Robert Duggan is an American entrepreneur and billionaire whose investment philosophy is "to work for the betterment of all involved." For more than five decades, Duggan has played instrumental roles in growing startups and turning around failing companies. His history of venture capital investments includes a robotic surgery company, a cookie bakery, and numerous tech companies.

Early Life and Schooling

Born in 1944, Duggan grew up as the third of five children in a lower middle-class household in San Jose, California. His father was an Irish immigrant who worked as an industrial engineer and his mother was a registered nurse. When asked about his childhood, Duggan said, "We [our family] made about $800 a month ... The last couple days of every month we scrambled around the house looking for lost quarters, dimes, and nickels [to pay the bills]."

As a child, Duggan played basketball and football. After turning 18 in 1962, Duggan enrolled at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he studied 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:economics. However, he dropped out of the program in 1966 and became a student at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied business management for two years but never completed a degree.

Early Business Activities

Duggan's business career began in 1971 when he invested $100,000 for a 50% stake in a children's embroidery company, Sunset Designs. The company produced the "Jiffy Stitchery Kits" brand of designs that were sold in more than 7,000 retail stores. Sunset Designs was later acquired for $15 million by British consumer goods conglomerate Reckitt and Benckiser Group.

As a serial entrepreneur, Duggan worked on multiple simultaneous business ventures. While a board member at Sunset Designs, he founded Paradise Bakery in 1976. With his investment and guidance, the company secured partnerships to supply cookies to McDonald’s, Disney World, and KFC. The company was sold in 1987 and is now owned by Panera Bread.

Since then, Duggan has both started and invested in numerous other businesses. This includes a technology company that provided computer services to the United States government. He also formed Metropolis Media with a $3 million investment and eventually sold it for $45 million.

Building a Billion-Dollar Company

Duggan first invested in Pharmacyclics in 2005 and jointed its 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:board of directors two years later. In 2008, he was appointed 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:chief executive officer (CEO) after the original chief executive stepped down from the struggling bio-pharmaceutical company.

Forbes reported that Duggan began accumulating shares in the $10 range. He continued amassing shares as they continued to fall, hitting $2 each by 2007. He eventually built a 24.2% stake in the company.

In a 2009 commencement speech at UC Santa Barbara, he told science and math graduates the company was "on a collision course to disaster."

During his tenure from 2008-2015, Duggan saved Pharmacyclics and turned the company into a billion-dollar behemoth with more than 500 employees. The turnaround was mainly driven by the success of Imbruvica, a treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

As a result, shares in Pharmacyclics dramatically increased, rallying from $0.57 each in Feb. 2009 to more than $260 per share just six years later. In 2015, AbbVie announced it would acquire Pharmacyclics for $21 billion. Duggan reportedly made over $3 billion before taxes from the sale.

The Benevolent Billionaire

Throughout his career, Duggan has engaged in many 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:philanthropic endeavors. Both he and his ex-wife, Trish, have given back to their alma mater, the University of California, in various ways, including funding two academic chairs for the school and financing athletic scholarships.

As a devout Scientologist, Duggan has donated millions of dollars to the Church of Scientology as well as non-profit organizations affiliated with the church. Duggan told the Tampa Bay Times his donations to the church exceeded the $360 million figure cited by Forbes. His donations to the Church of Scientology have helped to fund missions and maintain the Freewinds, a cruise ship that hosts religious retreats for parishioners.

Talking about his monetary contributions to the Church, Duggan said, ‘‘Scientology and what it has made available to me in the way of courses and other programs has steered me in the direction of becoming a better and more capable person. Thus, I feel it is an honor and personal obligation to share my financial success with Scientology.”

The Bottom Line

Robert Duggan’s track record of 🦂entrepreneurial success spans more than 50 years. Over the years, Duggan has been involved with a number of businesses from a broad range of industries and steered them to success, and, by doing so, he has gr⭕own his wealth.