Following stints in engineering roles, in 1979 he joined management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company, where he was influenced by colleagues Tom Peters and Robert Waterman, authors of In Search of Excellence.
"[3][4] In 2009 De Villiers was asked by his former business partner Lalit Modi to assume ultimate responsibility for promoting the 2009 Indian Premier League in its last-minute switch to South Africa.
[5] Moving host nations is reported to have required the short-notice booking of 59 matches in 8 South African stadia, as well as 10,000 air tickets and 30,000 hotel rooms.
Citing the IPL's positive reviews, the Times called the South African tour "a successful experiment in atypical globalization ... where the West has to look to the East".
De Villiers is credited by the Financial Times[12] newspaper with making the sport easier to follow and more entertaining for fans, doubling prize money for players and attracting $1bn of new investment.
The inaugural event overcame initial scepticism to register a total attendance of more than 250,000; the venue hosted all ATP World tour finals until moving to Turin in 2021.
De Villiers' reform of the ATP essentially involved players giving up a degree of autonomy in return for higher potential earnings, and persuading promoters and agents to endorse a more TV-friendly tournament format, sometime at the expense of individual interest groups within the sport.
[17] In a 2007 Inside Tennis interview, doubles player Mike Bryan said of De Villiers: "[he] might make a couple of bad calls, but in general the guy's a genius".
[18] The ATP experienced external controversies during De Villiers tenure, most notably an antitrust lawsuit brought by the German Tennis Federation.
[24] In a 2007 interview with the New York Times, De Villiers said: "We can't possibly stop our athletes being approached [by illegal gambling rings].
He went on to become head of Disney in Europe, including its theme parks, stores and home entertainment, with the international TV business growing from $15m to $1bn during his tenure, and from six employees to 700.
De Villiers cofounded private equity vehicle Englefield Capital, whose main investor was the Dutch Brenninkmeijer family.