Advertisement
For years, Jimmy Buffett has extolled the virtues of getting drunk and screwing. With his latest business venture, an Atlantic City casino-hotel called Margaritaville, he's created a venue to do those things — and gamble too. In May, the beach-loving rocker's Margaritaville Holdings partnered with New York gambling company Coastal Marina to buy the Trump Marina Hotel Casino for $316 million. It's just the latest venture for Buffett, who's about to kick off his 31st summer tour. The tireless franchiser's vast empire includes tequila, beer, frozen food, footwear, restaurants, a resort, a record label and a recording studio. In 2006, Rolling Stone estimated his earnings at $44 million — the seventh-most of any musician. Here's how it all breaks down.
Advertisement
CASINO
Purchase price: $316 million
Already building a Margaritaville casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, Buffett is transforming the Trump Marina into a tropical paradise.
Advertisement
RECORD LABEL
Estimated sales: 180,000 CDs (2007)
Buffett launched his label in 1999 and has released 15 of his albums on it — making about $5 per disc — and records by Boz Scaggs, Walter Becker and others.
Advertisement
FROZEN FOOD
Estimated sales: $10.4 million
Jammin' Jerk Shrimp is among the top sellers in Buffett's line of microwave-ready chicken and seafood, which includes Orange Peel Chicken Wings and Captain's Calamari Strips.
Advertisement
BOOZE
Estimated sales: $9.5 million
It wouldn't be Margaritaville without margaritas: Buffett sells several varieties of tequila, mixers and even a line of Frozen Concoction Makers (blenders, to non-Parrotheads).
Advertisement
BURGER CHAIN
Estimated sales: $80 million
Since 2002, Buffett has opened 44 of the family-style Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurants in partnership with Outback Steakhouse Inc.
Advertisement
FOOTWEAR
Buffett's line of Margaritaville deck shoes and flip-flops is the seventh-most-popular men's casual-footwear line in America.
Advertisement
BEST-SELLING
BOOK
Estimated sales: 55,000 copies
Buffett's seventh book hit Number Six on The New York Times bestseller list. He's one of only seven writers to top both the fiction and nonfiction lists.
[From Issue 1055 — June 26, 2008]