Joel Weinshanker has an interesting business card. He runs Elvis Presley's iconic Memphis home, Graceland. He's the man behind Party City and Chia Pet. Now he is the majority owner of Bran Castle in Romania, the fortress known worldwide as Dracula's castle.
According to People, his company, Ad Populum, recently acquired an 80% stake in Bran Castle's business operations from the Bran Domain Management Company (CADB), which had been running the property since 2009. Just to be clear, Weinshanker doesn’t own the stone walls or the Gothic towers. The castle itself is still owned by the Habsburg family, heirs to Princess Ileana, who inherited it from her mother, Queen Marie. But to run the operations of a site that brings in over a million visitors a year and posts nearly $7 million in profit in 2024 alone? That is not a small thing.
