18 success secrets of ‘Ports King’ Ricky Razon
Above all, you want to create something you are proud of. That’s always been my philosophy of business. I can honestly say that I have never gone into any business purely to make money. If that is the sole motive, then I believe you are better off doing nothing.
— Richard Branson
One of the wealthiest yet quite enigmatic and media-shy billionaires in the Philippines is 52-year-old “Ports King” Ricky Razon, who on Oct. 17 hosted a rare press conference at the Peninsula Manila Hotel in Makati City to launch his US$1-billion Solaire Casino & Resorts project.
In a short prepared speech he read, Razon announced that the first phase of Solaire would open in March 2013. It will be the first of the four rival mega-resort projects in Pagcor’s Entertainment City by the Manila Bay with licenses granted to the four groups under former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. It aims to rival Macau and Singapore.
Enrique “Ricky” Razon Jr. of International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) is ranked the Philippines’ No. 3 wealthiest billionaire with an estimated net worth of US$3.2 billion — just behind Henry Sy Sr. of SM/BDO and Lucio Tan of Philippine Airlines/PNB/Asia Brewery/Tanduay.
Tanned, with an athletic build, the six-foot La Salle graduate is one of the late Enrique “Pocholo” Razon Sr.’s five children. He is the youngest of the Philippines’ top-ranked billionaires and grandson of a former governor of Nueva Ecija province. His family is of ethnic Basque heritage with ancestral roots in northern Spain, similar to the billionaire clans, the Zobel-Ayalas of Makati and the Aboitizes of Cebu.
What are the success secrets of the accomplished Ricky Razon, who — despite once owning broadsheet newspaper Manila Standard (which he sold to the Romualdez family) and a close ally/confidant of various former presidents — is extremely media-shy?
Years ago this writer had a short chat with him at Okuda Hotel Tokyo during President Joseph Estrada’s visit to Japan. Razon is amiable, sociable and smart. Here are some of his success secrets, culled from my exclusive interviews with the port king’s closest business and golf associates as well as top executives:
1. Be a visionary. Ricky Razon has a bold vision, not just to operate a profitable enterprise, but it also seems he wants to be world-class and possibly outshine the world’s No. 1 “Casino King,” the legendary American self-made tycoon Sheldon Adelson of The Sands Las Vegas, Macau and Singapore. Adelson has an estimated net worth of $20.5 billion and is a big donor to Jewish charities/causes.
I noticed many of Razon’s people behind Solaire’s planning and operations are alumni or formerly executives of Adelson. The top-caliber management team behind Solaire is led by Global Gaming Asset Management chairman and CEO William Weidner (former president of Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp.), president Bradley “Brad” Stone (former president of global operations of Las Vegas Sands Corp., the first Western casino in Macau), and EVP Garry Saunders (he helped open Lawrence Ho’s City of Dreams Macau in 2008).
In Solaire itself, chief operating officer Michael French used to work for Sands casino under Adelson. Even the architect of Razon’s Solaire Resort, Paul Steelman, was the same guy who designed Adelson’s mega-projects like the Sands Macau and Four Seasons Macau.
2. Take risks. Jose Eduardo Alarilla, vice chairman and board director of Razon’s publicly listed Bloomberry Resorts Corporation, which is behind Solaire, is owner of the Mega Subic Terminal Services, Inc., and a business and golfing friend of Razon’s for over 25 years. Alarilla told me, “Ricky Razon is really a risk-taker, because he loves challenges when it comes to business. He said if the business is ordinary and easy to do, there’s not much opportunity.”
Bloomberry Resorts director Donato Almeda, who has known Razon for six years, said, “Ricky Razon knows how to take risks and he’s good at managing his risks.”
3. Be passionate. Bradley Stone said, “Ricky Razon is a very intense and demanding guy. He wants Solaire to be world-class and to be the game changer in Philippine gaming entertainment. The Philippines is ahead of others in terms of your government’s tax rate for VIP junket customers for casino resorts at only 15 percent, while the tax rate is 39 percent for Macau. With Solaire’s grand plans, luxurious facilities and the best people deployed by Razon, this project will be really world-class.”
Francis Lumen, successful co-producer of Phantom of the Opera and producer of the upcoming Jennifer Lopez concert, got the entertainment contract of Solaire’s 150-seat Entertainment Lounge. He said, “Ricky Razon strikes me as a passionate, adventurous visionary. He is not afraid. He reminds me of Britain’s billionaire Richard Branson. Even in his personal lifestyle, he’s into board kiting sport.”
4. Work relentlessly hard. Alarilla said, “Ricky Razon is a hard worker. When he needs to do something, he pursues it relentlessly.”
5. Travel the world. Stone said, “One of the reasons he knows how to make Solaire Resort & Casino world-class is because Ricky Razon is a world traveler. He has traveled extensively and is well-schooled in what he has seen in Paris, London, Tokyo, etc.”
6. Be a perfectionist. Stone revealed: “Ricky Razon is a perfectionist. People like him set their minds and never compromise. Today he was unhappy with a design in Solaire; he just wants to change. He is driven to do things; he’s driven to excellence.”
Solaire COO Michael French said, “Filipinos love to eat, and Ricky Razon told us, ‘We’ll have the best restaurants in the Philippines in Solaire.’ So we have first-class Chinese-Cantonese, Italian, Japanese, steakhouse and buffet restaurants with the very finest chefs in this complex.”
7. Be straightforward and direct. Alarilla said, “His late father Enrique ‘Pocholo’ Razon Sr. was also very industrious with lots of friends; he also had more PR and charm in implementing the business. While the son Ricky Razon is more straightforward in business style, very direct.”
8. Have a flexible personality. Despite being one of the country’s top three wealthiest billionaires, Alarilla said of Ricky Razon, “His personality is very flexible. He can be with the top CEOs, politicians and also with workers or people from below. He is down-to-earth.”
9. Politics is only for business, nothing personal. I asked how it is that Razon has been closely associated with past presidents, from Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Joseph Estrada to Fidel Ramos and now President Noynoy Aquino, not to mention diverse politicos of all stripes.
Alarilla said, “If you really look at it, politically there’s no personalan (nothing personal). He’s really a true businessman; politics, it’s for business and friendship. The politics is possibly as an aside, it’s not the main issue.”
10. Have a healthy lifestyle. Donato Almeda said, “Aside from being a class-A golfer and starting as a junior golfer, Razon lives a healthy lifestyle. He is very athletic. He regularly goes to the gym for exercises” I heard Razon has personal gym trainers for his exercise regimens, and has quit smoking.
11. Be sports-minded. Bradley Stone said that one of Razon’s favorite sports is kite boarding, which is now in the Olympics. Stone said, “When one hits a wave, you can fly as high as 30 feet above the sea. Razon is similar to the adventurous British billionaire Richard Branson of the Virgin Group in this aspect of life. He lives life.”
Alarilla said, “Ricky says his golf handicap is a six, but I think it’s more like a two. He was a junior golfer, maybe he started playing golf even in his early teens. He has put up the Philippine Golf Tour Foundation to help the sport.”
12. Have supreme self-confidence. Razon believes in himself, his abilities and his grand vision.
13. Hire the best people. Aside from recruiting the best management team and executives from the resort casino industry’s top firms, Solaire COO Michael French revealed that they interviewed and vetted 50,000 applicants to hire 4,500 full-time managers and staff for Solaire. He added that hiring good people is only the start; they will continuously train them, too.
14. Be a decisive leader. French said that Razon makes decisions decisively.
15. Love to read. Razon’s associates told me the tycoon loves to read books, whether business, history or biographies. He also reads magazines and other publications.
French added, “I think he is a fast reader. I recently gave him a two-inch-thick security manual, and he read it all overnight! He really read it, he discussed it with me the next day, and I think his being a fast reader is an amazing skill.”
16. Be time-conscious. Friends say Razon is time-conscious. To him, his time is very precious so he flies to his favorite golf course in The Country Club in Santa Rosa, Laguna, via personal helicopter for his afternoon games.
17. Be globally competitive. Unlike most entrepreneurs or kids of businesspeople who are used to their comfort zones in their wealth, Razon has built up his dad’s business into a globally competitive conglomerate with investments from China, South America, Europe, Southeast Asia and the US.
18. Be a good listener. French, who has met and worked for other billionaire casino resort bosses like Sheldon Adelson and Lawrence Ho of the famous Stanley Ho clan, said, “Ricky Razon is a good guy because he listens. He responds. Among a lot of people in that level up there, they don’t usually do that. I’ve worked for Lawrence Ho as my boss; he opened the half-billion-dollar West Crown Macau and later the $2.3-billion City of Dreams Macau. Lawrence Ho is very affable, easy to talk to, an all-around decent guy, but he was slower at decision-making, has lots of people around him and it was harder to reach him. In contrast, our boss Ricky Razon is very accessible; he responds to text messages if not busy and he has frequent meetings with us.”
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