Stan Kroenke

Stan Kroenke met Ann Walton, daughter of Walmart co-founder James Lawrence ‘Bud’ Walton, in Aspen, Colorado. The couple married in 1974. He has two children with Ann—daughter Whitney Ann Kroenke, who was born on September 29, 1977, and son Josh Kroenke, who was born on May 7, 1980. He has two other children as well—Brett Kroenke and Katie Kroenke.

After his father-in-law Bud Walton’s death in 1995, Kroenke inherited a stake in Walmart Stores Inc., which was worth $4.8 billion as of September 2015.

According to his friends, he loves to travel internationally, and is a compulsive reader. He loves to read biographies and historical novels, among other things. He also enjoys working out at his private gym.

Stanley Kroenke was born on July 29, 1947, in Columbia, Boone County, Missouri, USA, to Alvin H Kroenke and Evelyn Dimple Kroenke. His father owned a lumberyard in Mora, a small town in Missouri. As he was a hardcore supporter of the American baseball team St. Louis Cardinals, he named his son Enos Stanley Kroenke—‘Enos’ after Enos Slaughter, a player of the team which won the 1946 World Series, and ‘Stanley’ after the player Stan Musial.

Kroenke grew up in Mora. As a child he used to sweep the floors at his father's lumberyard. When he was a ten-year-old, he started maintaining the accounts of his father’s company. He also loved to listen to the radio with his grandfather. According to David Glass, former chief executive of Walmart, Kroenke was interested in knowing about businesses from a young age. Glass described Kroenke as a “sponge” who absorbs everything he can learn.

He attended Cole Camp High School in Missouri, where he excelled as a student, and additionally took interest in sports like baseball, basketball, and track. In the basketball team, he played as a forward and scored 33 points in one of the games, which became a school record and remained unbeaten for over a decade.

He went to the University of Missouri and acquired his Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Masters of Business Administration degrees. For some time, he attended law school as well.

Stan Kroenke founded Kroenke Group, a real estate development company, in 1983. The company has built several marketplaces and apartments across the US, including a number of shopping centers near Walmart stores.

His company THF Realty, founded in 1991, is into development of suburban areas. By 2016, the value of the company was worth about $2 billion, and it was handling 100 large-scale projects, primarily of shopping centers.

In 1999, he established Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) in Denver. In total, the company owns five sports franchises, and a major stake in a sixth one; three stadiums; four television channels; four radio stations; one internet TV channel; 19 magazines; a franchised video game team, and several websites.

In 1999, Kroenke bought a major share in St. Louis Rams of NFL (which was later shifted to Los Angeles), and in 2000, he fully acquired Denver Nuggets of NBA, and Colorado Avalanche of NHL. In 2002, he became the co-owner of Colorado Crush of Arena Football League, and in 2004, he became the owner of Colorado Mammoth of NLL, and Colorado Rapids of MLS.

In 2004, he started the regional sports network, Altitude, which basically became the mouthpiece of his teams. His ticket company TicketHorse looked into the sales of tickets for all the games of his teams. In January 2014, it was renamed as Altitude Tickets, and a new website www.AltitudeTickets.com was launched.