Marcus Lemonis net worth
Split: 20
What is the net worth of Marcus Lemonis?
Marcus Lemonis is an American businessman and reality TV celebrity with a net worth of US$500 million. He is the chairman and chief executive officer of many companies, including Camping World and Good Sam Enterprises. He is also the star of the CNBC reality show “The Profit”, which is about saving small businesses.
early life
Marcus Lemonis was born on November 16, 1973 in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War. He was named Ricardo when he was born. Four days after he was born, his parents Abdallel and Nadia abandoned him in an orphanage. On July 29, 1974, when he was eight months old, he was adopted by Leo and Sophia Lemonis in Miami, Florida. His adoptive father is a Greek and his adoptive mother is a Lebanese. Leo and Sophia named him Marcus.
Growing up, his grandfather owned two of the largest Chevrolet dealers in the United States, and he came into contact with this industry as he grew up. The legendary Lee Iacocca is a friend of his family and a mentor to Marcus. Lemonnis graduated from Christopher Columbus High School in Miami in 1991. Graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in criminology. After graduating from college, he moved back to Miami and ran for public office in the Florida House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party. Despite being recognized by the Miami Herald, he still lost to two current Republican presidents by about 15%.
Profession
After failing to run for office, Lemonis went to work in his grandfather’s car dealership. AutoNation purchased the distribution rights in 1997. Lemonis continues to hold various sales and management positions within AutoNation. Lee Iacocca approached Lemonis at this time and told him that he wanted to “build the largest RV chain.” Iacocca observed that the current business model for selling RVs in the United States does not work. Iaccoca helped Lemonis acquire Holiday RV Superstores. From the summer of 2001 to the beginning of 2003, Lemonis served as the company’s chief executive officer. Then, Lemonis co-founded Freedom Roads and began acquiring RV dealers. Lemonis merged Freedom Roads with Camping World in 2006 and became the CEO of the new company. During his tenure as CEO of Camping World, Lemonis established a partnership with NASCAR and sponsored John Andretti and his team. In 2007, Camping World took over the sponsorship of the NASCAR Eastern Series for the 2008-2008 season. He renamed it NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Lemonis extended Camping World’s sponsorship to 2022 in 2014.
In 2011, Lemonis merged Camping World with Good Sam Enterprises. Lemonis becomes the CEO of the company. Camping World made an initial public offering in October 2016 at a price of $22 per share. This brings the company’s valuation to US$2 billion. On July 29, 2020, Camping World’s share price was slightly less than $35.
In the spring of 2017, Camping World acquired the assets of camping, fishing and hunting equipment store Gander Mountain and boating supermarket Overton’s. In the summer of 2017, Camping World acquired The House Boardshop, an online bicycle, skateboard, water ski and snowboard retailer.
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Film and television career
Lemonis appeared in two episodes of “Celebrity Apprentice”. He held a marketing challenge for the contestants. He appeared in “Secret Millionaire” in 2012. Then, in 2013, Lemonnis became the star of his own CNBC show “Profit”. In “The Profit”, Lemonis looks for promising but troubled small businesses, and uses its own money to invest in becoming part of the owners, while helping the business to reverse the situation. The seventh season of “The Profit” was launched in November 2019.
In 2015, Lemonis served as the executive producer of the movie “I Really Hate My Ex”.
Lemonis co-produced and starred in “The Partner” at CNBC in 2017. In the show, he looked for a business manager to help him run the business he invested in another show “The Profit”.
“Let’s make a deal”
In August 2021, Marcus and producer Nancy Glass obtained the intellectual property rights to the franchise rights for the “Let’s Make a Deal” game show.
litigation
In 2020, Nicolas Goureau and Stephanie Menkin, former business partners of Marcus Lemonis, filed two lawsuits against him. Goureau and Menkin met Lemonis when they appeared in “The Profit”. The two men are brothers and sisters, and they allege that Lemonis’ investment in its retail business Courage B was fraudulent. In the show, Lemonis promised to help them develop their business. In fact, he focused on getting Guro and Menkin’s company to owe him hundreds of thousands of dollars so that he could take the company’s assets and destroy it. The lawsuit is seeking millions of dollars in damages from Lemonis and its company.
This is not the first time Lemonis has been accused of targeting other companies to destroy them. In 2018, Inc. magazine wrote an article titled “The Dark Side of Marcus Lemonis”. According to reports, Will Yakowicz spoke with two dozen business owners who ended up due to Lemonis’ unethical and malicious treatment. A company told Inc. “We asked him to help us develop our business, not to help him develop his own business. “
Lemonis is also accused of setting out to destroy companies that he refuses to acquire.
personal life
Lemonis first married businesswoman Ila Penfold in 2003. They stayed together intermittently until they broke up forever in 2017. During one of the couple’s vacations, Lemonis dated “Real Housewives of New York City” star and Skinnygirl tycoon Bethenny Frankel.
Lemonis married Roberta “Barbie” Rafael in 2018, and about two years later, he acquired a fashion business owned by her. The couple planned to get married in Montecito, California, but the mudslide hindered their plan. Instead, they tied the knot at the Bel Air Hotel in Los Angeles. She is about 20 years older than Lemonis.
The couple divided their time between their luxury homes in Montecito, California and Lake Forest, Illinois.
Lemonis’ philanthropy includes support for Joffrey Ballet, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Lincoln Park Zoo, RV/MH Hall of Fame and Zacharias Sexual Abuse Center.
real estate
In 2018, Lemonis bought a 1.5-acre house for US$1.85 million, which has much in common with the property he bought in 2013 in Lake Forest, a suburb of Chicago, for nearly US$5 million. In June 2018, he sold an apartment on the Gold Coast of Chicago for $3.25 million.
In 2017, he spent US$6.85 million to purchase a mansion in Montecito, California.
In November 2021, Marcus spent $18 million to purchase a 9,000 square foot Manhattan townhouse.
