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Poor Arte Moreno...he's BARELY making the cut of the yearly Forbes 400. Times must be tough. Of course, by "barely" making it, I'm talking about his appearance at #375 on the list, and with a measlely valuation of $1.8 BILLION. There are a handful of other people that share the #375 spot, most notably to my internet-addled brain would be one of two guys who created Snapchat. Some lofty company to keep, but in the totem pole of One Percenters, he's really slumming it.
While they have his net worth at $1.8 billion, they have his "real-time" net worth at $1.77 billion. I think Jerry Dipoto's comments from today probably caused that little slippage there. I mean, can someone even get on Forbes' list if they mandated their business take on a money pit like Josh Hamilton?
Arte got a great grade on the Self-Made Score, which is a metric made up by Forbes to determine which super rich guy pulled himself up by their bootstraps the most, if at all. Arte scored an 8 out of 10 on the Self-Made Score, which means he's done some bootstrap pullin'.
Of course, Forbes takes a dig at the Angels in the very limited space in which they discuss Moreno and his wealth.
Arturo "Arte" Moreno's Los Angeles Angels haven't had a great run on the field - only one playoff appearance since 2010, yet he's still one of the most beloved owners in Major League Baseball. The team has drawn 3 million fans every season since 2003. Moreno purchased the then-Anaheim Angels from Disney in 2003 for $184 million. His first decision was a popular one: lower the prices of beer, food, tickets and merchandise. Attendance boomed. In 2005 he renamed the team the L.A. Angels to capture the larger Los Angeles market, sparking a legal battle with the City of Los Angeles, which ultimately relented. Today, his ball club is a lot more valuable -- Forbes estimates it's worth $1.3 billion -- despite not winning a World Series championship since Moreno took over. Like many other major market professional sports teams, the Angels have benefited from a 17-year, $2.5 billion local television deal. A Vietnam vet, Moreno took billboard advertising company Outdoor Systems public in 1996, then sold it to Infinity Broadcasting for $8.7 billion in stock in 1999. He also owns commercial real estate in his home state of Arizona.
Wait. Hold on a second. Arte is "...one of the most beloved owners in Major League Baseball"?!?! Someone at Forbes got a hold of some bath salts, I think. Or maybe they just contacted the Angels' front office directly for info and tidbits, instead of actually looking into his popularity and approval as an owner. 10 years ago, he was a savior. Five years ago, he was a good owner. Nowadays...he's a billionaire with a baseball team that meddles and makes really poor decisions, both with the guys he puts in red polos and the players he demands be on his ball club.
With a quote like "one of the most beloved owners in Major League Baseball", I can only assume that the rest of their Forbes 400 list is utter fabrication and hocus pocus. Those money people sure do love kissing the boots of the bootstrap pullers, don't they? He may not be beloved, but he's got $1.8 billion reasons to not really care, about this list, or any of us.