William S. Paley

William Samuel Paley

• School University of Pennsylvania
• High School Western Military Academy

• Born September 28, 1901 in Chicago, IL USA
• Died October 26, 1990 in New York, NY USA

Biographical Information

William S. Paley is a key figure in the development of mass media in the United States as the President of CBS during the golden age of television broadcasting. He was the de facto owner of the New York Yankees, who were the property of CBS, from 1964 to 1973, during an abnormally bleak period in the team's history.

The son of a Jewish immigrant from Ukraine who became a self-made millionaire by selling cigars, Paley developed the small Columbia Broadcasting System radio network into a major media conglomerate that was one of the three major television networks in the U.S. from the 1950s to the 1980s. He was among the first to understand the importance of developing quality programming to hold listeners' attention and developing network programming - broadcasts which could be sold to affiliate stations and attract national sponsors as a result, making them highly profitable. He developed the network's famed News division which became famous for its coverage of World War II. During the war, Paley took a break from his business to serve in the Office of War Information at Allied Force Headquarters in London, with the rank of colonel.

CBS also developed a recording arm (CBS Records) and in the 1960s got on the then hot trend in corporate America of large companies acquiring a lot of unrelated businesses, thus becoming conglomerates. That is how the company bought 80% of the Yankees from Dan Topping and Del Webb for $11.2 million in 1964. This immediately raised an outcry among journalists covering the sport, who already considered that television was at the root of all that was wrong with the sport, but Paley promised he would not be a hands-on owner, a promise which he largely kept as Topping remained as team President in the early going. On September 19, 1966, CBS bought Topping's remaining 10% share as well as the 10% in Webb's hands, for $2 million, assuming full ownership. Paley replaced Topping with one of his own top executives, the dashing Mike Burke, who was CBS's Vice President of diversification and who would run the team for the next eight years.

The period of CBS ownership corresponded with a low ebb in the team's fortunes, as the team had been allowed to become too old, and Yankee Stadium was becoming more and more dilapidated (and was in the hands of another absentee owner, Rice University of Houston, TX, through a bizarre set of circumstances, an owner who was only interested in collecting rent and not in doing any upkeep). Generally, the team's image among fans, in spite of all of its success, was poor, and attendance was in a free-fall, while the awful New York Mets were winning hearts and minds. There was a serious possibility of the team leaving New York for New Jersey, as the NFL's New York Giants did. Burke managed to force New York Mayor John Lindsay to acquire the ballpark under eminent domain and agree to major renovations, which would take place in 1974 and 1975. However, in the meantime, CBS was losing money on the team just about every year and Paley, who at first had been seen at the ballpark, was becoming more and more embarrassed by the team and in 1972 gave Burke an ultimatum: either buy the team himself or find new owners. Paley set the price at $10 million, and Burke was able to find a buyer in Cleveland, OH shipbuilder George Steinbrenner, who paid the bargain-basement price in early 1973. Thus, CBS managed to sell the team for less money than it had paid for it a decade earlier.

As for Paley, he gradually sold his stock in CBS starting in the 1970s and in 1995, after his death the company was bought by Westinghouse Electric and later by Viacom.