Author and billionaire John Catsimatidis at Barnes and Noble for the book signing of his new book "How Far Do You Want to Go?: Lessons from a Common-Sense Billionaire."
Photos by Jill Nelson
“You can’t win if you’re too afraid of losing,” the self-made Greek billionaire, writes in his new book "How Far Do You Want to Go?: Lessons from a Common-Sense Billionaire." adding that “Great success comes with great effort — outwork everyone.”
Billionaire author John Catsimatidis with his always stunning wife Margo
John Catsimatidis is a firm believer of giving back to the community and now the only think we have to do is to follow his lessons.
“Lessons from a Common- Sense Billionaire “ - born on the Greek island of Nisyros in search for a better life to New York!
A glimpse into the wisdom he’s gained and the excitement he has for what the future holds in store!
Weaved into his book "How Far Do You Want To Go" are elements like "transformational leadership," "brand value," and "brilliant corporate structure." After finishing the book, John Catsimatidis remains a mystery.
The book is just Brilliant!
"After graduating from high school, John Catsimatidis wanted to spend the summer of 1966 much like any teenage boy would; watching TV and lounging around on his parents’ couch in upper Manhattan.
But fate had other plans for the Greek immigrant, who came to the States as an infant in 1949.
Catsimatidis’ mom, Despina, couldn’t stand idly by and watch her son — a standout student at Brooklyn Tech HS, where the average IQ was around 140 — be a couch potato.
So, she dragged John down to a neighborhood grocery store and got him work stocking shelves and doing everything under the sun to earn an honest paycheck.
His mother’s insistence that he get a job that summer was integral to Catsimatidis becoming a self-made, billionaire business mogul", John Catsimatidis writes in his new memoir “How Far Do You Want to Go?: Lessons from a Common-Sense Billionaire”.
John and Margo Catsimatidis with the owner and CEO of Hellenic Daily News and the Hellenic Golden Directory Evageline Plakas
John Catsimatidis reveals how he built his businesses in his new memoir, "How Far Do You Want to Go?: Lessons from a Common-Sense Billionaire."
After that summer, Catsimatidis started New York University enrolled in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and with engineering as his major, but remained uncertain about what he really wanted to do in life. With six credits left before graduating, he did the unthinkable and dropped out of the prestigious school to team up with “Cousin Tony”
His neighborhood fellow Greek immigrant had once hired him to work in the grocery store. Now, he was looking to sell his share in the store, which he owned with his uncle Nick.
He offered his half to Catsimatidis for nothing upfront but instead $1,000 monthly payments down the road. Catsimatidis agreed to the deal, horrifying his parents.
In 1969, just nine months into their business venture, Catsimatidis and Nick were pulling weekly profits of $1,000 — electrical engineers were then making just $129 weekly — and things were looking up. Then, “a neighborhood tough guy” tried shaking down a store employee. Nick told him to buzz off, but the ruffian returned.
So, Catsimatidis brought a handgun to work and pulled it out when the hustler returned.
“I didn’t hesitate a second. I walked straight over to the man. I pulled the pistol out of my jacket and pressed the steel barrel against the man’s head,” he writes. “‘You come within three blocks of this store again,’ I said calmly but directly, ‘I’m going to blow your head off.’ He didn’t say another word.”
By 1974, Catsimatidis and Nick’s grocery business — then named Red Apple — had expanded to several locations throughout NYC. Catsimatidis was just 24 year old.
Margo and John Catsimatidis in front of Barnes and Noble for the book signing event
“I was making a million dollars a year but I still lived at home with my family,” he said. “That’s the way I wanted to do it.”
Not long before his 30th birthday, he got his pilot’s license and bought a jet from Walt Disney’s brother Roy, following his adolescence dream.
He ultimately got into the air travel business, shuttling people to Atlantic City with a fleet of 20 planes in the early 1980s.
In 1986, he sold the plane company to an associate of Warren Buffett, who would later use it to launch NetJets.
That same year, Red Apple acquired Gristedes, making it the largest supermarket chain in New York City.
These days, John Catsimatidis oversees Gristedes Foods, a grocery empire with over 30 stores in New York City. He also manages some 2 million square feet of real estate throughout NYC, Florida and elsewhere in the US, and operates United Refining Company, a Pennsylvania oil refinery.
In 2020, he acquired WABC, where he shows off his gift for gab every weekday at 5 p.m. on the “Cats and Cosby” radio show with Rita Cosby. Forbes estimates his net worth to be $4 billion!
Hellenic Daily News attended the brilliant book-signing event at the Barnes & Noble, yesterday.
John Catsimatidis, Margo Vondersaar Catsimatidis, Ernie Anastos
Margo Vondersaar Catsimatidis
