On a cold January morning in 1962 in Detroit, a boy was born in the Gilbert family, whom his parents decided to call Dan. Childhood and youth Dan Gilbert (Dan Gilbert) spent in the suburbs of Detroit, in the Southfield area. There he attended school. And then he entered the University of Michigan, where he received a bachelor's degree. After that, he graduated from law school at Wayne State University. During his studies, he worked as a realtor in the company of his parents.
Start of business
After studying (in 1985), Dan Gilbert and his partners - Ron Berman, Lindsay Gross and Gary Gilbert (Dan's younger brother) founded Rock Financial, a mortgage company. The company was actively developing and by the end of the 20th century it became one of the largest independent players in the market. They became the first among competitors who entered the Internet market.
In 2000, the company name had to be changed to Quicken Loans due to injunctions. However, this did not affect work, and the company continued to remain among the market leaders.
Detroit
In 2010, the company moved to Detroit. Today it employs almost twenty-five thousand people. Quicken Loans itself is the largest taxpayer in Detroit.
Gilbert created his business the way he wanted. And Detroit played the role of a giant construction site in this matter. Dan made it so that everyone who worked in the building he owned in some way also paid for it. This was done mainly due to various financial tricks. But even with this attitude, the majority of the city’s population was grateful for such paperwork or did not notice any flaws at all. Gilbert built his business as an aggressive capitalist. And those who saw him as an innovator and modern businessman were deeply mistaken.
Cleveland Cavaliers
In March 2005, Gilbert acquired a controlling stake in the basketball team. He began his leadership of the team with radical reforms. New coaches were hired, most of the old team members left their positions, and instead, specialists started with a completely new approach. The squad was immediately strengthened by promising and iconic players thanks to competent management and personal participation.
As a result, the team six times became the champion of the central division, five times won the Eastern Conference. And in 2016, the Cleveland Cavaliers became champions of the country. Thanks to this victory, a series of losses was interrupted, which pursued all Cleveland teams for fifty-two years.
Also associated with the name of Gilbert is a very interesting story that happened in 2010. The famous Cleveland basketball player LeBron James announced his move from Cavaliers to Miami Heat. Nothing unpleasant would have happened if not for one circumstance: James announced this on the air of a sports show, which was repeatedly criticized by both journalists and athletes and their fans.
In response to such a trick, Gilbert wrote an open letter to fans, in which he criticized the decision of James. The letter was published on the official website of the team, where everyone could read it. Of course, such a trick did not go unnoticed, and the NBA commission led by David Stern fined Gilbert one hundred thousand dollars for some of the comments that he mentioned in his open letter. Despite Dan’s regret, many Cavaliers fans supported him and still believe that this was the right decision.
In 2014, Gilbert and LeBron James reconciled, admitting that both were to some extent wrong, after which James returned to the Cavaliers and continued to play for his old team.
Gambling business
In November 2009, Dan Gilbert and his partners began lobbying to change the Ohio Gambling Act. A referendum was held according to which gambling was allowed in the four largest cities of this state. Together with his partners, Gilbert opened the Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland.
After a while, the casino, it was decided to rename Jack Cleveland Casino, so that the name was associated with the name of the company, which formally owns this institution - Jack Entertainment.
