James Glidewell, founder, owner and chief executive of Newport Beach’s Glidewell Laboratories Inc., runs the world’s largest privately owned provider of restorative dental implants, a company whose sales are estimated by the Business Journal to exceed $500 million annually.
Glidewell also counts a sizeable real estate portfolio of offices and manufacturing buildings around John Wayne Airport, running close to half a million square feet. Those buildings hold what the company calls “the largest dental technology campus in the world.”
Glidewell’s latest addition to the campus came last month, when he paid nearly $11 million for a 24,000-square-foot office at the intersection of Von Karman Avenue and Michelson Drive, located next to some of his other holdings.
Glidewell’s wealth is likely on the upswing again after weathering a pandemic that took its toll on the dental industry.
The Business Journal’s estimate for the exec runs in the $600 million range, enough to make prior editions of our OC’s Wealthiest list, though it falls short of the $1 billion threshold needed to make this week’s edition.
A glimpse into Glidewell’s maritime holdings, via a recent feature in maritime trade publication SuperYacht Times, gives credence to those who feel our conservative estimate is too low.
It also suggests the exec, like several others whose mega-yachts are chronicled in this week’s edition, has a large and in-demand source of income renting out luxury boats to those looking for a vacation on the waters.
Zoom for Sale, Rent
The late April report says that Glidewell, a longtime yacht owner who got introduced to the boating world while serving on naval vessels during his time in the Vietnam War, made the leap into the super-sized yacht world in 1995 when he purchased a roughly 90-foot vessel.
Several boats—yachts, sportsfishing boats and other vessels—have been bought and sold by the exec over the years, as he’s traded up in quality.
The collection now includes “a line-up of all-American boats,” the SuperYacht Times report says.
They include an 82-foot yacht, a nearly 130-foot yacht called the Serengeti and the 161-foot Zoom Zoom Zoom.
The largest of the three, which has five cabins, can hold 10 guests and counts a crew of nine, is currently listed for sale at $14.5 million, according to yacht brokerage Northrop & Johnson, which counts a Newport Beach office.
The Trinity Yachts vessel was built in 2005. Glidewell bought it in 2015 and revamped it in 2017.
Chartering’s Benefit
Boating is a costly hobby and not for the faint of heart, Glidewell said.
“I’ve always owned boats, and I take the beating,” he told SuperYacht Times. “I have a large enough company that it doesn’t bother me that much. It is a benefit for my children.”
Chartering helps cover some, but not all, of the costs.
The report said he’s able to cover “up to 75%” of his operating costs by chartering his yachts.
“I charter because it makes it more affordable, and I charter because it makes my crew sharper and allows them to make more money,” he said.
Northrop & Johnson act as his brokers for chartering, too.
The Zoom Zoom Zoom, which the brokerage notes is “reputed as one of the fastest yachts in [its] size range on the open seas,” runs along the East Coast and the Caribbean.
Chartering starts around $165,000 a week, plus expenses like provisions and fuel.
Those extra expenses can run 25% or so of the base charter cost.
The Serengeti, previously owned by Johnny Carson, sleeps 12 charter guests and has a crew of seven. It can be chartered for around $130,000 a week, and typically runs between Northern California and Mexico, according to the brokerage’s website.
For those with more to spend, there are other options. Rick Caruso’s Invictus, at 216 feet a prominent sight in the Newport Harbor when docked here, can occasionally be chartered at a starting price of about $550,000 a week, according to Burgess Yachts.
Caruso’s yacht can hold 12 guests and can carry a 19-person crew. It uses about 120 gallons of gas an hour when cruising and has a range of some 5,000 miles.
Biz on Upswing
Glidewell, who last year chronicled a major health scare after catching COVID, said the pandemic’s been good for the charter business. Increased demand is allowing under-used vessels to get more time on the water, which also allows their crews more opportunities to earn money.
“Boats are chartering in the New England area where I am right now that would never usually charter up here. People want to get out of their houses; they want to escape the restrictions,” he told the yacht publication, while he and his family were in Nantucket, Mass.
Glidewell Launches Programs For Customers, Dental Partners
Jim Glidewell is a military veteran who served in Southeast Asia in the mid-1960s.
Upon returning to the U.S., he attended a two-year dental technology program at Orange Coast College, graduating in 1969. He opened Glidewell Laboratories Inc. in 1970.
The company “was formed over 50 years ago on the principle that high-quality dental care should be available to all those who need it,” said Glidewell, who last year vowed to help his dental industry partners get through a pandemic that early on caused the industry to come to a standstill.
A few of the company’s efforts in that regard have been announced in recent months.
In April, Glidewell Laboratories announced a new lifetime warranty for the company’s most popular dental implants and restorations.
The new warranty “stands as a proud commitment to the quality of our implants and restorations, and reflects the tremendous R&D and clinical validation we’ve dedicated to earning the trust of the dentists we serve,” he said at the time of the announcement.
The company also recently announced a new series of educational courses, dubbed the Glidewell Implant Business Essentials Continuum. They are designed “to train dentists how to incorporate essential business, leadership and practice management principles into their implant services.”
The continuum runs from October to January 2022, and will feature 11 online courses, culminating in a full day of events at the company’s local campus, and a “yacht cruise in Newport Harbor.”
No word on what yacht’s being used for the event.
