Who Is Rob Walton, The Billionaire Who Reportedly Plans To Put In A Bid For The Denver Broncos?

By Anna Maria Basquez

(CBS4) – The favorite bidder in the bid to own the Denver Broncos has net worth that regularly doubles, spends little time in offices because he's out asking questions to make changes, and has an affinity for cycling, hunting, bio-safari, racing and collector cars, according to Prabook.com, an online biographical encyclopedia.

And he has an all-star past as a football player.

S. Robson Walton, 77, is expected to make a bid to own the Denver Broncos for $4.5 billion to $5 billion, and is considered the favorite bidder, according to the New York Post.

Sports Illustrated wrote recently: "If he makes this offer, it would become the largest bid for an NFL team in history."

Walton is noted for being an all-state football player in his native Oklahoma, went on to play at a small liberal arts college and told Prabook.com, joking, "I was small but slow as a college tackle."

Local and national biographies are profiling the heir more frequently as the American football public waits to find out the next owner of the Denver Broncos.

The Walmart heir and oldest son of the late Walmart founder Sam Walton, grew up Presbyterian but is not known for donating to any one particular denomination, according to Prabook.com. Several indicators say his family leans Republican and biographies note he has been married three times.

A few background facts noted by various publications include:

• Birthdate Oct. 27, 1944
• Attended College of Wooster, a small liberal arts school in Ohio, a college his mother stated in past interviews he chose due to his Presbyterian faith.
• Graduated from University of Arkansas in 1966 with a bachelor of science in business administration.
• Was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, one of the largest social college fraternities.
• Graduated with his juris doctor degree from Columbia Law School in 1969
• Ethnicity: white American
• Children: 3

Business facts Forbes Magazine lists about him, include:

• Rob Walton is the eldest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton.
• Walton took over as chairman upon his father's death in 1992.
• He retired as chairman in June 2015 and was replaced by his son-in-law, Greg Penner. Penner still sits on Walmart's board.
• He and other heirs of Sam Walton collectively own about half of Walmart's stock.
• To keep up with demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, Walmart hired an additional 400,000 mostly temporary workers.

Walton also has sports franchise family ties by marriage, according to Sports Illustrated, which wrote recently, "Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke — whose family also owns the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and Colorado Rapids (among other sports teams) — is married to Walton's cousin, Ann."

He was Walmart's chairman from the time of his father's 1992 passing until retiring in 2015 and now lives in Arizona.

The Broncos have reportedly said they hope to complete a sale of the team before the 2022 NFL season begins in September.