Alan Smolinisky is one of the most popular and richest Entrepreneur who was born on November 28, 1979 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States. Smolinisky and Chen are value investors, an investment paradigm that derives from the ideas on investment that Benjamin Graham and David Dodd began teaching at Columbia Business School in 1928, focusing on acquiring assets at less than their intrinsic value. Today, that movement is most closely associated with Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren E. Buffett and Vice Chairman Charlie T. Munger.
The company was sold to a private equity firm and publicly traded REIT in summer 2008 for $205 million. After the sale, Smolinisky and Chen focused on public securities investments.
In 2012, Smolinisky purchased the Palisadian-Post, a weekly subscription based newspaper that serves Pacific Palisades, California. The Palisadian-Post was founded in 1928 and has been published every Thursday since its founding. A 2013 front-page Los Angeles Times profile of Smolinisky quoted him as saying “Pacific Palisades is my favorite place on Earth, and the Palisadian-Post is my favorite newspaper. I have a moral obligation to make sure this newspaper is published every Thursday for as long as I live.” Shortly after his purchase, Smolinisky shut down the money losing printing business, replaced most of the staff, and sold the paper’s longtime building due to the printing operation being outsourced. Some community members were upset with the abrupt changes. The paper currently has 17 staff members at headquarters in the Palisadian-Post building in the Palisades Village and 5,000 paid subscribers. A one-year subscription costs $79.
Smolinisky became an owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the team’s home, Dodger Stadium, in 2019, joining existing partners Mark Walter, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Peter Guber, Stan Kasten, Bobby Patton, Todd Boehly, Billie Jean King, Ilana Kloss and Robert L. Plummer. In the team’s press release announcing his purchase, Smolinisky said “I’m a lifelong Dodger fan and to now be a part of their ownership group is an exciting opportunity and time for me and my family.”
Smolinisky often speaks of his dislike of dynastic wealth. Inspired by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge, he and his wife created a trust that provides for 90% of their estate to go to charity upon their death. Smolinisky serves on the board of directors of Homeboy Industries, a gang intervention organization founded by Jesuit priest Fr. Gregory Boyle and serves on the board of directors for the LA Dodgers Foundation, the official team charity of the LA Dodgers. Smolinisky served on the board of the ACLU of Southern California from 2004-2016.
