Jerry Reinsdorf

Jerry Michael Reinsdorf (born February 25, 1936) is an American sports executive and businessman who is the owner of the NBA's Chicago Bulls and MLB's Chicago White Sox. He started his professional life as a tax attorney with the Internal Revenue Service. He has been the owner of the White Sox and Bulls for nearly 40 years. As of August 2026, his net worth was estimated at US$2.3 billion.

He made his initial fortune in real estate, taking advantage of the Frank Lyon Co. v. United States decision by the United States Supreme Court, which allowed economic owners of realty to sell property and lease it back, while transferring the tax deduction for depreciation to the title owner.

As the owner and chairman of the Chicago Bulls since 1985, he oversaw a turnaround in the franchise's fortunes, culminating in six NBA Championships in the 1990s (1991–1993 and 1996–1998). He is controversial for his involvement (along with Jerry Krause) in breaking up the championship team by not hiring back Phil Jackson. He signed Michael Jordan as a baseball player during his sabbatical from basketball. He also moved the Bulls from Chicago Stadium to the United Center.

After Reinsdorf's purchase of the White Sox in 1981, the franchise made the playoffs in 1983 for the first time since 1959, and won the World Series for the first time since 1917 in 2005, the only year during his tenure as owner in which the White Sox have won a playoff series. Reinsdorf moved the White Sox from Comiskey Park to New Comiskey Park in 1991 (now known as Rate Field). In both sporting endeavors, he has developed a reputation as an anti-labor union hardliner. Since the early 1990s, he has been considered one of the most influential basketball owners. He has been influential in instituting the salary cap and revenue sharing.

Reinsdorf was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, and is the son of a sewing machine salesman. He attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, Reinsdorf was in the stands the day Jackie Robinson debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking the major leagues' longstanding "color line".

Reinsdorf earned a bachelor's degree from George Washington University. where he became a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi. He subsequently moved to Chicago in 1957. Reinsdorf became a certified public accountant and lawyer as well as a registered mortgage underwriter and a certified review appraiser. He leveraged a full scholarship offer from the University of Chicago Law School into a scholarship from the Northwestern University School of Law.

Reinsdorf worked as an IRS lawyer after graduating from Northwestern in 1960, where his first case concerned the tax delinquency of Bill Veeck, who at the time owned the White Sox. In 1964, he went into private practice. He developed a specialty in real estate partnership tax shelters. He sold his business interests in the real estate partnership in 1973 and formed Balcor, which raised US$650 million to invest in buildings under construction. He sold Balcor in 1982 for $102 million to Shearson Lehman Brothers, the investment banking and brokerage arm of American Express. However, he continued to be President of the company for several years thereafter.

In 1981, Reinsdorf purchased the Chicago White Sox for $19 million. The purchase was brokered by American National Bank who arranged for a limited partnership. He followed previous eccentric White Sox owners Charles Comiskey, who was known as a miser, and Veeck, who was known as a prankster who gutted the team by trading away promising prospects. Soon after buying the White Sox, he signed Greg Luzinski and Carlton Fisk. He also tripled the team promotional budget and increased the number of team scouts from 12 to 20. By the 1983 Major League Baseball season the White Sox made the playoffs with the best record in the Major Leagues. The team initially signed a television deal with the newly founded Sportsvision under the new leadership of Chairman Reinsdorf and Vice Chairman Eddie Einhorn, but that arrangement quickly fizzled. Einhorn continued as Vice Chairman of the White Sox until his death in 2016.

In 1985, Reinsdorf purchased the Chicago Bulls as part of a syndicate for $16 million, following in the footsteps of Einhorn, who had purchased the United States Football League's Chicago Blitz franchise in 1984. In the months prior to the purchase, Milwaukee businessman Marvin Fishman had been awarded a $16.2 million judgment against the Bulls. Fishman had been illegally blocked from purchasing the team in 1972. Reinsdorf purchased the team from an ownership group that included Lamar Hunt, George Steinbrenner, Walter Shorenstein, Jonathan Kovler, Lester Crown, Philip Klutznick, and the estate of Arthur Wirtz, and he held a $9.2 million controlling interest in the team. Reinsdorf's share of 56.8% of the team was purchased from Klutznick, Steinbrenner, Shorenstein and the estate of Wirtz. His purchase ended an era in which the Bulls were managed by committee with decisions by conference call, verdicts by vote. Reinsdorf acquired his majority interests on March 11, 1985, and Kovler sold his 7% stake in the team on January 29, 1986, bringing Reinsdorf's interest to 63%. The following week Reinsdorf ousted Rod Thorn as general manager and replaced him with Jerry Krause.

Led by Jordan, who was drafted the year before Reinsdorf purchased the team, the team's popularity and on-court success rapidly improved. The Bulls drafted Horace Grant and Scottie Pippen and traded for Bill Cartwright to join John Paxson and Michael Jordan under the tutelage of head coach Doug Collins. In 1989, the franchise promoted then-Bulls assistant coach Phil Jackson to be Collins's replacement at the team's helm. Jackson would prove to be the final core addition, catalyzing the Bulls' dynastic championship run of six NBA championship titles in eight seasons (1991–1998). Whereas before Reinsdorf's purchase the team had an average attendance of 6,365 in the 17,339-seat Chicago Stadium, from November 20, 1987, through Jordan's 1998 retirement, the Bulls sold out every game, including their first few seasons at the United Center, where they play to this very day.

The White Sox won American League regular season Division Championships in 1983, 1993, 2000, 2005, 2008, and 2021 under Reinsdorf, and won the 2005 World Series. They also led the central division at the conclusion of the strike-shortened 1994 Major League Baseball season. The World Series victory made him only the third owner in the history of North American sports to win a championship in two different sports, and boosted the value of the franchise to over $300 million. Reinsdorf signed Jordan to a minor league contract with the White Sox after Jordan's announcement that he wanted to play baseball, a move many thought was solely due to Jordan's drawing power. Reinsdorf had tried to convince Jordan not to give up basketball, but had not attempted to make Jordan the highest paid player in the game, as some felt he should have.

As both a basketball and baseball owner, Reinsdorf has been described by Time as a "cheapskate." As a baseball owner, he has a reputation as one of the most militant, anti-union, hard-line owners. Newsweek described him as "one of the hardest heads in the 1994 baseball strike." In the baseball offseason between the 1992 and 1993 seasons, he completely abstained from the free agent market. Reinsdorf was one of the last holdouts to the 1996 labor agreement that instituted the salary cap while retaining arbitration rights for the players. His 1996 signing of Albert Belle made news because of his widely publicized general opposition to spiraling player salaries. The $55 million signing was a turning point in the decision by the baseball owners to agree to revenue sharing. The signing made Reinsdorf the employer of the highest paid Major League Baseball player and highest paid professional basketball player (Jordan) at the same time. Reinsdorf had just re-signed Jordan after the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan had been underpaid for most of his career, but Reinsdorf did not feel he could justify the $30 million salary from a business standpoint. Even his most successful baseball team was not highly paid: the 2005 World Series champion White Sox had the 13th highest payroll of the 30 Major League Baseball teams.

Six-time NBA champion (as owner of the Bulls)

2005 World Series champion (as owner of the White Sox)

Three-time Midwest League champion (as owner of the Appleton Foxes)

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (Class of 2016 – as a contributor)

Appleton, Wisconsin Baseball Hall of Fame (Class of 2006)

Reinsdorf has been involved in Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's initiative to improve standardized test scores in the 559 Chicago Public Schools. He has also been involved in other extensive charitable work including those of CharitaBulls and White Sox Charities. His philanthropy and community development have been notable in the Near West Side community area near the United Center. The White Sox Charities have donated to the Chicago Park District with particular purpose of funding construction and maintenance baseball and softball fields.

He has been a member of the board of directors of Shearson Lehman Brothers, Inc., the Northwestern University Law School Alumni Association, LaSalle Bank, EQ Office and numerous other corporations and charities. He currently serves as a Life Trustee of Northwestern University.

Throughout the years, Reinsdorf has been active in the affairs of baseball, serving on the Executive Council and Ownership, Long Range Planning, Restructuring, Expansion, Equal Opportunity, Strategic Planning, Legislative and Labor Policy Committees of Major League Baseball, he also serves on the Boards of MLB Advanced Media and MLB Enterprises.

In 2013, Reinsdorf partnered with Mark Sullivan, Noah Kroloff, Dennis Burke, David Aguilar, and John Kaites to found Global Security and Innovative Strategies.

In 1956, while they were both students at George Washington University, he married Martyl Rifkin (March 4, 1936 – June 28, 2021). She was born in Denver, Colorado, the daughter of Milton and Vivette Rifkin (née Ravel); the Rifkin family moved to Chicago in 1944, and Martyl attended Morgan Park High School. Their union resulted in four children, Susan, David, Michael, and Jonathan.