Business Insider Online: Chris Ilitch now in charge of dad’s empire under succession plan

MIKE ILITCH, LEGENDARY SPORTS OWNER, PIZZA MAGNATE DEAD AT 87Remembering Mike Ilitch | 1:03

Mike Ilitch's success made him one of the best known people in Michigan. Detroit Free Press

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MIKE ILITCH, LEGENDARY SPORTS OWNER, PIZZA MAGNATE DEAD AT 87Detroit Red Wings, Tigers owner Mike Ilitch dies at 87 | 0:54

Mike Ilitch, owner of the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings and founder of Little Caesars, died at the age of 87. USA TODAY NETWORK

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MIKE ILITCH, LEGENDARY SPORTS OWNER, PIZZA MAGNATE DEAD AT 87Our last interview: Ilitch not worried about spending for Tigers | 0:25

On Nov. 30, 2015, Tigers owner Mike Ilitch made his last public comments about his team after signing pitcher Jordan Zimmermann. Video by Anthony Fenech/DFP

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MIKE ILITCH, LEGENDARY SPORTS OWNER, PIZZA MAGNATE DEAD AT 87Detroit shuttle bus driver reacts to death of Mike Ilitch | 0:52

Rich Sanchez, 66, of Detroit, a shuttle bus driver for Tommy’s bar, called Mike Ilitch “The Godfather of Detroit.” Ann Zaniewski/Detroit Free Press

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MIKE ILITCH, LEGENDARY SPORTS OWNER, PIZZA MAGNATE DEAD AT 87Mike Ilitch: Tigers’ Victor Martinez a special guy | 1:53

The Tigers owner is glad to have the designated hitter back in Detroit. Video by George Sipple, DFP.

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Remembering Mike Ilitch
Detroit Red Wings, Tigers owner Mike Ilitch dies at 87
Our last interview: Ilitch not worried about spending for Tigers
Detroit shuttle bus driver reacts to death of Mike Ilitch
Mike Ilitch: Tigers’ Victor Martinez a special guy

(Left to right) Christopher Ilitch and Marian Ilitch listen as Mike Ilitch speaks during a 2015 press conference announcing their $ 40 million donation to build the Mike Ilitch School of Business at the McGregor Memorial Conference Center on the Wayne State University campus in Detroit(Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)Buy Photo

Christopher Ilitch now heads the Ilitch family’s pizza, sports and entertainment business empires under a formal succession plan announced last year.

The plan specified that Chris Ilitch, 51, who is president of CEO of the family’s holding company — Ilitch Holdings — is to succeed both of his parents in their respective roles upon their deaths.

That means Chris Ilitch — the sixth of Mike and Marian Ilitches seven children — will now officially run the Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Red Wings while overseeing the other companies in the family’s portfolio, including Little Caesars Pizza, Olympia Entertainment and Olympia Development.

“Chris has done an outstanding job, and under his leadership, we have seen sustained growth and success,” Mike Ilitch said when the plan was announced last May.

A statement released late Friday by Ilitch Holdings reaffirmed that all of the family businesses will stay headquartered in metro Detroit.

Marian Ilitch continued to run Detroit’s MotorCity Casino Hotel at the time of the succession plan’s announcement, and by all indications that’s still the case. Mike Ilitch was never involved in the casino because Major League Baseball rules prohibit interests in gambling enterprises while owning a team.

One unanswered question regarding the succession plan is how Chris Ilitch could hold both the Tigers and the casino once his mother dies.

Mike and Marian Ilitch together were among the wealthiest people on the planet with an estimated net worth of $ 6.1 billion, according to Forbes.com.

The Ilitch family is now undoubtedly hoping it will avoid the sort of estate problems that bedeviled heirs of the late billionaire William Davidson, who had owned Auburn Hills-based Guardian Industries as well as the Detroit Pistons, the WNBA’s Detroit Shock and NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning.

Davidson, who died at age 86 in March 2009 with a net worth estimate of over $ 3 billion, had trusts drawn up for his wife, their children and grandchildren worth tens of millions of dollars each.

But the Internal Revenue Service surprised the family with a 2013 claim that over $ 2.7 billion was still due because of underpayments in estate taxes, gifts taxes, penalties and more. That amount was reportedly more than 10 times what the estate’s accounting firm, Deloitte Tax LLP, initially calculated and paid, according to media reports.

Bill Davidson in a 2006 photo (Photo: KIRTHMON DOZIER, Kirthmon Dozier, Detroit Free Pr)

The family disputed the claim and the IRS ultimately settled with Davidson’s estate in 2015 for an additional tax payment of about $ 457 million.

Davidson’s estate then sued Deloitte Tax LLP, claiming that the firm recklessly botched the estate planning. The New York Supreme Court dismissed the case last year.