Joseph Jack Cayre (born August 1, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman and real estate developer.[ The Real Deal: "Joseph Cayre" by Lauren Elkies retrieved November 23, 2013]
Early life and education
Born Joseph Jack Cayre
to a
Syrian Jewish family
[ New York Times: "The Sy Empire" By ZEV CHAFETS October 14, 2007][ Asbury Park Press: "A money tree grows in Brooklyn - Exclusive neighborhood home to largest Syrian Jewish community in U.S." by BOB CULLINANE August 18, 2006] in Brooklyn but raised in Kansas City, Missouri until he was 8 and then Miami Beach, Florida until he was 20.
His father owned a souvenir store in Miami Beach where Cayre worked as a teenager.
He has two brothers: Stanley and Kenneth.
[ Disco-Disco Interview with Kenneth Cayre retrieved November 25, 2013]
Career
In 1959, Cayre and his brothers started their first business operating a duty-free retail store, the
Paris Freeport Shop, on a cruise ship then owned by a friend that made a daily trip from
Miami to the Bimini, Bahamas and back. They operated the store until 1967 when the ship was retired.
Although still partners, the brothers engaged in separate business activities partnering with cousins from Mexico: Stan opened a textile factory in
Puerto Rico Swan Tricot Mills; in 1963, Ken opened a ladies pantyhose factory,
Kandy Mills, in Hialeah, Florida;
and Joseph opened a plastic injection molding machine factory making 8-track cassette tape cartridges.
When their cousins - who had purchased the exclusive 8-track distribution rights in Mexico for the Spanish music portfolio of
RCA Corporation and
CBS - had excess inventory, the Cayre brothers would sell it in Spanish language markets in the USA.
After being requested to stop selling in the USA by both CBS and RCA (since the cousins only had the right to distribute in Mexico), the Cayre brothers, selling their textile interests to their Mexican cousins, purchased the exclusive 8-track Spanish language distribution rights from both CBS and RCA; within a year, they also acquired the same distribution rights for Spanish music
LP records.
In 1972, they founded their music distribution business, Caytronics Distributing in New York City.
Salsoul Records
As Salsa music was very popular in New York City owing to its large Puerto Rican population and the fact that their portfolio was mostly Mexican-oriented music, the Cayre brothers started their own Salsa focused record label called
Mericana Records. They were able to sign
Joe Bataan away from their main competitor,
Fania Records; Bataan subsequently released an album called SalSoul (a combination of
Salsa and
Soul). The record was purchased by CBS Records for $100,000.
They took the money and put together the
SalSoul Orchestra in Philadelphia (with Earl Young on drums, Ronnie Baker on bass, Norman Harris and
Bobby Eli on guitar,
Bunny Sigler and
Ron Kersey on keyboards, Vincent Montana, Jr. on vibes, and Larry Washington on the congas) and recorded three songs including the
SalSoul Hustle which was an immediate hit.
Their new label
Salsoul Records focused on the dance market at the same time that
Disco music was becoming popular.
The label produced 8 to 10 records per month in the late 1970s.
In 1976, Salsoul released the first commercially available 12-inch single, Double Exposure's
Ten Percent. Salsoul Records also manufactured and distributed
Gold Mind' output. Salsoul was affected by The disco backlash of 1979, but it was one of the few labels to survive after the death of disco. It continued to release new material until 1984 when the Cayre brothers shut down their recorded music operations to concentrate on the
home video business.
GoodTimes Entertainment
In 1984, they founded GoodTimes Home Video Corporation (eventually renamed GoodTimes Entertainment) with 25 Public Domain video titles.
They expanded into the production and distribution of low-priced
physical fitness videos, although its most recognized line of products were a series of low-budget traditionally animated films. Many of its home-video titles (such as
Aladdin,
Beauty and the Beast,
The Jungle Book,
Hercules,
Pocahontas,
Cinderella,
The Little Mermaid,
Snow White,
Thumbelina and
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, among others) were named
Mockbuster[ IMDB list of GoodTimes films Retrieved on March 12, 2013] (though their plots were sometimes very different), and released close to the theatrical and/or home video releases of the major film studios. The Walt Disney Company sued GoodTimes in 1993, because the packaging of the GoodTimes videotapes closely resembled that of Disney's films, potentially confusing customers into buying a GoodTimes film when they thought they were buying a Disney film. As a result of the lawsuit, GoodTimes was required to print its name atop its
VHS covers, but it was still allowed to produce animated films.
[ Bangor Daily News: "Disney loses suit over 'Good Times' Aladdin video" by Peter M. Nichols September 17, 1993]
GoodTimes contracted with Columbia Pictures, NBC, Worldvision Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera, Orion Pictures, and Universal Studios to release inexpensive tapes of many of their films and programs for retail sale; GoodTimes also released several compilations assembled from public domain films, movie trailers, old television programs and newsreels (usually credited to Film Shows, Inc). They also had the exclusive retail contract with Wal-Mart leasing shelf space near the front of their stores.[ Funding Universe: "GT Interactive Software History" retrieved November 26, 2013] In July 2005, GoodTimes filed for bankruptcy and its assets were sold to Gaiam.[ Denver Business Journal: "Gaiam closes GoodTimes Entertainment Deal at $35M" September 14, 2005]
GT Interactive
In 1993, expanding from
home video distribution, they founded
GT Interactive, a
video games distributor and publisher. In that same year, Doom was released as shareware eventually selling 2.9 million copies.
In its first year, revenue reached $10.3 million.
[ 09/02/96 LOTS OF "DOOM" BUT NO GLOOM ] The company went public in 1995.
[ Midtown Equities Website: "Joseph Cayre" retrieved November 26, 2013]
Midtown Equities
In 2000, Cayre founded Midtown Equities to expand and consolidate his real estate holdings.
He is also co-founder and chairman of Core Group Marketing, a residential sales company.
In early 2001, he partnered with Larry Silverstein and
Lloyd Goldman to purchase the lease of the World Trade Center from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
[ Wall Street Journal: "Meet the Other Trade Center Builder - Larry Silverstein's Deep-Pocketed Partner, Lloyd Goldman, Is Likely to Take Over the Office Towers One Day" By Alex Frangos and Peter Grant September 11, 2008] for $3.2 billion.
[ Bloomberg: "WTC Investor Lloyd Goldman Buys Co-Op for $13.8 Million" By Oshrat Carmiel & David M. Levitt March 15, 2012] The partnership was required to post $800 million in fees and down payments to win the deal. Goldman and Cayre posted a combined $110 million; Silverstein contributed $14 million; Westfield America contributed $127 million (Westfield controlled the retail mall at the trade center); and $563 million was borrowed from
Ally Financial.
[ New York Times: "Silverstein Will Get Most of His Cash Back In Trade Center Deal" By CHARLES V. BAGLI November 22, 2003] Goldman was to receive 25% of the management fees.
In 2006, Goldman's share was increased to 50% and he will take over control of the project from Silverstein in 2016.
Midtown Equities is currently working on Midtown Miami, a $2.3 billion, 55-acre mega-project in Miami with 3,000 condominiums, of retail space, and of office space.
Personal life
Cayre has been married to his wife Trina for 37 years and they have four sons and one daughter:
Michael, Grace, Steven, Jack, and Daniel. Each of his sons is a partner in Midtown Equities.
Cayre lives in Manhattan but also has homes in Brooklyn, in Deal
at the
Jersey Shore, and Aventura, Florida.
In 2007, he sold his house in Midwood, Brooklyn for $10 million, at the time one of the most expensive sales in the borough.
His son, Jack Cayre, is a co-founder of the CORE Group, a New York-based, full-service real estate brokerage firm.
[ Core Group website: "Jack Cayre - Founder" retrieved January 19, 2014] His nephew, Robert "Bobby" Cayre (son of Stanley), founded Aurora Capital Associates in 2001.
External links
