Omar Amanat

Omar Amanat
Nationality American
Occupation Entrepreneur

Omar S. Amanat is an American who has worked as an entrepreneur in the online trading industry, the media industry and the luxury hospitality industry.

Life

He worked at startup online trading firm Datek Online.[1] which was acquired by Ameritrade for $1.3 Billion in 2002. Afterward, he moved to Texas and partnered with Philip Berber on a prototype online trading system called Cyber-Block,[2] which was acquired by Charles Schwab for $488 million in 2000, before moving to New York to start Tradescape.[1] In 2002, E*Trade acquired Tradescape for $276 million.[3]

Involvement in Entertainment Industry

Amanat is a shareholder of The Twilight Saga studio Summit Entertainment, via a 20% ownership stake in Peak Group Holdings.[4] Brent Lang of The Wrap called him "the most powerful person in Hollywood you've never heard of".[4] Summit was acquired by Hunger Games studio Lions Gate for $912.5 million and Peak became one of its largest shareholders.[5]

Philanthropy

Amanat has been a board member of Human Rights Watch, Malaria No More,[6][7] and the Ad Council [8] and worked as a spokesman for Bridges TV before its debut,[9] where he advocated for Muslims to undo negative misperceptions of themselves in media.[10] He co-founded a film fund affiliated with the United Nations called the Alliance of Civilizations Media Fund[11] Amanat commissioned Harvard Medical School to research the physiological effects on minorities who watch images of violence being perpetrated on fellow minorities.[12][13]

He has been an executive producer of films including The Visitor,[14] Darfur Now,[14] Smart People,[14] and The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.[14]

Aman Resorts

Amanat is the founder and Chairman of Peak Hotels & Resorts Limited and Aman Resorts Group Limited (ARGL) a joint venture between Amanat and Aman founder Adrian Zecha, which purchased luxury hotel and resort chain Aman Resorts from DLF for $360 million on February 10, 2014.[15]

Questionable Business Practices

In July 2014 Amanat filed suit in the High Court of London against Doronin claiming Doronin committed breaches of a shareholders’ agreement and forced the unlawful ouster of Amanresorts founder Adrian Zecha as CEO of Amanresorts. Amanat claimed the decision to remove Zecha as CEO did not have board approval and brought a case to the High Court in London, which on 14 July reinstated Zecha as CEO. The judge's decision, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, was a victory for Omar Amanat.[16] Two days later Doronin filed a counter-lawsuit in New York [17] where Doronin lost the case when the New York judge ruled that the lawsuit must be decided in England [18] In July 2014, London’s High Court permitted a board decision to stand which replaced Zecha with Olivier Jolivet as CEO.[19]

References

  1. 1 2 Matthew Goldstein Tradescape Becomes a Contender SmartMoney. March 13, 2000. Accessed February 9, 2011.
  2. Business Week http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=430125&privcapId=40485923&previousCapId=42368917&previousTitle=National%20Security%20Solutions%20Inc
  3. "E*Trade Shareholder Filing: S.E.C 10-Q Quarterly Report" (PDF). shareholder.com. June 30, 2002.
  4. 1 2 Brent Lang (March 14, 2011). "Summit Investor's Libel Suit Reveals Omar Amanat's Control" The Wrap Accessed August 5, 2011.
  5. Alex Ben Block (1/13/2012). .
  6. http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/07/06/blood-stained-hands. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. (PDF) https://www.malarianomore.org/assets/2011%20990%20Full.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. http://stage.ez.adcouncil.org/About-Us/Committees/Advisory-Committee. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. Jay Tokasz (December 20, 2004). "Muslim TV Network Debuted Amid Litigation". Buffalo News. p. B.3.
  10. News aljazeerah.info: First American Muslim Television Channel Announced by Bridges Network
  11. Oprah Winfrey http://www.oprah.com/oprahradio/Global-Philanthropist-Omar-Amanat
  12. Ten Young Visionaries http://islamicamagazine.com/?p=722
  13. UN Alliance of Civilizations Research http://www.unaoc.org/repository/thematic_media.pdf
  14. 1 2 3 4 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2713368/
  15. Arun Kumar
  16. "London Court Rules Doronin Must Step Down as Amanresorts CEO - WSJ". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  17. "Russian Real Estate Investor Doronin Sues Amanresorts Partner". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  18. http://pagesix.com/2014/12/17/doronin-forced-to-move-aman-resort-case-back-to-uk/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  19. "London’s High Court Permits Aman Group’s Board to Remove CEO". Luxury Hotel Acquisitions. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
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