Ueberroth ‘Jealous’ of Private Businessmen

Peter Ueberroth wishes he was in the same ballpark with the leaders of Orange County’s private companies.

“I’m basically jealous of you,� the commissioner of baseball told a group of 400 executives from Orange County’s 120 largest privately held companies. “There’s no place more pleasureable than being in private business,� said the former president of the Los Angeles Olympics Organizing Committee and Laguna Beach resident.

Ueberroth, a director of the Irvine Co., is no stranger to private firms.

In 1963, he founded Transportation-Consultants Inc., a small Hollywood company that went public five years later. That company was later merged into First Travel Corp., a Los Angeles travel agency that he sold for more than $10 million before tackling his Olympics post.

Drawbacks to Going Public

But in an interview following his speech at the Irvine Hilton, Ueberroth, 48, stated some reservations about companies going public.

Once the stock is issued, “you can find yourself not controlling your own destiny,� he said. “You get caught up in the quarterly earnings and often make decisions based on the next quarter instead of the overall good of the company.�

Ueberroth said there are more opportunities for small businesses--especially in Orange County, “than any other time in our history.� But the greatest growth opportunities here will be for the “non-traditional� growth businesses. He cited service industry businesses as one example.

Privately held companies commonly have more types of capital available to them than publicly held firms, he said. “And they don’t get as much press--that can be a real advantage,� he said.

Ueberroth’s audience of Orange County entrepreneurs--who were being saluted by Peat Marwick, the Big Eight accounting firm--generally took heart in his remarks. After his speech, many waved hand-carried copies of his new autobiography, “Made in America,� and hounded the Time magazine’s 1984 Man of the Year for autographs.

Not Just for Wages

Others simply sat back and reflected on Ueberroth’s unbending enthusiasm for the private sector.

“When you have a stake in a private company, you’re not just working for wages, you’re working for your own pocketbook,� said Robert Armstrong, president and chief executive of Newport Beach-based Armstrong Petroleum.

Private firms “don’t have to reveal all their problems,� said Armstrong. “And the government isn’t bothering us all the time.�

Some executives said their years in the often-lumbering public sector were the biggest impetus to start private firms. “I can make decisions in one minute that large, public companies would take two weeks to make, and two more weeks to implement,� said Frank Moore, president and chief executive of FKM Copier Products of Irvine.

After 10 years with a large, public company, Moore founded FKM in 1979 with 17 employees and sales under $500,000. Today he has 82 workers and sales exceeding $7 million. For two years straight, FKM has been listed by Inc. magazine as one of the nation’s 500 fast-growing privately held firms.