Millers' legacy to continue after dealership group sale

In 1979, Larry and Gail Miller bought a Toyota dealership in a Salt Lake City suburb that became the foundation of a business and philanthropic empire over the next 42 years.

During those decades, the Millers built one of the country's largest dealership groups, became billionaires, bought — and recently sold — an NBA team and donated millions of dollars to good causes.

Come December, that empire will be transformed when the Miller family sells its foundational dealership business to Asbury Automotive Group Inc.
Publicly traded Asbury said last week it would pay $3.2 billion to buy Larry H. Miller Dealerships and its 54 new-vehicle outlets, seven used-vehicle stores, 11 collision centers and finance-and-insurance company Total Care Auto. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter, pending automaker and other approvals.

Gail Miller in a statement hinted at how the family would use the proceeds. Larry Miller died in 2009. "We feel a great sense of stewardship to our incredible associates and their families, to our loyal customers and partners, and to the communities where we operate," Gail Miller, owner of the Larry H. Miller Group of Cos., said in the statement last week. "As always, we believe that being in business is a means to doing good, and this transaction will elevate our ability to continue to enrich lives through our philanthropic efforts as well as reinvest in new ventures."

Steve Starks, CEO of the Larry H. Miller Group of Cos., said in that same statement that the sale of the dealership unit would allow new "opportunities for the LHM Group to further diversify and grow our portfolio of businesses and investments."

Those new ventures were not specified, and the company did not make executives or family members available to Automotive News for interviews last week.

Starks, however, told the Deseret News that when the Asbury deal closes, Gail Miller will "make another significant contribution to her foundation" and continue to "invest in areas of need."

The Sandy, Utah, retailer ranked No. 8 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., and its stores often landed on Automotive News' Best Dealerships To Work For list.

But the Millers' company went well beyond dealerships. Family businesses over the years included the NBA's Utah Jazz, a minor league baseball team, movie theaters, real estate ventures, automobile lending and other companies. The Larry H. Miller Education Foundation and the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation oversee the family's philanthropic endeavors.

In December, Larry H. Miller Group of Cos. sold a majority stake in the Utah Jazz and the team's arena to entrepreneur Ryan Smith, co-founder of software company Qualtrics, and his wife, Ashley.
The family thought it was "the right time" to sell the team after 35 years, following "much soul searching, lengthy discussions and extensive evaluations of our long-term goals," Gail Miller said in a statement last year.

In January, Larry H. Miller Group of Cos. said it had entered the health care industry with the purchase of Advanced Health Care Corp., a company in several Western states that offers short-term nursing and inpatient rehab care, plus home health and hospice services.
That same month, the company launched an independent insurance agency to provide auto, home, life and business insurance.

The Larry H. Miller Dealerships name will remain on the stores and was negotiated as part of the deal, Starks told the Deseret News, adding that Asbury "saw so much value in the name and brand that's been established over four decades."

"That was important for them and something that we were proud to see continued," he told the newspaper.

Larry H. Miller's No. 8 ranking for 2020 was based on retail sales of 61,097 new vehicles last year. The group also sold 50,751 used vehicles in 2020. Those, plus fleet and wholesale vehicles, pushed its overall sales total to 160,898 in 2020.