The Hiltons turned a $5,000 investment into a global empire — meet the family behind the hotel brand worth billions (2024)

Conrad Hilton was the hotel magnate behind the iconic 100-year-old Hilton empire.

Conrad Hilton was one of seven born in New Mexico in 1887 to Augustus Halvorsen and Mary Genevieve Hilton, who moved to the US in 1870 from Norway.

His father owned a grocery store and the family rented out rooms in their home, according to The Guardian.

After learning the basics of business from his father, Hilton went on to serve in the US Army during WWI. He was a lieutenant in France with allied forces in the Quartermaster Corps, responsible for supplying fuel, food, clothes, and household items to the army. Quartermasters also identified and cared for dead soldiers. He was discharged from the Army in 1919.

After the war, Conrad moved to Texas and bought his first hotel in 1919.

According to his 1979 New York Times obituary, 32-year-old Hilton had $5,000 to invest upon returning from war in 1919. He intended to buy a bank, but negotiations didn't move fast enough for him — he bought a 40-room hotel in Cisco, Texas, out of impatience.

The hotel became so successful, that Hilton turned the dining room into additional rooms to meet demand. While it's no longer a hotel, the structure was named a Texas historical site in 1970.

Throughout the 1920s, Conrad Hilton continued to buy and build hotels in Texas. He finally expanded beyond the state in 1942.

Hilton bought a luxury hotel in Los Angeles in 1942. In 1946, the Hilton Hotel Corporation was formed.

In 1949, Hilton bought the Waldorf Astoria for $3 million. He supposedly kept a photo of the hotel under the glass on his desk with the phrase "The Greatest of them All"written on it.

It was his long-standing ambition to own the hotel, but at first its owner didn't want to sell it to someone who had other business interests. The New York State Realty and Terminal Company owned the land and was also concerned that he would run it down.

He lobbied with the company anyway.

After several months, Conrad found out that someone else was interested in buying the hotel. He decided to use his own money instead of Hilton Hotel Corporation's. One of the majority stockholders agreed to his proposal to buy 249,024 shares of stock at $12 a share.

In the end, he paid $3 million for about 69% of Waldorf and gradually increased his share to 100%.

The legendary hotel is a landmark building in New York has hosted every president from Herbert Hoover to Barack Obama.

Hilton also married actress and socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor in 1942.

The pair were divorced by 1946 and had one daughter together, Constance Francesca — Gabor's only child, even through a slew of other marriages.

Gabor had nine husbands — she divorced seven times and had one marriage annulled. She was famously quoted as once saying: "I am a marvelous housekeeper: Every time I leave a man I keep his house."

She also claimed to have an affair with her stepson, Conrad Jr.

Gabor died in 2016 at age 99.

Hilton had three sons from his first marriage, with Mary Adelaide Barron, which ended in divorce in 1934. Conrad Jr., William Barron, and Eric Michael each made a name for themselves, as well.

Hilton's oldest son, Conrad Jr., was Elizabeth Taylor's first husband.

Conrad Jr. went on to marry iconic actress Elizabeth Taylor in 1950. They were divorced within the year — Conrad Jr. was a renowned gambler and playboy and she filed for divorce citing mental cruelty. Taylor was later married six more times.

As Hilton's oldest heir, Conrad Jr. worked closely with his father during a period of great growth for the company.

In 1954, Conrad Sr. made the largest purchase in real-estate history at the time.

Hilton acquired the The Statler chair for $111 million in 1954 and it was the largest real-estate deal in history at the time. Conrad Sr. called himself "the innkeeper of the world."

He then added more jewels to the Hilton crown, like the Stevens Hotel in Chicago, then the world's largest.

Conrad Jr. worked at Hilton alongside his father and two brothers until his death in 1969.

He died at age 42 of a cardiac arrest. At the time of his death in 1969, he was the director and chairman of the executive committee of Hilton's international operations, as well as the president of the Conrad N. Hilton foundation, his father's charity.

Meanwhile, his younger brother Barron assumed the role of vice president in 1954, and later, in 1964, was named the president of Hilton's domestic operations. By 1966, he was asked to be his father's successor. He also owned the San Diego Chargers for a portion of the 1960s as one of the founding owners of the American Football League, ultimately selling the team for $10 million. After Conrad Jr.'s death, Barron led Hilton in entering the gaming business in Las Vegas.

The youngest brother, Eric, also worked at Hilton Hotels after working as a radar specialist during the Korean War. He started as a bellman and worked his way to executive chairman.

Conrad Sr. died 10 years later in 1979 and left inheritances for his three surviving children.

Conrad Sr. was still involved with Hilton Hotels just before his death in early January 1979. He was 91 years old. His New York Times obituary noted that "he was at his desk six days a week" well into his 80s and "it was not uncommon for him to dance until 3 A.M., to appear for coffee and orange juice at 8 A.M.," then go on about a full day's schedule.

Upon his death, he left just $500,000 to each of his surviving sons, Barron and Eric. He left $100,000 to his daughter Francesca. The remainder of his wealth went to his charity, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. "Charity," Conrad Sr. wrote in his will, according to the New York Times, "is a supreme virtue, and the great channel through which the mercy of God is passed onto mankind." Hilton was a devout Catholic.

Barron, already Hilton's acting president at the time, contested his father's will.

Barron ultimately received control of 37% of Hilton's shares, getting 4 million shares outright, and became chairman of the board and president and CEO of the company. He retired in 1996 but retained his role as chairman of the board, and was actively involved in Hilton Hotels' growth in the 2000s, even handpicking his successors.

Eric, on the other hand, oversaw the creation of Hilton's Conrad luxury-hotel brand and focused on bolstering a Las Vegas food bank and was a trustee of the the Little League Foundation. He was known to say: "I'm just an ordinary man with a rich man's name." He died in 2016 at age 83.

Barron died in September 2019, leaving just 3% of his wealth to his eight children, 15 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren, including Paris and Nicky Hilton.

Upon his death in September 2019, Barron Hilton bequeathed 97% of his own wealth to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, ultimately honoring his father's initial wishes — taking the charity's endowment from $2.9 billion to $6.3 billion.

He was survived by eight children and 15 grandchildren. Among those? Famous socialites Nicky and Paris Hilton.

Barron's sixth child Richard, a real-estate broker and developer, is their father. Their mother is fashion designer Kathy Hilton.