Enos Stanley “Stan” Kroenke (/ˈkr[unsupported input]ʔki/; born July 29, 1947) is an American business entrepreneur. He is the owner of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, which includes the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, Colorado Avalanche of the NHL, Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer, Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League and the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL (the Colorado sports properties are in the name of Josh Kroenke, one of his children, to satisfy NFL ownership restrictions that forbid a team owner from owning teams in other markets). Kroenke is also the largest shareholder of English football club Arsenal.
Kroenke is named after St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famers Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial. His wife, Ann Walton Kroenke, is the daughter of Walmart co-founder James Walton. Kroenke was estimated to be worth $US 8 billion by Forbes in 2016.
Personal life
Kroenke grew up in Mora, Missouri, an unincorporated community with a population of approximately two dozen, where his father owned Mora Lumber Company. His first job was sweeping the floor at his father’s lumber yard. By age 10 he was keeping the company’s books. In a September 2011 interview with The Telegraph newspaper, Kroenke said he was lucky — both as a youngster and later in life — to be surrounded by family and friends who saw the value of attaining a good education, which he said contributed to his success. At Cole Camp (Missouri) High School, he played baseball, basketball and ran track. He is of German descent and was raised Lutheran.
Kroenke obtained a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Missouri.
On a ski trip to Aspen, Colorado, Kroenke met his future wife, Ann Walton, a Wal-Mart heiress. They married in 1974. Already wealthy from real estate, he accrued significant additional wealth when he and Ann inherited a stake in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. upon the 1995 death of her father, James Walton. As of September 2015, that stake is worth $4.8 billion.
Kroenke is founder of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, the owner of the Los Angeles Rams football team. The Denver-based company also owns the National Basketball Association’s Nuggets franchise and English soccer’s Arsenal Football Club. Other assets include commercial property in North America and Europe.
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