Our podcast host Randy Chilton sat with industry icon and Amusement Industry Hall of Fame member Malcolm Steinberg for Episode 7. Click here or below to watch. Chairman of the LAI Group, which includes LAI Games, Embed, Timezone and Booking Boss, among others, Steinberg got his start in the business back in 1958.
He’d left high school at age 16, got a job at an accounting firm that he didn’t care for, and moved on to another job that didn’t suit him well – working for his father’s furniture business.
“Like any father and son relationship, the son always thinks he knows better and one day my dad said, ‘Well, son, maybe you should find something else.’”
Shortly after, the Australian-based Steinberg went on a vacation to Melbourne with a friend and ended up visiting with his uncle, who – unbeknownst to young Malcolm – was in the games business.
“Long story short, the weekend turned into three months, and I came back to the West Coast with 21 pinball machines and started the company in April 1958,” he said.
From that early operation to distributing, manufacturing and beyond – and from Australia to other parts of the world – his businesses continued to grow and expand. Today, his portfolio of companies has grown to operate some 360 venues across seven countries with 9,000 employees and generates $1 billion in annual sales. Malcolm’s son Adam is the CEO of those companies today and has been with LAI Group for some 32 years.
Be sure to tune in to the podcast to hear a whole lot more.