Michael Meldman - Wikiwand
- ️Tue Dec 30 1958
Michael S. Meldman (born December 30, 1958) is an American businessman. He is the founder and chairman of Discovery Land Company, and one of the three founders of Casamigos tequila with George Clooney and Rande Gerber.
Meldman was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona.[1][2] His father worked in insurance and his mother was a writer and book reviewer.[2] He graduated from Stanford University in 1981, where he studied history and planned to be a lawyer.[2] Meldman performed poorly at the Law School Admission Test and later worked as a Blackjack dealer in Lake Tahoe.[3]
After Meldman graduated in 1981, he began a career in residential real estate in the Bay Area of Northern California. In 1994, he launched Discovery Land Company with his first development, The Estancia Club, in his hometown of Scottsdale.[2] Since Estancia, Meldman and Discovery Land Company have developed 25 total clubs in the Pacific, Caribbean, Europe, and North America.[4]
In 2007, Meldman launched the Discovery Land Company Foundation to support non-profit organizations that benefit children and families in the communities that surround the developments.[1]
In 2012, Meldman partnered with Rande Gerber and George Clooney to create Casamigos tequila.[5] In June 2017, it was sold to Diageo for $700 million, with an additional $300 million possible depending on the company's performance over the next ten years.[6] Meldman's employees include Jack Brooksbank, husband of Princess Eugenie of York.[7]
In December 2024, Meldman purchased a 7.5% stake in ownership of the Las Vegas Raiders.[8]
Meldman has three sons.[1]