Eagle’s Eye
Burch’s foray into resorts is a far cry from his original career in retailing. Burch made his first fortune about two decades ago, selling the preppy clothing brand he and his brother Robert started, Eagle’s Eye, in a 1998 deal that valued the company at $60 million. During the years that followed, Burch’s wealth grew through canny investments in telecom, real estate, retail and technology. His debut on the Billionaires list came in 2013, after Burch reaped $650 million selling most of the 28% stake he’d held in the Tory Burch fashion business that he and his ex-wife had built over the previous decade. He fell off the billionaires list in 2015, but remains very wealthy.
It was in search of an off-the-grid getaway destination that Burch stumbled onto Nihiwatu. While more than 5 million tourists visit Bali every year, official figures show only about 15,000 visit Sumba. Many are heading to the Nihi Sumba resort that Burch and South African hotelier James McBride have been building on the foundations of the Nihiwatu property.
Nihiwatu, the name of the beach in front of the resort, is popular among surfers drawn by the perfect wave breaking just off its shore. When Burch first arrived in 2012, the resort had six bungalows and two villas overlooking a 2.5km stretch of beach, on the edge of a property comprising nearly 500 acres of unspoilt wilderness. The original founders also started the Sumba Foundation to provide education, medicine, clean water and other vital services to the local communities, a work that Burch has continued.
“When we first came to this resort in 2012, it was a very small place, but it had such a spirit to it,” Burch says. “Claude and Petra Graves had done such an amazing job of building this ‘lost world’ at the ends of the earth.” When Burch learnt that the couple were open to an offer that would allow the resort to improve and grow, he acquired a majority stake in 2012. With that transaction, plus the purchase of approximately 100 acres of additional land, and the rebuilding and expansion of the resort to its current footprint of 33 villas, Burch invested a total of $35 million into Nihi Sumba.
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