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Philip F. Anschutz: The Contrarian Strategy
Anschutz was born in Great Bend, Kansas in 1939 to Fred B. Anschutz, who ran an oil drilling company called ‘Circle
ADrilling’ in Denver. To assist his father inmeeting the domestic needs,Anschutz startedworking at the age of 14.Heworked
in banks, grocery stores and yards as helper. But this did not stop him fromcompleting his education.Anschutz completed
his graduation in business fromthe University of Kansas in 1961. Anschutz then wanted to pursue a law degree. But due
to his father’s ailing health, Anschutz had to return tomanage his father’s business...
Qwest Communications Inc
The first thing Anschutz did after taking the reins ofQwest wasmaking an offer to long
distance callers. He announced that he would offer long distance service at 7 1/2-cents aminute in certain cities of the US.
The customers usually paid asmuch as 20 cents aminute on long distance services. Analysts called this announcement a
wake-up call for traditional phone companies10 . A series of acquisitions then followed . But themajor among them
was the acquisition of LCI International in March 1998 for $4.4 billion. LCI International, a phone company in the US was
known for itsmarketing strategies,whichQwest hoped to capitalize on...
Forest Oil
In 1995, an oil recovery company ForestOil,was incurring losses though it enjoyed amarket capitalization
of more than $522 million. Anschutz studied the oil field assets of the company and decided to form a joint venture.
Accordingly, he invested about $105million in Forest Oil in return for a 31%stake. The deal gave Forest Oil new fields in
theYukon and the Northwest Territories to explore. But the same year, ForestOil reported losses of $20million on revenue
of $82million. The company was also charged $175million for destroying the natural properties of oil and gas, which they
explored...
Anschutz Film, Entertainment and Theatre Group
At a time when family orientedmovies were not selling in US,
Anschutz took the risk of producing family oriented and violence-freemovies. He establishedWaldenMedia, a family and
education oriented filmand TVproduction company in 2000. “He believes there is a huge untappedmarket for things families
can do together,” said James Monaghan, anAnschutz spokesman.13 Walden Media teamed up with Disney in 2001 to
produce a documentary film ‘Ghosts of the Abyss’ and ‘Holes’, based on popular children’s novels. Though the two
documentaries were received well, the remake of themovie ‘Around TheWorld in 80 Days’ (also distributed byDisney) by
the company faredmiserably at the box office andAnschutz lost about $ 25million...
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