Henry Singleton was raised on a small ranch near Haslet, Texas, a few miles northwest of Fort Worth. His extraordinary mathematical abilities were evident early—during his first two years at the U.S. Naval Academy, he ranked first in mathematics out of a class of 820 students. A medical problem forced him to leave Annapolis in 1938, but this setback led him to MIT, where he would earn three degrees in electrical engineering.

At MIT, Singleton was part of a three-man team that won the prestigious Putnam Prize in mathematics. One of his teammates was Richard Feynman, who would later win the Nobel Prize in Physics. This intellectual pedigree would serve Singleton well throughout his career.

During World War II, Singleton worked at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory on degaussing technology to protect ships from magnetic mines. He later joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the CIA, serving in Europe until the war's end. After the war, he returned to MIT for his doctorate, making significant contributions to information theory and designing an early digital computer.

Singleton's corporate career began at Hughes Aircraft, where he entered the emerging fields of digital and semiconductor electronics. He then moved to Litton Industries, where he led the development of the LN-3 Inertial Navigation System—the first guidance system for fighter aircraft. This achievement earned him election to the National Academy of Engineering.

In June 1960, Singleton and George Kozmetsky founded Teledyne with $450,000 in seed funding from venture capitalist Arthur Rock. What followed was one of the most remarkable capital allocation performances in American business history.

Act I: Acquisitions (1960-1972) When Teledyne's stock traded at 60x earnings, Singleton recognized the overvaluation and used the inflated stock as currency to acquire 125-145 companies. By the end of the 1960s, Teledyne had sales of $1.3 billion and 43,000 employees across 94 profit centers.

Act II: Buybacks (1972-1984) When conglomerates fell out of favor and Teledyne's stock crashed from $40 to under $8, Singleton reversed course entirely. Between 1972 and 1984, he retired approximately 90% of the company's shares at prices far below intrinsic value. Forbes wrote: 'Singleton virtually dehydrated Teledyne's capital structure. Growing the business while shrinking its capital. Quite a trick.'

Act III: Common Stock Investments (1974-1980s) Simultaneously, Singleton invested Teledyne's insurance float in undervalued stocks, building a portfolio that reached nearly $3 billion. He bought 27% of Litton Industries for $130 million and significant stakes in other companies he understood well.

Late in life, Singleton became one of the largest landholders in America, with his family's Singleton Ranches owning over 1.1 million acres in New Mexico and California.