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CNN Larry King Live

Mallof Brothers Interviewed

Aired September 18, 2010 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Tonight -- their multi-billion dollar family empire includes a major Vegas resort and an NBA team. How do the mega- successful Maloofs do it?

Learn how their strong work ethic, business savvy and century of experience helped George and Phil and Joe and Gavin and Adrienne reach the top, and they're all together, right here next on "Larry King Live."

We welcome the Maloofs, one of the biggest family names in business, to "Larry King Live." They own the Palms Casino and Resort in Las Vegas, the Sacramento Kings of the NBA. Their family's also involved with music, reality TV, even skateboarding.

They're all here, for the first time ever together on one show. Joe Maloof, the president of the Maloof companies, Gavin Maloof, who's vice chairman, Adrienne Maloof, the only girl, co-owner, George Maloof, Jr., president, and Phil Maloof, executive vice president of the Maloof Companies. Their family spans over 100 years, still work together as a family.

Tell me about your father, Joe.

MALOOF, JOE: Just a wonderful human being, wonderful man.

KING: He passed away 30 years -- over 30 years ago.

MALOOF, JOE: Yes, 1980. November 29th, 1980. I still remember the day -- he was a wonderful man. Loved him.

KING: And what business was he in?

MALOOF, JOE: The beer business. He was a beer distributor, a liquor distributor. And then he had some hotels around the state of New Mexico and Arizona.

KING: And you were all raised in New Mexico?

MALOOF, JOE: Yes.

KING: Was it always going to be a family business together, Gavin?

MALOOF, GAVIN: We were brought up that way, we were brought up that way to hard work, respect one another, help one another. We fought the competition, we didn't fight amongst ourselves.

KING: You've always gotten along?

MALOOF, GAVIN: We've gotten along, we've had our differences, we've had our differences, but at the end of the day we all move in the same direction.

KING: What was it like to grow up the only girl, Adrienne?

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: I think -- obviously, it makes you very tough, and you have to learn -- kind of the school of hard knocks.

KING: But they protected you, didn't they?

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: Yes, a little too much. But I think overall, it's made me very independent, very strong, and I admire that they let me be that way as well.

KING: And you're the only one married, right?

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: Yes.

KING: With children.

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: Three boys. Three -- twins that are four and a 7- year-old.

KING: So all the Maloofs are uncles.

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: That's right.

KING: OK. George, did you always want to be in the business?

MALOOF, GEORGE: Oh, yes.

KING: You had no choice, like?

MALOOF, GEORGE: Well we had no choice, but no other desire. Since I was little, young, wanted to be in the business, the family business. It's what really my whole identity is. My brothers, we work together and here we are. A lot of work.

KING: It's an amazing story. So no one wanted to break away? No one wanted to say, "Screw all this. I'm going somewhere else."

MALOOF, PHIL: I did briefly, out of college. I was the state senator in New Mexico for about seven years, but I also helped in the family business too, Larry.

KING: And then you left politics?

MALOOF, PHIL: Yes, I did.

KING: Why?

MALOOF, PHIL: Well it was a great experience. I learned a lot. It's a great way to help a lot of people. But the time was for me to move on and just help back with the business. KING: How did this work ethic start, Joe? Anyone can jump in at any time, by the way. How did it all with the father work? Tell me about it.

MALOOF, JOE: We started young, Gavin and I basically. We're the oldest. We started at ten years old in the liquor warehouse loading trucks. Never had a holiday to ourselves, Christmas, New Year's, Fourth of July, those were the busy times for the beer business, so we had to work.

So at ten he had us in there in the warehouse sweeping the floors. A job we wouldn't -- we did every job there was to do.

KING: Gavin, was he tough on you?

MALOOF, GAVIN: Absolutely. Well, my father used to say, "I'm not going to leave you anything. You're going to have to work for it. If you don't work for it, I'll leave it all to charity. So we did.

KING: It's a good idea, Gavin.

MALOOF, GAVIN: It's a good idea. But when you're ten, eleven years old, do you want to work on a Saturday? Do you want to work holidays? Probably not. But looking back, it was probably the best thing that ever happened to us.

KING: Did he have a tendency, Adrienne, to spoil you being the only girl?

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: Of course.

MALOOF, (?): Yes.

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: I can answer that. Yes, he did. But I also admire that he was ahead of his time as well. He wanted me to be independent, wanted me to go out and learn the things that my brothers were learning.

So I admire him for his tenacity. That's right. And he was able to let me be myself.

KING: But he always, George, kept a strong hand?

MALOOF, GEORGE: Pretty much. My mother took over when he didn't. My mother's done a great job as well, she's still alive today, and has had a huge influence on all of us. And part of that work ethic comes from our mother. She's great.

KING: How old was your dad when he died, Phil?

MALOOF, PHIL: I was 13.

KING: How old was he?

MALOOF, PHIL: He was 57.

KING: Young. What did he die of?

MALOOF, PHIL: Heart attack.

KING: Did he have a heart problem?

MALOOF, PHIL: Well I think -- diabetic, a little overweight, didn't exercise as much as he should.

KING: What's the background of the name Maloof?

MALOOF, (?): It's Lebanese.

KING: Was he from Lebanon?

MALOOF (?): Well our grandfather was. His father was. And then my mother's Irish. So we're --

KING: Oh, boy.

MALOOF, (?): It's an Irish-Lebanese combo.

KING: Where do you live? Like where do you live? You could live anywhere you want. Where do you live?

MALOOF, (?): Well I live in Sacramento. I have a home there, and in Las Vegas as well.

KING: Where do you live?

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: I live in L.A. Beverly Hills.

MALOOF, (?): Las Vegas.

MALOOF, (?): Vegas and L.A.

MALOOF, (?): Sacramento and Vegas.

KING: How did this all start? First you all went into the liquor and beer business automatically, right?

MALOOF, (?): Yes.

KING: Are you still in that, Joe?

MALOOF, JOE: No, We're out of the beer business -- liquor business, we're -- actually not out of the beer business all together. We have a new project that we're working on called Black Star Beer.

KING: A new beer?

MALOOF, JOE: Yeah, a new beer that -- we're marketing it for a gentleman named Minot Westinger. It's a heck of a beer. But the other beer part of it we're out of, distributorship.

KING: What was your first business beyond alcohol?

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: The general store.

MALOOF, (?): The general store. 100 years ago, my grandfather opened up a general store in Las Vegas, New Mexico. And we say that's the real Las Vegas. And it had a general store and sold everything from sugar to lard to shoes.

And then from there, he acquired a Coors distributorship for Las Vegas, and then eventually throughout the whole state of New Mexico. That's how we started.

KING: So it all started with beer?

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: Yes.

KING: What was the thing after beer, though? What did you first buy, invest in?

MALOOF, (?): The hotel business. The casino business. We opened a small casino in Central City, Colorado in 1990. Then we opened a place called The Fiesta in Las Vegas and then The Palms ten years ago. So we segued --

KING: How did you name it The Palms?

MALOOF, (?): It was just something that I came up with one day. I was with the architect and we were sitting across the street from the land where The Palms was being built.

The original name was going to be The Breeze for about three weeks. I mentioned it to my sister and she said "Wasn't that some type of female product?" OK, so there goes that name. And then it became The Palms.

KING: In a family this successful, how competitive are these siblings with each other? How did they get in the NBA? We'll find out after this.

ANNOUNCER: "Larry King Live" brought to you by Korean Air - Excellence in Flight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with the Maloofs. First time this family's ever been all together on television. How do you overcome when people think of Maloofs, they think of Playboy billionaires. Joe, how do you overcome that image? Because that's part of the image. "Oh the Maloofs, they've got everything."

MALOOF, JOE: Gavin, answer that please.

KING: Oh, because you are a playboy billionaire. And they're all single, except Adrienne.

MALOOF, (?): We have worked so hard throughout our entire lives, we're just really busy, we have loaded trucks, we've swept floors. Joe and I actually ran the recycling center, which is really a dirty job. In case you don't know what's in those beer cans, well we can tell you what's in them. We shouldn't say it on air. But we know the bottom. We know what it's like. We know what the common man goes through because we were the same way, and we were blue collar and it was really good training for us and prepared us for where we are today.

KING: Was it tough for your husband to marry into this group?

MALOOF, ADRIENEE: It was tougher on me. No, I was just going to add that having three little boys, my goals as well is to raise them and start them at the bottom, work their way up. And as my dad always said, you have to earn people's respect, you don't demand respect. Hopefully they carry on.

KING: What does your husband do?

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: He's a plastic surgeon.

KING: A plastic surgeon?

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: Yes. Facial plastic surgery.

KING: He doesn't work at home?

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: No, thank God.

KING: How do you avoid that image, George?

MALOOF, GEORGE: First of all I don't know if we're billionaires, so we can take that off the table. But it's just a matter of respect from the employees that work for us, and work with us. They know our work ethic.

Have we dated a few girls? We probably have throughout the years. But it's just something that -- our focus is on our business and on our family and we have met, we have dated lots of girls that would be great girls to marry, but it just hasn't happened.

KING: Why not, Joe?

MALOOF, JOE: I think he said it. We have dated a lot of good girls, nice girls, but we're so busy all the time. I'm really never in one city more than two weeks out of the month. And to start a meaningful relationship, you've got to devote a lot more time to that.

MALOOF, (?): There's a lot of excuses going on.

KING: How could a family -- Adrienne, maybe you have the answer.

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: I have tried to set them up with some of my girlfriends, but I gave up a long time ago because I know if I like them, they're going to question whether it's the right girl for them, so, I give up.

KING: Did any Maloof ever come close to the altar?

MALOOF, (?): Joe.

MALOOF, (?): The closest we came to the alter was when Adrienne was on the altar.

KING: Never close.

MALOOF, (?): No.

KING: Do you want to get married, Joe?

MALOOF, JOE: I think maybe it's too late, I don't know.

KING: Do you want to get married, Gavin?

MALOOF, JOE: Maybe so. Who knows.

MALOOF, GAVIN: Oh, I have thought about it. But just thought about it.

KING: Miss Right has never come through the door.

MALOOF, (?): Well, there's been a lot of Miss Rights.

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: But they left quite abruptly.

KING: George.

MALOOF, GEORGE: I would like to someday.

KING: You would?

MALOOF, GEORGE: Yes.

KING: Who's the youngest?

MALOOF, GEORGE: Phil.

KING: Would you like to someday, Phil?

MALOOF, PHIL: Maybe. Maybe, I don't know. It's tough.

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: In another life.

MALOOF, PHIL: Yes. Maybe in another life.

KING: Do you think your -- how does your mother feel about that, Joe?

MALOOF, JOE: She threw in the towel. She threw the towel in long ago. She would like us to get married, but it just never happened. I don't know why, it just hasn't. So we all love our nephews, we adore our nephews, thank God.

KING: Are they going to be the inheritor of all of this?

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: Well right now they're four and seven. So they may want to be the next Larry King. You never know, right?

KING: Could be.

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: Could be.

KING: But I mean, there's no one to leave it to, right?

(CROSSTALK)

MALOOF, (?): Absolutely, you're right.

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: I want them to be healthy and happy. You know when you have children, that's the most important thing.

KING: It's unbelievable. Are you very close with your mother?

MALOOF, (?): Yes.

KING: How old is she?

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: If I told you --

MALOOF, (?): She's older, but she looks great.

KING: Where does she live?

MALOOF, (?): She lives in L.A.

KING: You guess?

MALOOF, (?): No, I said she lives in L.A.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: How about the story that you're self-proclaimed mama's boys? Joe?

MALOOF, (?): Well it's true, we love our mother.

KING: You're heterosexual. Pete would say, "Ok then, they're attached to their mother, they're attached to somebody, must be mom."

MALOOF, (?): Absolutely. We respect her, love her, she's been great, a great person to be involved with and we just all love her to death.

KING: So any girl you meet has the challenge, Gavin, of being mom?

MALOOF, GAVIN: Wow, yes, that's a big challenge.

KING: I want a girl just like the girl that married dear old dad.

MALOOF, GAVIN: That's right.

KING: So you guys, all right -- how do you guys decide on respective roles in the business? Like your business is everything, and I want to get into specifics. Like why hotels?

MALOOF, (?): My father was in the hotel business right before he died, 1980. And that's something that I took a liking to. And then as I got older, I went to school in Las Vegas, Nevada. And I thought maybe we should open up a casino someday and talked to my family and we all kind of agreed on it might be a good idea.

KING: So you run The Palms?

MALOOF, (?): I run The Palms, right.

KING: Now do they have an input? Can Joe call you up and say I didn't like this idea or this nightclub?

MALOOF, (?): Oh, yes, he can do that.

KING: And what impact does it have?

MALOOF, (?): It has impact. I listen. One of the things about the relationship that we have is we listen to each other, which is good. We respect each other's opinions. We don't shut the door on someone's thoughts. So it's worked.

MALOOF, (?): My father used to say running a family business is a tough son of a b to run a family business. But I think why we all get along so well, is my mother and father never favored one child over another

They never pitted me against Gavin, or Gavin against George. They all encouraged us, and I've got some great stories, terrific stories about how they would watch Gavin play football in Albuquerque and that night fly all the way to New Jersey and be at my game the next day on a Saturday. So it was incredible what kind of parents we've had.

KING: Usually parents tend to favor one kid over another, by natural.

MALOOF, (?): I think, but we haven't experienced that at all.

KING: The amazing Maloofs. How about owning an NBA team, the Sacramento Kings. We'll ask about that after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with the incredible Maloofs. If you haven't heard of them, we're introducing them to you tonight. This is an incredible story. They inherited a business, but they took it much further and they were raised for hard work and a tough business ethic.

How do you decide who runs what? You're a company, right, you're the president?

MALOOF (?): Yes.

KING: Are you the deciding man?

MALOOF (?): No, well all together, all of us together. If we don't -- if there's a major decision that has to be made, we have to agree unanimously on it, if we don't, we won't do it.

KING: Like a jury?

MALOOF (?): Yes.

MALOOF (?): We tend to listen to Joe. He's always been -- had good instincts on things.

KING: Have you had 3-2 votes?

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: Yes, we have.

KING: But that means no, right?

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: We come to a decision. It's not always -- we figure it out. At the end of the day, we figure it out.

MALOOF (?): If somebody doesn't really want to do something and has a strong opinion about it, we usually don't do it.

KING: So if one of you is adamant -- have you had a business bomb, Phil? Something you all agreed on, went into, but it didn't work.

MALOOF, PHIL: We were in the Birmingham fire.

KING: Birmingham fire?

MALOOF, PHIL: United States -- UFL -- the world football league.

KING: Oh, that team?

MALOOF, PHIL: Yes.

KING: The one Trump owned. The New York team, the New Jersey team?

MALOOF, PHIL: It was a different league, we were partners with the NFL, and we started off with a great partnership with the NFL, but it just doesn't work out. It's tough to get fans out there. The brand of football wasn't what Americans were used to, that was the problem.

KING: So that's one sports failure, right?

MALOOF, PHIL: Yes.

KING: Sacramento Kings, while not a successful -- well a successful franchise, isn't it? It doesn't lose money?

MALOOF (?): No. It has in the past, we have had our peaks and valleys like every NBA team, other than the Lakers.

KING: How did you get into basketball?

MALOOF (?): My father, early on, 1979, actually, we purchased the Houston Rockets in '79 and then --

KING: Of the ABA?

MALOOF (?): No, it was the NBA. It was the NBA. And then he passed away and we sold the team, we really didn't want to sell it, but we had other factors that made us sell the team. It took us about 17 years to find another team, but we found the Kings. And speaking of Kings, this is a jersey for you.

KING: 25 years.

MALOOF (?): 25 years --

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: From our Kings to the king.

MALOOF (?): 25 years for you.

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: 25 years of great television.

KING: What I have always loved about the Kings, in addition to liking the fan support is the team colors. Who picked them out?

(CROSSTALK)

MALOOF (?): They were that color when we bought the team. Those were the colors.

KING: It's hard to lose money in the NBA, isn't it?

MALOOF (?): Well, no, it's --

KING: With the television money.

MALOOF (?): You don't get the fan support, corporate sponsorships and if you're not winning, fans won't show up. It's a very difficult business to run.

MALOOF (?): You can lose money really easy.

KING: Really?

MALOOF (?): If you overpay the players, and if people don't show up, you can lose money.

KING: What's the --

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: The value is in the franchise.

KING: When you sell it. What's the payroll of the Kings?

MALOOF (?): We're about $43 million. That's what our payroll is. And relatively low.

(CROSSTALK)

MALOOF (?): We have paid luxury tax. We've paid tax.

KING: You have?

MALOOF (?): Yes.

KING: Is 43 below the cap?

MALOOF (?): A little bit, yes.

KING: Are you out to sign anybody? All of the free agents are gone now.

MALOOF (?): Yes, most of the good ones are gone.

MALOOF (?): Next year we will have a lot of cap space where we can go out and acquire a free agent. We'll have a lot of cap space.

KING: So do you guys -- how does it work? Do you meet every week? Do you talk? How does it work?

MALOOF (?): We talk a lot, mostly on the phone. We don't speak as much as we should. I think we talk probably once every three days.

MALOOF, ADRIENNE: That's a lot.

MALOOF (?): That's a lot, but I think we'd like to be -- we'd like to talk all the time. You always want to meet more, it seems like, anymore.

KING: Where's the main office?

MALOOF (?): Las Vegas, the corporate office is at The Palms, spend most of our time there.

KING: So you mean you're running the business -- he's running the hotel, right?

MALOOF (?): Yes.

KING: Let's talk about that hotel. How did it become the young man's hotel? The young woman's. Paris Hilton goes to The Palms.

MALOOF (?): Paris was my date to the opening of The Palms and at that time reality TV was just taking off. And we were the first hotel or casino to ever let cameras inside the hotel. So we welcomed the publicity. Before that it was taboo to have a casino, or a camera in a hotel --

KING: Right, they didn't allow.

MALOOF (?): They didn't allow. So I said, "Put the cameras in, let's get as much publicity as possible," and that's what happened. It was just that time when Paris and Nicole and everything was happening. And celebrity sightings were just getting started and we fueled the press.

KING: Does it still go on?

MALOOF (?): Excessive, yes, and it started with The Palms.

KING: How about the Playboy Club, how did that come about?

MALOOF (?): The Playboy Club, we had done some things with Hef at the mansion before we opened. And found out they wanted to have some presence in Las Vegas, so we brought Playboy Club to Las Vegas, the first Playboy Club.

KING: Who runs it?

MALOOF (?): We run it. We run the Playboy Club.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: But they're all your employees.

MALOOF (?): Right. We pay a licensing fee to --

KING: What's the toughest part of owning a casino?

(CROSSTALK)

MALOOF (?): You know, it's just the day to day grind. Something's always happening. You have to stay focused and Las Vegas is so competitive.

KING: Did anybody ever come in and hit you big?

MALOOF (?): Oh, yes, it just happened. Happened last week.

KING: What's the most one person ever won?

MALOOF (?): $3 million. It hurt. It wasn't fun. Getting that call wasn't fun.

KING: How has the economy affected the Maloofs? We'll ask about that. And if they have business advice for other people, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with the Maloofs. First time together. It's a pleasure to have you on. Do you like being on?

To be on Larry King - this is like being made, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing can be bigger than this.

KING: Oh, yeah. Stop.

Maybe we'll do a show at the Palms. I'll leave here, we'll go to the Palms, we'll do a show at the Palms Hotel. Me and young people. I was there a couple of weeks ago, I was the oldest person in the building by many, many, many years. How do you get involved, stay with the business, married with three little ones?

ADRIENNE MALOOF: Well, I think i have made a decision to keep involved in our family business even though my children --

KING: By phone?

ADRIENNE MALOOF: Yes. And by meetings, but my children are my first priority. And that is the hardest job, by the way, being a parent. So, everything else pales in comparison to that.

But I think it's important for me to be involved in our businesses, just as my mom was. And she was a wonderful role model.

KING: Does your husband feel married to five people? I mean as close as you are he's got...

MALOOF: He's a great guy, we get along with him well, he's got a thick skin.

ADRIENNE MALOOF: I have a thick skin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, she has a thick skin too.

KING: Did you have to approve of him, Phil?

PHIL MALOOF: Whatever Adrienne wanted, we did. He's a good guy, he can roll with the punches. We kid him a lot.

KING: Before we get back to the NBA, how has the economy affected your overall business?

PHIL MALOOF: Well, in Sacramento affected us a little bit the last two years, we have had a team that hasn't been too good and our attendance has been down. But we feel like there's some light at the end of the tunnel. We're getting a little better. We have a young, young team. A great young team. And a rookie of the year in Tyreke Evans, Demarcus Cousins out of Kentucky. So we're excited about this year.

KING: Tyeke is some player.

PHIL MALOOF: Yeah, he is

KING: Did you bid for LeBron.

MALOOF: Actually we had cap space and we contacted his agent because we did have enough space.

KING: But he wasn't going to go to Sacramento, was he?

MALOOF: No. No. But he appreciated our interest and our efforts.

KING: How has the economy affected the Palms?

MALOOF: You know, no one has been immune to it. Las Vegas has been tough the last few years. It's been tough. Tough on the community. So...

KING: Highest unemployment in America, right?

MALOOF: It's the highest unemployment. It's been tough, but I think things are coming around a little bit. I think it's flattened out. But it's not - we're not but out of the woods yet.

KING: How do young people have money to go to Vegas? You have the youngest crowd in Vegas by far.

MALOOF: We do. They find it, they save up for it. And they want to go and party and have a good time. They're working all week, it's a release for them. So Las Vegas always has been a party town. It hasn't changed. It's just people aren't spending as much.

KING: You entertained the president, right?

MALOOF: Yes.

KING: At your home?

MALOOF: In my home.

KING: In Vegas?

MALOOF: It's the first time he had done a dinner since he's been president.

KING: Did you support him?

MALOOF: I supported the president.

KING: Did the whole family support him?

ADRIENNE MALOOF: Yes.

MALOOF: He said some things about Las Vegas that we took offense to.

KING: Your not kidding.

MALOOF: Yeah.

KING: He said don't go to Las Vegas this year?

MALOOF: And that hurt our city a lot. And we weren't happy about that.

KING: Did you bring it up to him? Or was that after the dinner?

MALOOF: It was during the dinner when he was at my house, I brought it up to him in a respectful way, because I didn't think it was right. And the next day he made it good. So...

KING: Yeah, he did. He kind of corrected the...

MALOOF: Said good things.

KING: Have you always been - well, you've been a politician right?

PHIL MALOOF: Yes. KING: What other businesses are you? You've got -- still got the new beer you're selling. You've got this Kings.

ADRIENNE MALOOF: The entertainment business.

KING: In what way?

ADRIENNE MALOOF: Production company - music.

MALOOF: A gentleman called David Broom. He's with 25/7, produced The Biggest Loser and we're producing shows with him now. Just recently we produced NHL Hockey Awards at the Palms.

KING: Yeah, you did the awards there, didn't you?

MALOOF: Yes.

KING: That was nice, great night.

MALOOF: Thank you. And, you know, we made it a little more edgier. We respected the NHL and their traditions, but we brought in Snoop Dogg, Shinedown, we put the Palms touch to it - Mark Walhberg and Jay Mohr was a terrific host.

KING: Yeah, he's a great guy.

MALOOF: Yeah, he is.

KING: So what are the things you -- you're in the television business.

MALOOF: Yes. Yes, and we have some other stuff with VH-1 coming up. It's like a rock scripted show we're doing at the Palms and another comedy for Tru-tv. It's the spirit of like a hangover game show and you have to remember what -- you party all night and you have to wake up the next day and remember what you did that morning and win then you cash and so forth.

KING: So when you get into a business like that, Joe, you have to know the people you're involved with, right? You have a television person, you need people. You have no television experience, right? Or do you?

JOE MALOOF: No, we don't have any television experience, but we have a good feel for people.

KING: How did you make the decision to into that business?

JOE MALOFF: I thought it was just - we have always been in the entertainment business, casinos and beer, and we it's kind of larger than life. And we thought it would be good synergy, music entertainment, casinos and the NBA. I thought it was a perfect fit for the family.

KING: Is there like a day of the month where you all sit down together?

MALOOF: It's rare.

MALOOF: Used to be, but not recently.

MALOOF: This is our first time I think since Thanksgiving. ADRIENNE MALOOF: Yeah, since Thanksgiving.

KING: Really? But you talk never more than three days without talking, right?

MALOOF: Every day. We're very close.

KING: The Palms in Las Vegas has a hotel suite with a basketball court and a suite with two bowling lanes and a suite designed by Hugh Hefner, that goes for $40,000 a night. We'll find out who stays there, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with the Maloofs and the Palms. All right, a basketball - How did that come about?

MALOOF: It was one night in the middle of the night. It just came to me. It was part of the - you know, owning the Kings. Let's put a basketball court in a room and make it look really cool and we'll get a bunch of publicity and we'll get a bunch of people staying there.

KING: Wait a minute. What size is the court?

MALOOF: It's almost a half court. And it's two story. It's spectacular. It has it's own locker rooms, we provide cheerleaders as models in case somebody wants to rent the room.

KING: Who stays there?

MALOOF: A lot of people. Rich guys.

KING: No kidding.

MALOOF: Couples live out their fantasy, they stay there. We have had prince - royalty stay there.

KING: They played basketball?

MALOOF: Basketball players have stayed there...

ADRIENNE MALOOF: Michael Jackson...

MALOOF: ...yeah, they played basketball.

No, Michael Hackson didn't stay there. He stayed in the Sky...

KING: He stayed at the Palms, though?

MALOOF: Yeah, he was there for a few months.

KING: He lived there?

MALOOF: He lived there for a few months.

MALOOF: No one knew it was him. KING: You didn't know he was there?

MALOOF: I didn't know he was there. None of the...

MALOOF: George was his bellboy and everything. He did everything for Michael.

ADRIENNE MALOOF: He did.

MALOOF: Packed his luggage.

KING: Is he tough to cater to?

GEORGE MALOOF: No, he was a great guy. He would call me up and say, George, are you in the middle of something? I'd say no, whatever you need.

And he was always respectful. And a great guy.

KING: Was he very demanding?

GEORGE MALOOF: No.

KING: Why didn't you tell your brothers?

GEORGE MALOOF: I told them, but - well, I think I mentioned it to them about two weeks into the stay. I told Phillip, but just didn't get around to it.

KING: Do you why he choose The Palms?

GEORGE MALOOF: I think he felt comfortable with The Palms. He had told me a story that he - a few years back that he wanted to buy the land where The Palms was located and put a casino up. So there was some connection there. And we talked about that one night. And he was going to build a casino there. And then we bought the land.

He recorded in our recording studio.

KING: You have a recording studio. My wife recorded there.

GEORGE MALOOF: Right, she did.

KING: How did you come about having a recording studio in a hotel?

GEORGE MALOOF: Phil called me one night. And he was with Larry Rudolph, who is Britney's manager. And he said what do you think about putting a recording studio at The Palms? I said, it's a great idea.

KING: Did you have to share with them?

GEORGE MALOOF: On that one we just kind of...

MALOOF: It was such a great idea. KING: Is there a certain amount that one brother can spend without checking with the other brothers? When Ted Turner owned the Atlanta Braves, he let his general manager pay anything up to two million dollars without having to check with him. Do you have any rule?

MALOOF: No.

MALOOF: Not really.

MALOOF: No, we just go by instinct.

KING: So, if he wants to start something...

MALOOF: We'll look at it and see it if makes sense.

KING: What could he do by himself? Like he...

MALOOF: I trust Phil and George. They have good business sense.

KING: Do you argue?

MALOOF: Oh, yes, absolutely. Absolutely.

ADRIENNE MALOOF: Of course.

MALOOF: We have our differences. We argue but at the end of the day, we're all moving in the same direction. We're all fighting each other, we're fighting the competition. There's plenty to fight out there.

MALOOF: We argued a lot more when we were younger.

KING: When he said bowling alley in a hotel room, what did you think?

MALOOF: I thought he lost his marbles. I thought he was going to keep all the rest of the guests out.

GEORGE MALOOF: In Las Vegas, when people come to town, they want to play out their fantasies, that was part of it, a basketball suite, a bowling ally suite. We have an erotic suite with a shower that has a stripper pole in it.

ADRIENNE MALOOF: Hefner suite.

KING: An exotic suite? What's in an erotic suite?

GEORGE MALOOF: Well, that was a different suite. Hef designed this two story suite that overlooks all of Las Vegas. Has its pool, the cantilevers off the edge of the tower with the glass wall. And this really big jacuzzi. He kept wanting it bigger and bigger and bigger as we were building it and so we made it really, really big. Big jacuzzi.

KING: Do you book big acts at The Palms?

GEORGE MALOOF: We book the biggest. We just had Lady Gaga there. MTV Music Awards.

ADRIENNE MALOOF: Jay-Z.

GEORGE MALOOF: Jay-Z.

MALOOF: Toby Keith.

GEORGE MALOOF: Toby Keith, we're waiting for you.

KING: I could do my comedy act there. I would love to.

MALOOF: By the way, I had lunch with a lady friend of mine and she said she saw you and she saw your act and really, really enjoyed it. It was a couple of years ago.

KING: In Vegas at The Wynn.

MALOOF: We just happened to be talking and she said Larry's really funny.

ADRIENNE MALOOF: Now you need to bring it to the Palms

KING: Adrienne we have learned will soon be seen on "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills." We'll find out about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with the Maloofs, first time they have been together since November. But they talk all the time. I doubt there's any family in the country quite like this, with a hotel in Vegas, an NBA team, a distributorship, a music entertainment business.

And now you're going to be on television. What can you tell us?

ADRIENNE MALOOF: Did you hear that? KING: I heard that you're going to be on -- I know they're making the announcement soon.

ADRIENNE MALOOF: Well, right now my lips are sealed. I would love to tell you, but, you know, stay tuned.

KING: I thought it would be "Dancing with the Stars."

Okay, I don't want to pry.

ADRIENNE MALOOF: I'm not allowed to talk about it. I would love to. but they have me -- lipped as are sealed.

KING: Did they have to approve that?

MALOOF: No. She just went and did t.

ADRIENNE MALOOF: I think they saw that.

KING: All right. Joe, tell me about skateboarding. What do you do in skateboarding?

JOE MALOOF: Well, Gavin and I used to have a basketball camp at Sacramento and it got a little steal and every time I looked out the window I saw skateboarding, skateboarding, and I thought, well, why don't we do a contest. And one thing led to another, and it just morphed into this world's greatest stateboarding competition. And spectacular. He have the best skateboarders from all over the world. We put o a a competition. We build a skate park.

KING: Where? In Sacramento?

JOE MALOOF: No, all over the country.

KING: You build skate parks?

JOE MALOOF: Yes. We've done one in - we've done three of them in Orange County. One in New York City. We're going to Portland, Chicago, South Africa, so it's turned into a great business for us.

KING: How do you make money?

JOE MALOOF: Well, we haven't made any money on it yet, but it's just a lot of fun.

KING: How will you make money?

JOE MALOOF: We will through sponsorships and apparel and things like that. But mainly, it's just building the brand name, the Maloof name. It's been fantastic.

For instance, we get 17 million hits a month on our website. That's how big this skateboarding is.

KING: 17 million hits?

JOE MALOOF: Oh, yes. It's called the Maloof Money Cup. And it's - I mean, we're all caught by surprise how big it is, really. It's been huge. It's going to be televised nationally and will be in 65 countries.

So, a skateboarding is huge with the youth today.

KING: Now, when you wanted to do this, Phil, what did you think?

PHIL MALOOF: I think it's a great idea.

KING: You liked it right away?

PHIL MALOOF: Yeah, I mean, he had to convince me. He said that 12 million kids skateboard, 9 million play baseball. So - is that correct, Joe?

JOE MALOOF: Yeah.

KING: More kids skateboard than play baseball?

ADRIENNE MALOOF: It's part of pop culture, don't you think? It's - you know, my kids love it. And they're 4 and 7.

JOE MALOOF: It's just a whole lifestyle now, it's completely -- all over the world...

KING: Would you say, Phil, that you guys, and lady, are open to anything? Are you always interested in proposals?

PHIL MALOOF: Sure, we're always looking at more hip, edgier things. What's more fun stuff. We have a fun lifestyle. We're a lot more conservative than people think. But we always want to be involved in what's happening now, what's in the future.

And I think it's ingenious what Joe did. He's giving a lot of kids something to do, keeping them productive. News hero of the week on CNN. It's a great honor in these times.

KING: What are you going to do in the music business?

MALOOF: We have two bands. We have...

KING: A band?

MALOOF: We have two bands - Riv Theory (ph) and Hinder. Hinder has sold over 4 million albums. Coming out with a new album. So is Riv Theory. Coming out with their new album. Their rock - Rock X (ph). And we're really excited about what they have done.

ADRIENNE MALOOF: Partners with Jimmy Ivey in the music.

KING: How did you find that? How did you do that?

MALOOF: Hoe?

KING: I mean, really.

MALOOF: That would take forever. That's a long story.

KING: Are you in the rock band business?

MALOOF: Yeah, we've got a few bands.

ADRIENNE MALOOF: Any type of music.

MALOOF: Anything that's fun, we're involved with it. Anything - and anything that has an opportunity to take care of people, to cater to people, take care of customers, the word cater doesn't bother us. We love that word.

KING: Mostly young, right?

MALOOF: Yeah. well, we cater to everybody. Our business is...

KING: What business do you have that caters to senior citizens?

GEORGE MALOOF: The Palms has slot machines, our buffet. KING: Hugh Hefner, That's a good example. You cater to him, right?

Do you realize what an incredible story you are? Do you ever think - you don't think about it?

MALOOF: No, not too much. Our focus is always on work and business. Sometimes we should take a step back and think about it. But we really don't.

ADRIENNE MALOOF: I think it's very difficult to run a family business and very few people can do that. So in that respect, I think we've been very fortunate to be able to do that.

MALOOF: Well, we've got the tremendous mother, really go back to being momma's boys and girls...

KING: how involved is she?

MALOOF: Very involved.

KING: You do involve her?

MALOOF: Oh, yes.

KING: Very involved. Very smart. Politically smart -- I don't think we'd have a business after my dad died, we were in our early 20s and they were very, very young, teenagers. Without her, we wouldn't have a business today. Everybody came at her. You want to sell your business? You're a housewife, you deserve to be in the kitchen, stay in the kitchen, that was in the '80s. And she just -- you don't know anything about the business, you're a woman - things like that.

KING: What's the name of the business? There's no phone books anymore. So what's the...

MALOOF: The Maloof companies.

KING: The Maloof Companies based in Las Vegas.

Our final moments with the Maloofs after this. What a story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with the Maloofs.

By the way, I got connected with the Maloofs through our driver - Joe the Driver in New York who must be thrilled that you guys are appearing here all together. Of course, Jim Gray, our friend the sports caster was involved, his birthday party.

MALOOF: Yeah, Jim Gray is a terrific friend of ours. And Joey the limo driver. Hello, Joey. How are you doing?

KING: You guys are regular people, right? I mean, you're not above it. MALOOF: We're regular Joes that live in a fantasy world. It really is kind of a fantasy. It's an extraordinary world that we live in and that - our lives are extraordinary. But at the end of the day, we're just guys -- hard workers. But you can go have a beer with.

KING: Speaking of beer, you leave the beer business. Why start a new - why get involved with a new beer?

MALOOF: We were very excited about this opportunity with Black Star. It's out of White Fish, Montana. And it's just - the beer is just fantastic. And we call it the best beer on the planet. It really is. It's a great beer. And we love Miles Westinger (ph), who is the owner. So we wanted to market it for him.

MALOOF: He started Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve. It was the very first.

KING: Yeah, I've heard of that.

MALOOF: It was the very first craft beer, back in the '80s.

KING: How are the Sacramento Kings going to do?

MALOOF: Great, great. I think we have an opportunity at the playoffs this year.

KING: Do you think the Miami Heat are the favorite?

MALOOF: No, I still think the Lakers. I still the Lakers are going to win it all.

KING: But Sacramento always give the Lakers trouble.

MALOOF: Yes.

MALOOF: We do. We always play them tough.

KING: Tough. Here and in Sacramento

MALOOF: Well, I saw Kobe in Orange County. And he said, we should have beat him twice. He said, you guys had us down twice...

KING: And once it was a bad ref call. You got beat.

When you lose, how do you take losses? You guys don't lose much.

MALOOF: Rought. Rought. It's tough.

MALOOF: You have got to look forward to the next game, though. If you take the losses too hard, it will drive you crazy.

KING: Is one of you at every home game?

MALOOF: Most of the time, yeah, one of us.

MALOOF: I go to most of them. So does Gaven. MALOOF: Playoffs, we're all there, generally.

KING: Are you passionate about it?

MALOOF: Passion, this is our life. We started real young. And my dad used to call David Stern, you know we love the...

KING: I love David, great guy.

MALOOF: Tremendous guy. Just great. And my father used to call him when he owned the Rockets. And he and I would sit there and listen to the commissioner, David Stern, about the NBA. And so it's great that we have an opportunity to have our own team now. KING: So you have to have good people running the Kings, running the Palms, right? You guys get into day-to-day running?

MALOOF: Oh, yeah, every day.

ADRIENNE MALOOF: We do. But you have to rely on good people as well.

KING: Would you say you're hands on, Phil?

PHIL MALOOF: Oh yes, we all are hands-on.

KING: Are you tough to work for?

PHIL MALOOF: I think we are pretty tough to work for. But we respect our employees just like we respect the customer.

KING: Altogether, how many people work for you?

MALOOF: Probably about 3,000 now.

KING: You're an amazing story. Good luck on the TV show you can't talk about. Good luck on The Palms. I'm going to come by and see this place. I have to see that room. And good luck with the Kings this year. And I will be proud -- where's my uniform?

MALOOF: Well, I got you a skateboard, too. Just in case.

KING: A skateboard?

MALOOF: For your sons. For your sons. Maloof Skateboards.

KING: How about that? Got a close-up of that? Is that for me, folks? Is this for me? Thanks for watching. Have a great rest of the weekend. Stay tuned for more news on CNN.