2025-06-15 David Simon.America’s Last Mall King Is Still in Charge, Even After a Deadly Diagnosis

2025-06-15 David Simon.America’s Last Mall King Is Still in Charge, Even After a Deadly Diagnosis


David Simon had to step in to rescue the family business when he was 29 years old. Now, more than three decades later, America’s last mall king is thinking about whether his own son will be ready to take the helm.
大卫·西蒙在 29 岁时被迫出手挽救家族企业，如今三十多年过去，这位美国最后的“购物中心之王”正思考自己的儿子是否已做好接班准备。

The chief executive of Simon Property Group SPG -1.19%decrease; red down pointing triangle is battling a deadly cancer but isn’t ready to step aside. Even as he scales back his working hours to deal with his health, the notorious micromanager has never been good about giving up control.
西蒙地产集团（Simon Property Group）首席执行官正与致命癌症抗争，却仍未打算退位。尽管他因健康问题减少工作时间，但这位臭名昭著的“微观管理者”从来不擅长放手。

“I’ve been kind of, you know, a domineering-type CEO,” Simon said recently in a rare interview at his New York office. “Obviously, right now, that’s impossible for me to do. I still do it occasionally.”
“我一直算是那种强势型的 CEO，”西蒙近日在纽约办公室罕见接受采访时说。“显然，现在我已无法做到像以前那样，但我偶尔还是会这么做。”

Simon, 63, underwent a dozen cycles of chemotherapy and two surgeries since he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year. He is still receiving treatment.
现年 63 岁的西蒙自去年被诊断出胰腺癌以来已接受了 12 个疗程的化疗和两次手术，目前仍在接受治疗。

A ruthless competitor, he once launched an unsolicited takeover bid for rival mall operator Taubman—while its chairman was in prison. Simon’s bid failed, but he acquired the company in a \$3.4 billion deal nearly two decades later.
作为冷酷无情的竞争者，他曾在竞争对手陶布曼（Taubman）董事长入狱期间发起恶意收购要约。该收购最初失败，但他在近二十年后以 34 亿美元完成了对该公司的收购。

What does he enjoy most about his work? “Winning,” Simon said, without hesitation.
他最享受工作的哪个方面？“赢，”西蒙毫不犹豫地回答。
Warning
 《赢》是GE前总裁杰克韦尔奇的书，James Dimon的口号也是“WinWinWin”，都是向结果使劲的性格。
He is prone to yelling, and to working around the clock. He won’t think twice about calling subordinates on Saturday nights or Sunday mornings, former employees say.
据前员工说，他经常大声斥责下属，全天候工作，周六深夜或周日清晨打电话给下属对他而言毫无顾忌。

These days, he has cut back the hours he spends in the office and tries to keep meetings between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Still, he recently called in to a board committee meeting from his hospital bed.
如今，他缩短了在办公室的时间，尽量把会议安排在上午 10 点到下午 3 点之间，但他最近仍在病床上拨入董事会委员会会议。

The eldest of his five children, Eli, joined the company in 2019 and has been taking on an ever-larger role. Earlier this year, the 37-year-old oversaw the acquisition of two luxury outlet malls in Europe.
在他的五个孩子中，长子伊莱于 2019 年加入公司，并承担了越来越重要的职责。今年早些时候，这位 37 岁的伊莱主导收购了欧洲的两家奢侈品奥特莱斯。

In some ways, Eli reminds people of his father. They are both self-driven, obsessed with the mall business and hyper-detail oriented, say people who have worked with them.
与他们共事的人称，在某些方面，伊莱让人想起他的父亲：他们都自我驱动、痴迷购物中心业务且极度注重细节。

But where David Simon is unafraid to chew out an employee or a competitor—“We’re going to do it this way or we’re not going to do it,” is how he described his own style—his son favors collaboration.
然而，大卫·西蒙不怕训斥员工或竞争对手——他形容自己的风格是“要么按我的方式做，要么就不做”——而他的儿子则更倾向于合作。

Eli insists he shouldn’t be underestimated because of his quieter approach. “I can be forceful when I need to be,” he said.
伊莱强调，不应因他更为低调就低估他。“需要的时候我也可以很强势，”他说。

The decision on who will be the next CEO of the country’s biggest mall owner is up to the company’s board, and there are other candidates beyond the family. But Simon said his son has what it takes to lead the company into its third generation. “Certainly I think he should aspire to it and I think he’s capable of doing it,” he said.
谁将成为美国最大购物中心业主的下一任 CEO 由公司董事会决定，家族之外也有其他候选人。但西蒙表示，他的儿子具备领导公司迈入第三代的能力。“我当然认为他应该追求这一目标，而且我认为他有能力做到，”他说。

For now, though, the elder Simon is still in charge. “I’m focused on taking it day by day and grinding away,” he said.
不过，目前仍由西蒙掌舵。“我专注于一天一天地坚持下去，继续拼搏，”他说。

‘The ultimate micromanager’

“终极微观管理者”

On a recent afternoon in a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Simon was making his way through his most profitable property, the Sawgrass Mills mall.
最近一个下午，在佛罗里达州劳德代尔堡郊区，西蒙在他最赚钱的资产——锯草磨坊购物中心（Sawgrass Mills）里巡视。

He waved off offers from his staff to ride in a golf cart, despite the Florida heat and his own admission that he needs to slow down.
尽管佛州炎热，他也承认自己需要放慢脚步，但他仍拒绝了员工让他乘坐高尔夫球车的提议。

Simon is “the ultimate micromanager” who wants to know the minutiae of every deal, said David Contis, a former president at the company.
公司前总裁大卫·康蒂斯称，西蒙是“终极微观管理者”，想了解每笔交易的细枝末节。

At one point, when Contis was overseeing the sale of one of Simon’s malls, his boss kept pestering him about details. Had the buyer completed due diligence? Waived its property-review contingency? Contis pleaded with Simon: “I’m a thoroughbred, let me run.” Simon replied: “Yeah, well, I’m the jockey.”
曾经，当康蒂斯负责出售西蒙旗下某购物中心时，老板不断追问细节：买家是否完成尽调？是否放弃物业审查条件？康蒂斯恳求西蒙：“我是赛马，让我奔跑吧。”西蒙回答：“是啊，但我是骑师。”

Simon prefers to think of himself as “detail-oriented” rather than a micromanager, though he acknowledged he is a “demanding leader.” His empire spans more than 250 properties, and he controls more retail space than anyone in the world, with 206.5 million square feet across his portfolio.
西蒙更愿意把自己视为“注重细节”而非“微观管理者”，不过他承认自己是“要求严格的领导”。他的商业帝国覆盖 250 多处物业，总零售面积达 2.065 亿平方英尺，全球无人能及。

Floris van Dijkum, managing director at the investment firm Compass Point Research & Trading, has walked with Simon through several of his malls and said the CEO can rattle off how much rent individual tenants are paying and how sales are performing at specific stores. “Which is just staggering,” van Dijkum said.
投资公司 Compass Point Research & Trading 董事总经理弗洛里斯·范·迪库姆曾与西蒙一起走访多家购物中心，他说这位 CEO 能随口说出各租户的租金数额和特定门店的销售情况。“这太惊人了，”迪库姆说。

Simon’s knowledge of the intricacies of retail helped him profit at a time when retailer bankruptcies were leaving huge holes in malls. It started in 2016, when many retailers were folding and Simon helped purchase teen-apparel retailer Aéropostale out of bankruptcy for \$243 million.
西蒙对零售行业细节的了解，使他在零售商破产给购物中心留下巨大空洞之际获利。始于 2016 年，当时许多零售商倒闭，西蒙帮助以 2.43 亿美元将青少年服装品牌 Aéropostale 从破产中收购出来。

Simon Property Group and its partners later acquired Nautica, Eddie Bauer, J.C. Penney, Forever 21, Lucky Brand and Brooks Brothers. The investments were overall moneymakers although not every purchase was successful; Forever 21 slid into bankruptcy for a second time earlier this year.
此后，西蒙地产集团及其合作伙伴又收购了 Nautica、Eddie Bauer、J.C. Penney、Forever 21、Lucky Brand 和 Brooks Brothers。这些投资总体获利，尽管并非每笔收购都成功；Forever 21 今年早些时候再次破产。

Jamie Salter, CEO of Authentic Brands Group, which partnered with Simon Property Group in buying bankrupt retailers, credits much of his recent success to Simon. Still, he said that Simon likes to get his way.
Authentic Brands Group 首席执行官杰米·索尔特与西蒙地产集团合作收购破产零售商，他将自己近来的成功很大程度上归功于西蒙。但他也表示，西蒙喜欢一切按照他的方式进行。

“He doesn’t have as much energy, so he’s not yelling at me as much,” Salter said. “But he still yells a little.”
“他现在精力没以前那么旺盛了，所以也没像以前那样对我大吼大叫了，”索尔特说。“但他还是偶尔会吼两句。”

Simon said he is passionate and gets animated, but insists his outbursts are partly showmanship. “Emphasizing a point,” he called it.
西蒙表示自己富有激情，容易情绪激动，但坚称他的激烈反应在某种程度上是表演。“强调重点，”他这样形容。

A \$40 billion spending spree

400 亿美元的买买买狂潮

Simon’s father and uncle founded Melvin Simon & Associates in Indiana in 1960. They built everything from strip centers to urban shopping centers and enclosed malls, including the Mall of America in Minnesota.
西蒙的父亲和叔叔于1960年在印第安纳州创立了 Melvin Simon & Associates。他们从街区式购物中心到城市购物中心再到封闭式商场无所不建，其中包括明尼苏达州的美国商城（Mall of America）。

When Simon joined the family business, it was cash-poor and weighed down by debt. He paused the development pipeline, unwound unfavorable partnerships and prepared the company for a public offering to generate much-needed liquidity.
当西蒙加入家族企业时，公司现金短缺、债务沉重。他暂停开发项目管线，解除不利合作伙伴关系，并筹备公司上市以获取急需的流动性。

In 1993, the firm put most of its properties into a new company, Simon Property Group, and went public in what was, at the time, the biggest IPO in history for a real-estate investment trust.
1993年，公司将大部分物业注入新成立的西蒙地产集团（Simon Property Group）并上市，创下当时房地产投资信托史上最大规模的首次公开募股纪录。

Simon became CEO two years later, at age 33. He embarked on a decadeslong buying spree, spending more than \$40 billion on acquisitions.
两年后，33岁的西蒙出任首席执行官。他随后开启长达数十年的收购狂潮，累计投入超过400亿美元。

Not every deal was successful. Initial plans announced with partners in 2005 to build at least a dozen Walmart-anchored shopping centers in China didn’t live up to expectations. Simon exited the country in 2009 at a \$20 million loss after developing four malls.
并非每笔交易都成功。2005年他与合作伙伴宣布拟在中国建设至少12座沃尔玛主力店购物中心，但未达到预期。西蒙开发了4家商场后，于2009年以亏损2000万美元的代价撤离中国。

But Simon’s acquisitions overall expanded the company’s geographic reach and avoided the missteps, such as overburdening his properties with debt, that felled several of the U.S.’s other family-run mall companies.
然而，总体而言，这些收购拓展了公司的地域版图，并避免了债务过重等失误，这些失误曾令美国其他几家家族经营的商场公司倒下。

Simon fought back against the rise of e-commerce by spending billions to renovate and revamp his best malls. He replaced defunct department stores with high-end fitness centers and high-tech minigolf operators, curated luxury wings and installed upscale restaurants like Nobu.
面对电子商务的崛起，西蒙斥资数十亿美元翻新改造旗下最佳商场。他用高端健身中心和高科技迷你高尔夫取代倒闭的百货商店，打造奢侈品区域，并引入 Nobu 等高档餐厅。

The company’s profitability is now above 2019 levels and outpacing rivals. It has raised the quarterly dividend a dozen times since 2021.
公司的盈利能力现已超过2019年水平并跑赢同行，自2021年以来已上调季度股息12次。

Simon Property Group has been accused of using its leverage as the U.S.’s largest mall owner to pressure retailers into opening—or not opening—at certain properties.
有人指责西蒙地产集团利用其作为美国最大商场业主的地位，向零售商施压要求其在特定物业开店或不开店。

Simon said the company doesn’t strong-arm retailers. “We’ve just been able to improve our bargaining position by the depth and breadth of our portfolio,” he said.
西蒙表示公司并未强迫零售商。“我们之所以能提升议价地位，是因为我们资产组合的深度与广度，”他说。

Now, with Simon Property Group’s occupancy rate of 96% approaching its all-time high, the company is also sprucing up some of its second-tier properties, which tend to pull from smaller, more suburban customer bases, such as the Smith Haven Mall on Long Island, N.Y.
目前，西蒙地产集团96%的入住率已接近历史高位，公司也在提升部分二线物业的形象，这些商场通常服务规模较小、更为郊区化的顾客群，例如纽约长岛的 Smith Haven Mall。

Next in line

Simon said he gets the most joy these days from spending time with his six grandchildren, aged five and under.
西蒙表示，如今他最大的乐趣是陪伴自己那六个5岁及以下的孙辈。

Cancer runs in the family: His mother died at age 47, when Simon was 15 years old, after battling uterine cancer for several years. His father died of pancreatic cancer at age 83.
癌症在其家族中高发：西蒙15岁时，母亲在与子宫癌斗争数年后于47岁去世；父亲则于83岁因胰腺癌去世。

At first, Simon didn’t want to even look at the site of the incision from his 10-hour surgery in December, but now he shows off the long scar as a badge of honor to friends and family.
起初，西蒙甚至不愿看去年12月那台历时10小时手术留下的切口，但现在他把那条长长的疤痕当作勋章向亲友展示。

Even before Simon’s diagnosis, Simon Property was working to elevate younger executives to prepare them for leadership positions. That includes Eli, who is chief investment officer.
在西蒙被确诊之前，西蒙地产就开始提拔年轻高管，为其担任领导职位做准备，其中就包括担任首席投资官的伊莱。

Among his first big assignments was to spearhead the Taubman acquisition, which was announced in February 2020. The final stages of dealmaking occurred during Eli’s engagement party. In true Simon fashion, he didn’t let his personal life interfere with the job. As the event got under way, he sneaked off to hash out last-minute terms with Simon’s general counsel.
他最早的重要任务之一是主导2020年2月宣布的陶布曼收购案。交易的最后阶段发生在伊莱的订婚派对期间。典型的西蒙风格，他没有让个人生活干扰工作。活动进行时，他悄悄离场，与公司总法律顾问敲定最后条款。

Eli says the two most important lessons he has learned from his father are to be immersed in the details and to have a mindset of an owner. “When you view every dollar as your dollar, that leads you to have really strong discipline,” he said.
伊莱表示，他从父亲那里学到的两条最重要的经验是沉浸于细节以及具备所有者思维。“当你把每一美元都当成自己的钱时，就会养成极强的自律，”他说。

Simon said his relationship with Eli is different than the one he had with his own father, whom he described as supportive but someone he learned from by observation more than direct instruction. Eli receives more guidance, Simon said, but added that he’s working to loosen the reins. “I’m going to win the argument, but I will listen,” Simon said. “Occasionally, I say, ‘OK, yeah. OK, do it your way.’ ”
西蒙表示，他与伊莱的关系不同于他与父亲的关系；他形容父亲是支持性的，但更多是通过观察而非直接指导来学习。西蒙称伊莱得到的指点更多，但他也在努力放松控制。“我会赢得争论，但我会倾听，”西蒙说。“有时我会说，‘好吧，是的。好，那就按你的方式做吧。’”

DAVID SIMON, CEO OF SIMON PROPERTY GROUP
西蒙地产集团首席执行官大卫·西蒙

Favorite Books: “Stranger in a Strange Land” by Robert Heinlein and “Portnoy’s Complaint” by Philip Roth
最喜欢的书籍：《异乡异客》，罗伯特·海因莱因著；《波特诺伊的烦恼》，菲利普·罗斯著

College: Indiana University/accounting; Columbia University/M.B.A.
教育背景：印第安纳大学/会计专业；哥伦比亚大学/工商管理硕士

2024 Pay: \$61.39 million
2024 年薪酬：6,139 万美元

Spouse: Married 40 years to Jacqueline Freed, even though she canceled their first date, to a Rolling Stones concert in college
配偶：已与杰奎琳·弗里德结婚 40 年，尽管大学时期她取消了两人首次约会——本应一起去看滚石乐队演唱会

Hobbies: Simon is an investor in Crystal Palace F.C. soccer club
爱好：西蒙是英超水晶宫足球俱乐部的投资者

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