Pohlad got his start in the banking business by foreclosing farms during the
Great Depression. After the Depression, he began investing in community banks. Over several decades, he built a banking empire. He bought deposits from The
Midwest Federal Savings & Loan after its collapse in 1989. In late 1991 he sold his bank,
Marquette Bank, which was owned by the Bank Shares, Inc. holding company, to
First Bank System (now
US Bank), with the deal finally closing in 1993. In 2006
Forbes ranked him tied for the 107th richest person in the
United States, with a net worth of $2.6 billion. Pohlad became president of the
Twin City Rapid Transit (the Minneapolis St. Paul bus and streetcar company), saving it from Fred A. Ossanna (who was convicted in 1960 of illegally taking personal profit from the company). Pohlad was also the Vice President of Pohlad Companies, which owns several companies large and small, including Marquette Financial Companies,
United Properties, River Road Entertainment, Stanton Group Holdings, Arcadia Solutions,
KTWN FM (96.3 FM) Radio Station (through Northern Lights Broadcasting, a holding company), and JB Hudson's Jewelers in the Twin Cities, as well as a controlling interest in
PepsiAmericas, the second-largest bottling group in the United States.
Minnesotan sports Pohlad purchased the Minnesota Twins baseball franchise in
1984. The franchise and its predecessor, the
original Washington Senators, had been in the hands of the Griffith family since 1919.
Calvin Griffith inherited the team from uncle and family patriarch
Clark Griffith in 1956 and moved it to the Twin Cities in 1961. Pohlad bought the team for $43.5 million—$32 million for the controlling 52% stake held by Calvin and his sister,
Thelma Griffith Haynes, and $11.5 million for minority owner
H. Gabriel Murphy's 40.4% interest. The Twins won their first
World Series in Minnesota (and the franchise's second overall) in
1987, and another World Series in
1991. Pohlad claimed he was close to selling the Twins in 1997 to
North Carolina businessman Don Beaver, who would have moved the team to the
Piedmont Triad area of the state. The defeat of a
referendum for a stadium in that area and a lack of interest in a move to
Charlotte killed the deal. In 2001, Pohlad offered to sell the Twins to Major League Baseball for a reported $150 million as part of a
contraction plan by the league, which would have effectively folded the team. The deal was not completed due to a court order binding the Twins to their lease with the
Metrodome, and the team continued to play. Pohlad also owned a part of the
Minnesota Vikings from the mid-1980s to 1991. ==Death==