Beny Alagem

Beny Alagem was born in Israel in 1953, and he is a developer and entrepreneur. Alagem founded Packard Bell, which was the leading computer maker in America in the late 80s and early 90s. Packard Bell Electronics used to manufacture radios and televisions during the first part of the twentieth century, but they largely disappeared as the 60s ended.

Hoping that he could trade on the Packard Bell name, Beny Alagem bought the rights to it, relaunching the company in 1986. His goal was to sell computers at retail, at prices that the average American could afford; his was much the same business model that made Jack Tramiel's Commodore such a success in the first part of the decade. Packard Bell under Beny Alagem was innovative- they were the first computer company to offer free phone-based technical support.

In the first part of the 1990s, Packard Bell lost some of its market share because Compaq was drastically undercutting its prices. Alagem decided to merge with NEC in 1996, and he stayed on as president of the Packard Bell division. He had a heart attack in 1997, and a year later, faced with mounting losses and continuing steep competition, he left the company. In 1999, he bought the rights to AST from Samsung; AST had been one of the top five computer vendors in the first part of the 1990s. However, Alagem wasn't able to replicate his success and AST disappeared from the marketplace.

Alagem bought the Beverly Hilton from Merv Griffin in December 2003, for an estimated $130 million. He continues to invest in real estate and telecommunications, and he bought the Hilton Los Cabos for $91 million. As of 2007, he announced that he and Hilton would build the first Waldorf-Astoria hotel on the west coast as part of a plan to revamp the Beverly Hilton.