Eugene Melnyk

In 1982, Melnyk founded medical publishing company Trimel Corporation, which was sold to Thomson Publications (part of The Thomson Corporation) in 1989.

In 1989, Melnyk founded Biovail Corporation, a specialty pharmaceutical company. During his time as chairman and CEO of Biovail, revenues grew from $19 million in 1995 to $1.067 billion in 2006. One of Biovail's strategies was to look for drugs with expired patents, then reinvent them with the company's proprietary technologies. One example was producing drugs that had controlled-release features that let patients take the drug once a day instead of several times.[10] He retired as Biovail Corporation's chairman in 2007 when the company was acquired by Valeant Pharmaceuticals and is now Bausch Health.[11]

In 2007, Melnyk purchased a controlling stake in the Canadian beauty line Fusion Brands Inc.. The deal was estimated to have been worth $85 million U.S. according to several analysts.[12] After several years under the Fusion Brands Inc. name, the company rebranded in 2018 under the name Clean Beauty Collective Inc. to mark its 15th anniversary. According to a press release of the announcement, the Clean Beauty Collective Inc. is a boutique beauty company specializing in creating and manufacturing brands that are organic, ethically sourced and eco-conscious.[13]

In 2019, Eugene founded Neurolign Technologies Inc., a medical device company specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders. He currently serves as the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.[14]

Melnyk's first foray into sports franchise ownership came in 2001 with the purchase of the St. Michael's Majors of the Ontario Hockey League. At the time, the club played at the St. Michael's College School's Arena in Toronto, but Melnyk aimed to move the team to nearby Mississauga. As there was already an OHL team in Mississauga, the Mississauga IceDogs, Melnyk subsequently purchased the IceDogs franchise in 2006 and resold them in 2007 in order to facilitate the move of the Majors from Toronto to Mississauga. Per the deal arranged by Melnyk, the IceDogs' new ownership relocated the team to St. Catharines, Ontario and the team became known as the Niagara IceDogs. On May 10, 2012, Melnyk sold the St. Michael's Majors (now called the Mississauga Steelheads) to Elliott Kerr for an undisclosed price.[15]

On August 26, 2003, Melnyk purchased the Ottawa Senators NHL franchise along with their arena, then known as the Corel Centre. At that time the team was facing bankruptcy and an uncertain future in Ottawa, and was purchased for the sum of US$92 million.[16]

As of December, 2020, the Ottawa Senators were listed by Forbes magazine as the NHL's twenty-sixth highest valued franchise at US$450 million.[16] The team has enjoyed some success on the ice under Melnyk's tenure, including a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007.

During the 2018-19 season the team set a franchise record for unfilled seats, with attendance dropping to a 22-year low. During that season, the team drew an average of 14,553 fans to its home games, the team's lowest attendance figures since it began playing in its current arena towards the end of the 1995-96 season. Attendance had been trending downward since 2012-13, when Senators' home games attracted an average of 19,408 fans.[17]

Fans in Ottawa had gradually become disillusioned with Melnyk's management style and perceived unwillingness to spend the money needed to build a championship caliber team. This has resulted in pressure from the Senators' fanbase for a change in team ownership,[18] with Melnyk himself being cited as "the worst sports franchise owner in North America" by some in the sports media.[19] In March, 2018, a GoFundMe campaign organized by local fan Spencer Callaghan raised more than $10,000 in under a month, with the funds used to erect four billboards across Ottawa calling for Melnyk to sell the team, with the message "#MelnykOut". A fifth billboard was scheduled to go up on April 2.[18] Callaghan told media that he felt the team was being mismanaged under Melnyk's leadership, and had demonstrated a willingness to drive both players and front office staff away, citing the recent losses of President and CEO Cyril Leeder, who had been with the organization since its inception, and popular players such as Kyle Turris and Daniel Alfredsson. Leeder's replacement, Tom Anselmi, submitted his resignation to Melnyk less than a year later.[20] Fans were also deeply concerned at rumours that the team's popular current captain, Erik Karlsson, was also about to be traded away, a rumour that ultimately came true months later in September 2018, further alienating the fanbase.[18][21] Many fans began declaring on various social media platforms their personal boycotts of Senators' games, typically directing their complaints at Melnyk.[17] Despite this backlash, Melnyk has often stated on the record that he has no intention of selling the franchise.[22]

Senators fans were further infuriated in 2017 when Melnyk told reporters that he would be open to the idea of moving the franchise to a different city if the fanbase didn't make efforts to increase attendance at Senators' home games. "I'm not going to blow a lifetime of working hard to support a hockey team. It's not gonna happen", Melnyk said, adding "It's a franchise. Imagine if you own a McDonald's franchise, but you can move it. Why would you sell it?". Melnyk also reiterated he was not seeking buyers or equity investors to solve the team's problems. When pressed by reporters to clarify whether or not he would consider moving the team out of Ottawa, Melnyk replied, "If it becomes a disaster, yes. If you start not seeing crowds showing up, yes."[23]

On September 11, 2018, the Senators released a video online in which Melnyk outlined the franchise's plans for a rebuild. The video received considerable criticism from fans and media for its awkward presentation and for the owner's own characterization of his team as being "in the dumpster".[24] The relationship between Melnyk and Senators' fans further deteriorated at the 2019 trade deadline when the Senators traded away their leading scorers and remaining core players, Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel, and Mark Stone, all of whom were well liked in the community. Despite earlier promising to make every effort to re-sign the star players, Melnyk later contradicted himself when he was quoted as saying that trading away Mark Stone had been "[planned] for some time" as part of the rebuild.[25]

In November 2018, fingers were pointed at Melnyk after a collection of newly created and suspicious Twitter accounts began appearing, all of which praised Melnyk's performance while attacking his detractors. The Twitter accounts largely targeted certain writers who covered the Senators for local newspapers the Ottawa Citizen and Ottawa Sun, making similar claims that these writers had treated Melnyk unfairly. Speculation immediately arose that these were bot accounts and not real human beings. A subsequent investigation conducted by the Ottawa Citizen revealed that, although the bots could not be conclusively traced back to Melnyk, they were "created to launch a co-ordinated disinformation campaign and to attack media coverage of the Sens while lauding the team and its owner Eugene Melnyk".[26]

in 2016, the Ottawa Senators in partnership with the City of Belleville, ON announced that Melnyk purchased the American Hockey League franchise which was currently located in Binghamton, New York, and that the team would relocate to Belleville, Ontario for the 2017-18 AHL season. The team agreed on an 8-year lease to welcome the Belleville Senators to the city. The Belleville Senators are the Ottawa Senators' AHL affiliate team.[27]

On September 16, 2008, Melnyk proposed plans for an Ottawa Major League Soccer professional soccer team, and a new soccer-specific Ottawa Soccer Stadium [28] but could not obtain support from Ottawa's municipal Council. Instead, the Mayor and Council chose a different site for the Canadian Football League's Ottawa Redblacks franchise.

In 2009, Melnyk served as chairman of the IIHF World U20 Championship.[29]