HOT Magazine HOT Magazine - Issue 11, 12 Volume 5 | Page 65

B
ill Heinecke is a business
legend.
Heinecke moved
to Bangkok in 1963 at age
14 with his family, having
previously lived in Japan, Hong
Kong and Malaysia. Bill attended the
International School in Bangkok but
was more interested in go-karting
than studying. He approached the
editor of the now defunct Bangkok
World asking if he could write a
column on go-karts. The editor
agreed on one condition, young
Bill had to also sell advertising for
the newspaper. He was paid a
commission and within months he
was making more money than the
newspaper’s full-time sales staff.
At the age 17 he was promoted to
advertising manager of the paper.
After completing high school,
Bill borrowed $1,200 USD’s from a
money lender and used the money
to buy rags, mops and buckets. He
then set about getting contracts to
clean commercial office buildings in
Bangkok. In 1967 he founded Minor
Holdings. “Minor” being a nod to
his youth.
Fast forward 50 years and from
that $1,200 USD’s borrowed, Bill,
now a billionaire, has built MINOR
International (MINT), into a global
powerhouse with yearly revenue of
over $1.6 Billion USD’s and a market
cap of over $5.3 Billion, employing
more than 64,000 people.
MINT is a hotel owner, operator
and investor with a portfolio of over
155 hotels and serviced suites under
the Anantara, AVANI, Oaks, Tivoli,
Elewana, JW Marriott, Four Seasons,
St. Regis, Radisson Blu and Minor
International brands in 24 countries
across Asia Pacific, the Middle East,
Africa, the Indian Ocean, Europe and
South America.
In 1980 Bill introduced pizza
to Asians. Experts predicted that
Asian’s would never take to the
Western faire but Bill added local
ingredients and quickly became
Asia’s pizza king.
He initially
franchised for Pizza Hut but when
the parent company tried to restrict
his other restaurant franchise efforts
Bill struck off on his own and started
Pizza Company. Pizza Company
quickly went on to dominate the
pizza business in Thailand. An
entrepreneur at heart, Bill spied
a related opportunity and moved
into dairy production, churning out
cheese to top all those pies with an
annual production of over 1,000 tons
of mozzarella for his Thailand Pizza
parlors alone.
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