a billionaire entrepreneur, principal at Conquest Housing, and co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He first built his fortune with Conquest Student Housing, which became the largest provider at USC before selling for $205 million in 2008. In 2026, he serves as a director at Jack in the Box, chairing its Capital Allocation Committee following a late 2025 appointment. A dedicated value investor and philanthropist, he has committed 90% of his estate to charity and is a vocal advocate for immigration reform, famously hosting mass naturalization ceremonies at Dodger Stadium. He remains a key figure in sports business, previously partnering with Phil Knight on a $2 billion bid for the Portland Trail Blazers.
Alan Smolinisky is an American entrepreneur, real estate investor, and minority owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers Major League Baseball franchise.[1][2]The son of Jewish immigrants from Argentina who arrived in the United States with limited resources, Smolinisky's father worked entry-level jobs such as sweeping floors for a dollar an hour while learning English by listening to Dodgers radio broadcasts.[3][4]Born and raised in Pacific Palisades, California, Smolinisky graduated from the University of Southern California in 2001, by which time he had secured entitlements for approximately $10 million in new housing development projects.[1][5]He serves as a principal at Conquest Housing, a private investment firm operating in real estate, securities, and other asset classes.[2]In 2019, Smolinisky joined the Dodgers' ownership group led by Guggenheim Baseball Management.[1]Active in philanthropy, he sits on the boards of the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation and Homeboy Industries, organizations focused on community development and rehabilitation in Los Angeles.[2][6]Smolinisky has publicly advocated for immigrant opportunities, hosting a U.S. naturalization ceremony at Dodger Stadium in 2022 where he shared his family's story as an embodiment of the American Dream.[7][4]
Early life and education
Family background and upbringing
Alan Smolinisky's parents were Jewish immigrants from Argentina who fled political instability and limited opportunities in their home country. His father, Mario Alberto Smolinisky, was born in 1945 into poverty and endured discrimination due to his Jewish heritage and physical hemangiomas, which marked him as a second-class citizen in a society unkind to such backgrounds. Mario arrived in Los Angeles in October 1963 at age 17, possessing only $4, no English proficiency, and no specialized skills.[3] His mother, born in Argentina in the early 1940s, emigrated separately with her family under similar constraints.[3]Upon settling in the United States, Mario secured initial employment as a floor sweeper in a Los Angeles garment factory at $1.25 per hour, using the low-wage janitorial role to sustain himself while learning English by tuning into Los Angeles Dodgers radio broadcasts during shifts. Through persistent effort, he advanced to department head and co-founded a garment manufacturing business that thrived for 30 years, hiring and mentoring fellow immigrants in a model of bootstrapped entrepreneurship independent of government subsidies.[3][8]Smolinisky was born in 1979 and raised in Pacific Palisades, California, where his family's ascent from immigrant hardship exemplified self-reliant success amid American capitalism's opportunities. This environment transmitted core values of perseverance, diligence, and initiative, observed firsthand in his parents' unaided climb from menial labor to business ownership. His early immersion in baseball, rooted in his father's affinity for Dodgers games as a language-learning tool, cultivated a enduring connection to the sport reflective of broader immigrant aspirations for integration and achievement.[9][3][10]
Academic and early professional influences
Smolinisky attended Palisades Charter High School in Pacific Palisades, California, graduating with the class of 1998.[11] He then enrolled at the University of Southern California (USC) as the first in his family to attend college, initially pursuing studies at the Thornton School of Music and completing his degree in three years by 2001.[11] [12]While at USC, Smolinisky shifted focus from music toward real estate, partnering with his landlord to address a shortage of quality student housing near campus; he launched this venture as a freshman in 1999.[10] [12] By graduation, he had secured entitlements for approximately $10 million in new housing developments, reflecting hands-on entrepreneurial initiative independent of his formal academic training.[5]These early efforts underscored a merit-driven approach, prioritizing tangible outcomes in property development over reliance on music credentials or institutional pathways, influenced by his parents' emphasis on self-reliance as Argentine immigrants.[5] Smolinisky's later admiration for value investors like Charles Munger—evident in naming his son after him—suggests an ongoing commitment to self-directed learning in finance, though his initial breakthroughs stemmed from direct market observation rather than theoretical study.[13]
Business career
Real estate development and Conquest Housing
Alan Smolinisky co-founded Conquest Student Housing in 1999 while a freshman at the University of Southern California (USC), partnering with Brian Chen to address a shortage of quality off-campus accommodations for students. The firm focused on acquiring, renovating, and developing purpose-built student housing properties near USC and later the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), emphasizing upscale amenities such as high-speed internet, on-site technology support, and secure access to attract tenants in high-demand university-adjacent markets. By 2004, Conquest had constructed or rehabilitated properties providing over 1,200 beds near USC, establishing it as a leading provider in the sector through private capital and targeted market identification rather than public subsidies.[5]Key early developments included the rehabilitation of a 30-unit building near USC shortly after inception and a 96-unit complex near UCSB. In 2001, following Smolinisky's USC graduation, ground was broken on an 88-bed facility on West Adams Boulevard, reflecting rapid scaling from initial entitlements valued at approximately $10 million in new housing projects secured during his studies. The firm's flagship Tuscany project, a 300,000-square-foot mixed-use development launched in 2004, incorporated 512 student beds and 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, with completion targeted for 2006; this initiative drove projected revenue growth from $5 million in 2004 to $12.5 million by project maturity, underscoring profit-oriented risk-taking in Los Angeles' competitive residential landscape.[5]Conquest's expansion relied on persistent financing efforts amid regulatory hurdles and neighborhood opposition, prioritizing high-occupancy yields from premium pricing over volume subsidies. The company later broadened into Conquest Housing, encompassing real estate alongside securities and alternative assets, while divesting select USC-area holdings, such as a 37-unit portfolio sold for $7.2 million in an undisclosed transaction. Legal disputes arose in the mid-2000s, including a 2007 lawsuit by USC and rival developers alleging Conquest employed aggressive litigation to delay competing projects and maintain market dominance; the case settled in 2008, with Conquest agreeing to refrain from challenging new developments within two miles of USC's campus, highlighting the adversarial dynamics of private-sector competition in constrained urban housing markets.[1][14][15]
Media ownership: The Palisadian-Post
On December 5, 2012, Alan Smolinisky, then 33 years old, acquired the Palisadian-Post, a weekly newspaper founded in 1928 by Telford Work to serve the Pacific Palisades community, along with its associated Post Printing operations and the property at 839 Via de la Paz.[16][10] The purchase, reportedly in the seven-figure range, transitioned ownership from the Small family, who had operated the paper since 1981, to Smolinisky, a Pacific Palisades native and longtime subscriber who described the acquisition as fulfilling a decade-long aspiration to own the local publication that had documented community events from his youth.[12][17]Smolinisky has emphasized preserving the newspaper's tradition of independent local journalism, which had endured for 84 years by the time of acquisition, amid broader industry challenges including declining ad revenues and closures of community papers nationwide.[11] Unlike many outlets increasingly reliant on digital advertising or external funding, the Palisadian-Post maintains a subscription-based model, prioritizing reader support to sustain coverage of neighborhood issues without ideological impositions.[11] He has publicly committed to upholding editorial standards focused on factual community reporting, viewing the role as a stewardship obligation for a resident invested in countering the homogenization of media through corporate consolidations.[11][12]Under Smolinisky's ownership, operational adjustments included ceasing in-house printing shortly after the purchase to adapt to cost efficiencies in a contracting print sector, while retaining the focus on twice-weekly digital and periodic print distribution to subscribers.[18] This approach has enabled the paper to navigate economic pressures affecting local journalism, such as staff reductions in 2023 that shifted publication to twice monthly, without compromising its core mission of hyper-local, non-sensationalized news.[19]
Broader investment activities
Following the 2009 sale of his student housing business, which he co-founded to develop upscale apartments near the University of Southern California and University of California, Santa Barbara, Smolinisky redirected proceeds toward diversified investments.[12] He and his business partner acquired several commercial properties while channeling the remainder into personal holdings under rigorous self-management, attaining financial independence by his early thirties.[12]As principal at Conquest Housing, a private firm he co-manages, Smolinisky pursues opportunities in publicly traded securities and additional asset classes outside primary real estate operations.[1] This portfolio-oriented approach, informed by daily immersion in financial publications—up to five hours as advocated by investor Charles Munger—facilitates calculated, long-term positioning rather than short-term speculation.[12]The divestiture from operational intensity enabled nimble capital deployment, exemplified by the late-2012 acquisition of the Palisadian-Post newspaper for a seven-figure amount, leveraging liquidity for non-core assets aligned with value preservation.[12] Smolinisky's strategy draws from figures like Warren Buffett and Munger, prioritizing personal oversight and aversion to dynastic wealth accumulation in favor of disciplined compounding.[12]
Sports franchise involvement
Los Angeles Dodgers ownership
Alan Smolinisky joined the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group as a limited partner on September 19, 2019, alongside Robert L. Plummer, becoming part of Guggenheim Baseball Management's expanded investor base that acquired the franchise in 2012 for $2.15 billion.[1][20] Smolinisky and Plummer together purchased a minority stake of slightly less than 5 percent in the team.[21] This investment aligned with Guggenheim's strategy to broaden its ownership structure amid the franchise's rising valuation, which has since exceeded $4 billion according to Forbes estimates, driven by on-field success, media rights, and stadium developments.In addition to his ownership role, Smolinisky serves on the board of the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation, where he supports community programs linked to team achievements, such as youth education and health initiatives funded through World Series victories in 2020 and 2024.[2] These efforts leverage the franchise's performance to expand charitable impact, with the foundation raising millions annually for Los Angeles-area causes.[2]Smolinisky's involvement reflects a business-oriented approach, informed by his real estate and investment background, rather than mere fandom, though he has noted a familial tie through his father's enthusiasm for the Dodgers as an immigrant learning English via radio broadcasts.[1] This stake has contributed to the group's collective oversight of operations that sustained the Dodgers' competitive edge and financial growth in Major League Baseball.[20]
Portland Trail Blazers acquisition attempt
In June 2022, Alan Smolinisky partnered with Nike co-founder Phil Knight to submit a formal written offer exceeding $2 billion for the Portland Trail Blazers, aiming to acquire the NBA franchise from the estate of the late owner Paul Allen.[22][23] The bid, which positioned Smolinisky—already a minority owner of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers—as a key investor, sought to maintain local ownership in Knight's hometown of Portland amid ongoing discussions about the team's future.[22] Jody Allen, Paul Allen's sister and managing director of the Vulcan Inc. estate controlling the team, rejected the proposal, prioritizing other considerations in the sale process mandated by Paul Allen's will to divest non-core assets within a decade of his 2018 death.[24][25]The partnership persisted with follow-up efforts into 2023, as Knight and Smolinisky reiterated interest in purchasing the team valued at billions in the competitive NBA market, where franchises have appreciated significantly due to league revenue growth and media rights deals.[26][24] These attempts reflected a diversification approach for investors like Smolinisky, extending involvement from MLB to the NBA by targeting teams as high-value, inflation-resistant assets in private equity portfolios.[27] However, Jody Allen continued to rebuff the overtures, delaying formal sale proceedings despite NBA commissioner Adam Silver's expressed desire for resolution to stabilize the franchise's operations.[28]By May 2025, with the estate announcing a formal sale process expected to extend into the 2025-26 NBA season and direct proceeds to philanthropy, Knight publicly withdrew further interest in bidding, effectively ending the joint pursuit with Smolinisky.[29][30] The rejections underscored the estate's discretion in private negotiations, free from mandatory approvals beyond NBA vetting of qualified buyers, allowing the process to culminate in a separate agreement with Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon later that year.[27][31] This outcome highlighted competitive dynamics in franchise acquisitions, where seller preferences determine outcomes absent coercive interventions.
Personal life
Family and residence
Alan Smolinisky married Caroline Sukits, originally from Lafayette, Indiana, in July 2010.[11] The couple has three children, including their son Charlie, born in September 2011, and two daughters.[11] In 2016, Smolinisky noted that the family was completing construction of their home in Pacific Palisades, California, where they continue to reside.[11]Born and raised in Pacific Palisades, Smolinisky has maintained lifelong residency in the community, living there with his wife and children as of 2019.[1] This stable local presence supports his focus on family amid professional endeavors, while preserving privacy regarding extended family details beyond his upbringing.[2]
Philanthropy and community engagement
Smolinisky has partnered with Stand Together to support initiatives promoting immigrant integration and opportunity, including hosting a U.S. naturalization ceremony at Dodger Stadium on August 29, 2022, where approximately 2,000 individuals became U.S. citizens in the largest such event in years.[7][32] This collaboration with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services emphasized voluntary efforts to facilitate citizenship processes and community welcoming of new Americans.[7]As a board member of the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation, Smolinisky contributes to directing resources toward youth development and community programs in Los Angeles, with the foundation having invested over $30 million annually in education, health, and social services since its inception.[2] The foundation prioritizes measurable outcomes in areas such as academic achievement and access to sports for underserved children.[2]Smolinisky also serves on the board of Homeboy Industries, a Los Angeles-based organization providing job training, tattoo removal, and support services to former gang members and individuals previously incarcerated, aiding their reintegration into society through vocational programs.[2] His involvement supports private-sector-driven rehabilitation efforts focused on employment and personal responsibility.Through ownership of the Palisadian-Post since 2012, Smolinisky has sustained local journalism in Pacific Palisades, enabling coverage of community events, issues, and cohesion without external partisan influences, thereby bolstering civic engagement in the neighborhood.[11] This stewardship maintains the newspaper's role as a non-partisan platform for resident voices and local governance.[12]
Public views and advocacy
Perspectives on immigration and the American Dream
Alan Smolinisky's perspectives on immigration emphasize legal pathways to citizenship as a mechanism for realizing the American Dream through personal effort and assimilation. In a 2022 naturalization ceremony he organized at Dodger Stadium—the first such event held there and the largest in Los Angeles since the COVID-19 pandemic, involving over 2,100 immigrants from 120 countries—Smolinisky addressed new citizens, highlighting America as the "freest country in human history" where "free people are capable of extraordinary things."[4] [7] He rooted this view in his father's experience: Mario Smolinisky immigrated legally from Argentina to Los Angeles in October 1963 with $4, no English proficiency, and no specialized skills, starting as a janitor earning $1.25 per hour before building a garment business that employed and mentored other immigrants over three decades.[3] [4]Smolinisky attributes his family's ascent—enabling his own role as a Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner—to America's market-driven incentives and rule-of-law framework, which rewarded hard work and self-reliance rather than entitlements or welfare dependencies. His father learned English by listening to Dodgers radio broadcasts, exemplifying assimilation as a key to success, and rose from poverty amid Argentina's instability to fund his children's education, with Smolinisky's sister becoming a lawyer and himself an entrepreneur.[3] [7] Through partnerships with organizations like Stand Together, Smolinisky advocates for immigration reforms that amplify such stories, critiquing barriers to merit-based entry while promoting narratives of immigrant entrepreneurship; he notes that immigrants or their children founded half of U.S. Fortune 500 companies and over a quarter of small businesses, underscoring causal links between legal opportunity, effort, and economic contribution over identity-based or open-border alternatives.[7]This stance rejects portrayals of immigrant success as driven by systemic entitlements, instead stressing exceptional U.S. incentives like property rights and voluntary exchange that facilitate upward mobility for those adhering to legal processes and cultural integration. Smolinisky has encouraged other stadium owners to host similar ceremonies to foster positive public views on legal immigration, positioning it as integral to national vitality without diluting emphasis on assimilation or market discipline.[7] [4]
Economic and entrepreneurial philosophy
Smolinisky's economic philosophy centers on the primacy of entrepreneurship and free markets as engines of prosperity and individual advancement. He credits his family's success in establishing a garment manufacturing business in Los Angeles after emigrating from Argentina in the 1970s as emblematic of how risk-taking and persistent effort yield rewards in a system that incentivizes innovation over dependency. This model underscores his belief that personal initiative, rather than institutional interventions, drives wealth creation and upward mobility.[33]He praises the United States for fostering an "incredibly dynamic market-based economy that absolutely rewards the most" productive and diligent actors, positioning America as unparalleled in offering opportunities for self-made success.[34] Smolinisky explicitly appreciates the "American system of free market" for enabling such outcomes, informed by his Latino heritage and observations of competitive business environments.[35] In interviews, he advocates starting ventures without delay—"There is never a good day or a bad day to start a business"—while stressing principles like customer satisfaction, outworking competitors, and seeking mentorship, which reflect a commitment to meritocratic competition and minimal barriers to entry.[35]His entrepreneurial track record, including early real estate developments yielding over $10 million in projects by 2001 and subsequent investments in media and sports franchises, illustrates a philosophy favoring deregulation to preserve investor freedom and risk-reward dynamics.[5] Smolinisky expresses skepticism toward policies that hinder economic dynamism, such as high fees on skilled immigration visas like H-1B, arguing they impede growth in a knowledge-driven economy.[36] This aligns with a broader emphasis on individual agency, where systemic prosperity emerges from decentralized decisions rather than centralized remedies, as evidenced by his serial successes in unregulated or lightly regulated sectors like property development.
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