Steve Landers said Wednesday that he is in negotiations with baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez and former National Basketball Association great Karl Malone to form an auto group.
To facilitate his next venture, he is weighing offers to buy his share in the two dealerships in Little Rock and one in St. Louis bearing the Landers name.
“It would still be Steve Landers, and my sons [Scott and Steve] would still be partners in it,” he said. “It would loosen me up so I could do some other things.”
He and his sons own Landers Toyota and Steve Landers Chrysler Dodge Jeep, both in Little Rock, and a Toyota dealership in St. Louis.
The Little Rock dealerships are typically at the top of the list of new and used vehicles registered in the state, according to Cross-Sell of Lexington, Ky., an automotive research firm.
Landers, 60, sold his remaining interest in the RLJ McLarty-Landers Automotive group’s dealerships in the United States and Mexico late last year, while retaining his stake in the group’s Brazilian dealerships. It has 26 dealerships in eight U.S. states, according to its website.
RLJ-McLarty-Landers ranked 19th in the United States in number of new vehicles sold in 2012, according to Automotive News.
Landers said that offers from several businesses for his interest in the family dealerships are on the table, including one from Minneapolis based Luther Auto Group. He said would probably reach a decision in the summer.
He said he will meet with Rodriguez and Malone soon in Utah. Malone, who was a longtime star for the Utah Jazz and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010, has a residence in Utah and another home in Monroe, La.
“I’m talking with Alex and Karl. Alex clearly has had his issues with Major League Baseball, but he’s come to grips with that and is moving forward. They came to me and we’re exploring what’s good for everybody. I clearly like them.”
Rodriguez, third baseman for the New York Yankees, was barred in January for all regular season games this year and the 2014 postseason, the longest suspension for the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball history, after an arbitrator upheld most of the punishment sought by Major League Baseball.
Landers said he is a partner with Rodriguez in developing apartment complexes. He said he has not yet partnered with Malone.
He said that venture is one of several he’s considering, including acting as a consultant for others interested in starting auto groups.
“I’m just switching gears,” he said.
The auto-sales industry has consolidated in recent years, said Dennis Jungmeyer, who has been president of the Arkansas Automobile Dealers Association since 1978.
In that 36-year period, the number of new-vehicle lots has dropped from about 430 to 217 in the state. About 60 dealers went out of business in Arkansas in 2008 and 2009 because of the recession and bankruptcies of Chrysler and General Motors, Jungmeyer said. And with continuing pressure from manufacturers for dealers to have the latest in technology, it remains a challenge to stay in business, he said.
Landers has been very successful and probably has one of the biggest Toyota dealerships in the Gulf States Region, Jungmeyer said.
“There’s lots of blue sky out there,” Jungmeyer said, referring to a measure of the intangible assets of dealerships. “And I’m sure Steve is not going to give away” his interest in the family stores.
Landers has “switched gears” a number of times in his career of more than 40 years to navigate the changing market.
He sold most of his RLJ McLarty-Landers interest in 2012 to his partners, Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty, majority owner, and Robert L. Johnson, with whom Landers had equal stake.
McLarty was chief of staff for President Bill Clinton and is president of McLarty and Associates, an international advisory firm. Johnson was the founder of Black Entertainment Television, which he sold to Viacom for a reported $3 billion in 2001.
Business, Pages 25 on 04/24/2014