Quicken Loans Buyback Strategy
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Dan Gilbert executed a strategic sale and buyback of his mortgage lending business, which became one of the largest independent mortgage lenders in the United States.
Key Points:
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Initial Business Creation & Sale:
- Started Rock Financial in 1985 as independent mortgage lender
- Launched internet strategy during dotcom boom
- Sold to Intuit for $90 million in late 1990s
- Kept "Quicken Loans" branding despite being separate from Intuit's Quicken software
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Strategic Buyback:
- Bought business back from Intuit for approximately $20 million in 2002
- Removed changes Intuit had implemented
- Retained Quicken Loans brand name
- Grew it into largest independent mortgage business in US
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Current Status:
- Took company public recently (6 months ago)
- Gilbert maintained 85-90% ownership through IPO
- Current market cap: $46 billion
- Now larger than Wells Fargo in mortgage lending
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Business Model:
- Provides home mortgages to customers
- Innovated around culture and structure
- Transformed fragmented industry run by banks and small lenders
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Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.