HE gets four hours of sleep a night, eats one meal a day, is up at 5.
HE gets four hours of sleep a night, eats one meal a day, is up at 5.30 every morning to go on a six-kilometre run before arriving at his modest West Leederville office by 7.15am.
Tony Sage seems to have a bit on his plate. But in-between fending off potential takeovers and legal action from disgruntled shareholders, he still manages to make time for his 'fun businesses'.
Most recently, Mr Sage took a 49 per cent stake in the Perth Fashion Festival, with founder Mariella Harvey-Hanrahan retaining control with 51 per cent.
His involvement in the fashion festival was primarily driven by his desire to promote his quarterly, high-fashion coffee table magazine, Kurv.
Mr Sage has changed the image of the magazine since taking ownership 18 months ago, giving it a more high art, luxury feel, which has brought in high-value advertising support from international luxury fashion labels including Dior, Burberry, Bally and DKNY.
He has also widened its reach beyond the Western Australian market, taking the magazine to other Australian capital cities and into Los Angeles, while also recently securing a place in Qantas business lounges.
Mr Sage believes the fashion festival will be a good platform for promoting Kurv to the local market.
"Unfortunately [Kurv] doesn't penetrate well in the west, which is unfortunate because it's our home town, so I wanted to get the name known here," he told WA Business News.
"There's a fantastic synergy with Kurv and a good opportunity for Kurv. I think if you ask anyone who went to the festival the first thing they'll remember is the Kurv fashion bar.
"It's all about masthead. In the next year or so everyone will know what Kurv is, and that must mean something to somebody."
And while Mr Sage didn't have much input into this year's festival, which wrapped up last week, he does a have a few ideas for next year's event that could include the expansion of fashion events outside of the festival.
"Making it more accessible, making it more user friendly rather than seeing it as an elite event for 300 people who are interested in high-end fashion. Because in the end it's the punter in the street who buys the clothes," he said.
Soccer fans will also become acquainted with Kurv soon, with the brand to adorn the back of the shirts worn by Perth Glory.
Mr Sage bought the team in partnership with Brett McKeon and John Spence in February 2007, although Mr Spence has since left the partnership.
Mr Sage admits his ownership of the soccer team has opened a lot of doors in his other business dealings, particularly internationally. It also provides some common ground with Cape Lambert shareholder and part owner of Russian steel business Evraz, Roman Abramovich, who owns Chelsea Football Club in the UK.
"It's become a bit of a fashion thing in Europe to own a football club," Mr Sage told WA Business News.
Mr Sage isn't the only mining entrepreneur to own an Australian soccer club. Mineralogy chairman Clive Palmer bought the Gold Coast United team earlier this year, which should provide an interesting match up when the on-field, and off-field, adversaries meet.
"So when the Gold Coast play Perth Glory, it's really Cape Lambert versus Cape Preston." Mr Sage jokes.
In addition to his more high profile 'fun' businesses, Mr Sage also owns north-west charter business, Goldrush Charters.
