This Billionaire Overcame Bankruptcy to Become Boston’s Second Richest Entrepreneur | Forbes
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- Опубліковано 31 жов 2022
- Rob Hale, 56, likes routine. His typical workday includes nabbing the parking lot’s fifth spot (five is his lucky number), downing four extra-large decaf Dunkin’ coffees (two in the morning, two in the afternoon), overseeing a second group workout at noon (this one, mercifully, 20 minutes), then getting home in time for dinner with Karen, his wife of 28 years. “My life is very regimented,” Hale explains. “It doesn’t deviate much at all.”
Such discipline pays big dividends. Privately held Granite generated over $1.6 billion in sales last year and has no long-term debt. Twenty years after Hale’s first company collapsed, he boasts a $5 billion fortune from his estimated 70% stake in Granite and is one of America’s 400 wealthiest people for the second year running.
How did he do it? Forget about the blockchain, the metaverse or the cloud. The Bostonian built a 21st-century telecommunications empire on the back of 150-year-old technology: twisted-copper-wire telephone lines, or “plain old telephone service” (POTS, as it’s known in the industry). Granite, a telecom wholesaler, leases these old-fashioned lines from phone companies, then sells the service back to businesses at a premium.
POTS has one huge advantage over fiber-optic cables and wireless: unmatchable reliability. Unlike glass fiber, twisted copper can transmit electric power, meaning POTS keeps working even during a blackout. That makes it attractive for powering essentials such as fire alarms, security systems and emergency elevator phones. “Wall Street thinks they’re dead, but every retailer on the planet has a couple of POTS lines,” Hale says.
Granite’s angle is to sell POTS to national retailers (Nike, CVS and PepsiCo are clients) whose IT chiefs want a single point of contact for their many phone lines in many different states. When a POTS line in Montana goes down, techies at CVS don’t have to chase after the local phone carrier to fix it; they call Granite, which does it for them.
“Any national brand you can think of, they don’t want to deal with seven phone companies,” Hale explains. “They want to deal with one.”
That deceptively simple formula has worked for years. But now Granite faces an existential crisis: Hang up on landlines or get left behind.
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What a great businessman! Went through a lot in life and still have a good heart for the community. God bless his heart!
Amen
Imagining the pain this guy went through losing everything vs rebuilding is incredibly motivating.
We are proud to have such a strong and admirable leader for our company! Thank you @Forbes!
This is quite remarkable to hear of Mr. Hale's success!. I used to work for Robert Hale Sr. in a small town in Easthampton, Mass. His company was HMS, Ltd. while working there I was witness to Rob building the satellite space to his new venture Network Plus. I was there when they built brand new office space in the old mill/warehouse. It was quite a build-up. I've always wondered what happened to Network Plus. It's so satisfying to see where this man ended up and the tremendous success he's attained!! It really is! I don't know he'll ever see this comment, but you deserve a huge congratulation!!, I saw where "it began". This was back in the late 1980's- early 1990's!! And also a RIP to hid dad, who really got me into a lot of different things while working at HMS Ltd.!!
Dad would be super proud, as I know he already was! Ahh the days of cut-outs, hula hoops, and magic wands!
really appreciate what Granite doing...
what track is this? :)
Rob has a Big family and an even bigger heart that is the variable to his success. I Hope to some day sit down with my Cousing from Boston.
cheers
Life is just to Love and to be Loved 💕 Love alone can Conquer the WORLD 🙏
donating to ChIldren’s Hospital doesn’t help children..a hospital with an investment branch is more preoccupied with investing its money helping children is for PR
Are you new to cryptocurrency trading?
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It's a Hale of a Tale !
❤
my guy john hyatt keeps moving laterally
like this:
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You're not wrong lol
This is crazy impressive. He built a billion dollar company twice??
Behind every great fortune is a crime.
Behind every great fortune is a great mind
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early
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