• Four Seasons Hotel first opened in 1961 in Torontoby a man named Isadore Sharp
  • First began as an idea that spurred while working with his father as a young architect
  • With this success Isadore Sharp decided to expand the company to London, England in 1970 though he was advised the competition proved to be to great for where he wanted to locate
  • The Four Seasons hotel in London was extremely successful having a 95% occupancy rate and is considered to be one of the most profitable hotels in the world.
  • Four Seasons faced a couple of setbacks in 1982 the company faced $ 116 million in long-term debt
  • In 1992 the company was expanding due to a partnership with Regent International Hotel Limited
  • Though the partnership seemed successful for a while and together the companies owned 45-medium sized luxury properties and resorts in 19 countries it still did not save the company from debt. The company was unable to bid on some hotels the company wanted to control.
  • The company faced some financial issues they still managed to keep strong and attract many important figures in the world but its most important was Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal.
  • Prince Alwaleed helped the company extremely by buying 25% of the companies stocks in 1994
  • This merger with Prince Alwaleed’s company Kingdom Hotels International helped the company not only financially but also opened doors for business negotiations with Middle Eastern market
  • In November 2006 Prince Alwaleed is the company’s biggest shareholder decided to join forces with Bill Gates’ company Cascade Investment LLC and Isadore Sharp’s company Triples Holding and buyout Four Seasons for $3.8 billion to take the company from a public company to a private company.
  • This transaction was approved and was completed by April 2007, Cascade Investments and Kingdom Hotels International equally share 45% of the companies shares while Triples Holding owns 10 %
  • This merger allows Four Seasons to not have to rely on the stock market and less paper work and accountability due to the government
  • Mr. Gates and Prince Alwaleed currently pay 82$ a share for the company
  • This deal proves to be extremely successful; Four Seasons is still the leading company in luxury hospitality from one hotel in Toronto, Canada to 84 hotels in 35 countries.