Adrian Hanauer

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Hanauer's family owned the Pacific Coast Feather Company, a down pillow, feather bed, and high-end bedding products manufacturer founded in 1884 in Germany, now headquartered in Seattle. He began working there at age 13 but never held an executive position. He founded Museum Quality Framing in 1988, a chain of custom frame stores in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. He also owned a chain of pizza stores called Mad Pizza. As an early investor in Amazon and aQuantive, he turned a substantial profit when aQuantive went public in 2000 and again when Microsoft purchased it in 2007. He became managing partner for the USL Seattle Sounders in 2001, reducing annual losses from $1 million to $350,000. The team went 23-4-1 in his first season as interim general manager, the second best record in USL history, and reached the league championship game three times, winning twice. He invested $250,000 for a 15% stake in Cambridge United FC in May 2007. In 2005, he founded business incubator and venture capital company Curious Office Partners. He and his brother sold the Pacific Coast Feather Company in 2018. He joined the ownership group of the Seattle Kraken in 2018. He and his mother Lenore acquired a minority stake in Reign FC in 2019, later acquired by OL Groupe in December 2019. The Reign were acquired by the Sounders and The Carlyle Group in 2024; Hanauer serves as governor.

In Their Own Story

The press conference at the Columbia Center on November 13, 2007, marked a turning point. Adrian Hanauer stood alongside Joe Roth, Paul Allen, and Drew Carey as they announced Seattle had been awarded an MLS expansion team. For Hanauer, it was the culmination of years of effort, dating back to his ownership of the USL Sounders and his earlier failed bids to bring MLS to Seattle. He had watched the city be passed over in 1994, 2004, and 2006, but now, with a $30 million bid and a powerful ownership group, the dream was realized. The announcement meant the return of top-level soccer to Seattle for the first time since the NASL team dissolved in 1983. Hanauer's persistence had paid off, and the Sounders would begin play in 2009 as the league's 15th team.

Reader's Guide

Adrian Hanauer is the majority owner of Seattle Sounders FC. He is a minority owner of the Seattle Kraken and governor of Seattle Reign FC. He was managing partner of the USL Seattle Sounders and helped bring an MLS team to Seattle with Joe Roth, Paul Allen, and Drew Carey.

Did You Know?

• Hanauer began working at his family's bedding company at age 13.
• He founded Museum Quality Framing in 1988.
• He invested $250,000 for a 15% stake in English club Cambridge United FC in May 2007.
• He reduced the USL Sounders' annual losses from $1 million to $350,000.
• He saw his first NASL Sounders game at age 8.