Gary Tharaldson was born in 1945, in Dazey, North Dakota USA, of part Scandinavian descent. Gary is an entrepreneur, best known for being the founder of Tharaldson Companies, which holds numerous hotels around the country and has been responsible for big transactions within the industry. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Gary Tharaldson? As of mid-2017, sources estimate a net worth that is at $900 million, mostly earned through success in the hotel industry. He’s acquired, developed, built and profited from numerous hotels since his first purchase in 1982. As he continues his endeavors, it is expected that his wealth will also continue to increase.
Gary Tharaldson Net Worth $900 million
Gary grew up in Dazy, and attended Valley State University, graduating with degrees in physical education and business administration. He first pursued education as a career, doing graduate work at North Dakota State University. He also taught in a school in Leonard, North Dakota for a couple of years.
He then found an interest in the hospitality business, and established Tharaldson Companies in 1982 with his first purchase being a Super 8 Motel located in Valley City, North Dakota. Super 8 is one of the largest motel companies in the country. He quickly built his net worth through development and operation, expanding his reach throughout the entire United States. His net worth grew over the years, and in 1998 he was listed as one of Forbes 400 Richest Americans. Tharaldson Companies is now known as one of America’s largest developers of new hotels.
In 2006 his company sold 130 hotels to a division of Goldman Sachs called Whitehall Real Estate. The purchase was said to have cost $1.2 billion in cash and increased Gary’s net worth to an even higher degree. The money has been invested in various land properties around the country, expanding his reach even further – reports suggest that Diversified Asset Management in Las Vegas now controls these assets.
Tharaldson is now known to operate over 350 hotel properties in the country and is responsible for developing the prototypes for hotels such as the Hilton and Marriott, and hotels from the Intercontinental Hotels Group; Tharaldson Hospitality Management LLC was formed in 2011 to exclusively manage these hotels. He also started his own construction company to save on building costs; according to reports, a lot of his success has come due to his focus on costs, and using midsize cities and planning his hotels there according to the optimum size required. He’s also made other investments, including opening an ethanol plant which buys corn from nearby farms during low price seasons and stores fuel to sell when the economics is right. Consequently, he’s received numerous Developer of the Year awards throughout his career, and was inducted into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame in 2003.
For his personal life, he tends to keep it private, but it is known that Gary has been married twice and has seven children across those two marriages. One of his children is also set on working in the hotel industry.
