Tom Gores (born Tewfiq Georgious, ; July 31, 1964) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the founder of Platinum Equity, a private equity firm headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In June 2011, Gores and Platinum Equity became the owners of the National Basketball Association's Detroit Pistons. He became the sole owner in 2015. As of March 2022, his net worth was estimated at US$6.0 billion. Early life and education Gores was born in Nazareth, Israel on July 31, 1964. He was the fifth of six children in a practicing Catholic family with a father of Greek descent and a mother of Lebanese descent. When he was around five years old, he and his family left Nazareth and settled in Genesee, Michigan located 10 miles northeast of Flint. His first job involved stocking shelves at his uncle's grocery store in Genesee. While a student at Genesee High School, Gores played defensive back in football, middle infielder in baseball, and guard in basketball. After high school, he attended Michigan State University, where he worked as a janitor and telemarketer to make ends meet. He graduated in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in construction management. Career Early career and Platinum Equity After college, Gores had a short stint at Continental Telephone before helping found a lumber-logistics software firm (Ventech). In 1989, he and his wife drove from Michigan to Los Angeles in a used Cadillac to run the firm's West Coast operations. In 1995, Gores founded Platinum Equity in his home in Sherman Oaks. At the outset, Gores cold-called businesses to see if they had any divisions they were looking to offload. He found his first project with Litigation Services, Inc. (LSI), a then unprofitable firm that created computer-generated re-creations of accidents for courtroom evidence and testimony. He acquired it for $200,000, reorganized some of the corporate structure, and returned it to profitability within six months. Between 1996 and 2001, Gores led 32 acquisitions, including those of Pilot Software, Racal, and Williams Communications. By the following year, Platinum Equity's portfolio included units of Motorola, Fujitsu, and Alcatel. Gores was first listed on the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans in 2002. In 2006, he led a deal to acquire PNA Steel, ultimately selling it to Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. in 2008 for a net profit of $512 million. In May 2009, Gores purchased The San Diego Union-Tribune for an estimated