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which he sold to the company’s employee stock ownership plan. He
then remained as chairman of the board of directors until 1998.
Initiation of Tree Farm Investment
In the mid-1990s, in anticipation of the sale of his Herff
Jones stock, A.J. Hackl began to research ways to diversify his
financial net worth into investments other than publicly traded
U.S. marketable securities, of which he had already accumulated a
substantial portfolio. He concluded that an investment in real
estate would achieve his objective of diversification and, after
consideration of a wide range of real estate ventures, decided
that tree farming presented an attractive business opportunity
which would both include the acquisition of significant parcels
of real estate and also fulfill his interest of remaining
personally active in business.
Since his other investments were generating a considerable
amount of current income, A.J. Hackl’s investment goal with
respect to his tree farming business was long-term growth. He
therefore chose to purchase land for use in the tree farming
business with little or no existing merchantable timber because
such land was significantly cheaper, and would provide a greater
long-term return on investment, than land with a substantial
quantity of merchantable timber.
In 1995, A.J. Hackl purchased two tree farms: (1) A 3,813.8
acre tract in Putnam County, Florida (Putnam County Farm) and (2)
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