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The first L.A. name on this year's Forbes 400 is in the modest 42nd position - and yes, it's Eli Broad, at $5.4 billion. David Geffen follows closely in the No. 44 position, at $5 billion, and then it's drug mogul Patrick Soon-Shiong (65th), at $4 billion. Soon-Shiong also merits a separate profile in the Forbes package. Also being profiled is Bev Hills bottom-feeder Tom Gores ($2.2 billion).
Gores casts a wide net looking for acquisitions, employing 15 associates to scour for deals. His database manages contact information on 140,000 corporate executives, investment bankers, financial brokers and anyone else who might provide a lead. In a typical year Platinum looks at 1,200 possible deals, researches half and pulls the trigger on perhaps 20. At any moment Gores is running a portfolio of 20 to 30 companies.
As you might expect, this was a tough year for the richest of the rich. The collective net worth of the Forbes 400 fell $300 billion, to $1.27 trillion. Here's the L.A. list:
Rank Name Net Worth ($mil) Age Residence Source
42 Eli Broad 5,400 76 Los Angeles investments
44 David Geffen 5,000 66 Malibu movies, music
65 Patrick Soon-Shiong 4,000 57 Los Angeles generic drugs
80 David Murdock 3,700 86 Los Angeles Dole, real estate
94 Ronald Burkle 3,200 56 Los Angeles supermarkets, investments
97 Kirk Kerkorian 3,000 92 Los Angeles investments, casinos
97 Steven Spielberg 3,000 62 Pacific Palisades movies
113 Haim Saban 2,800 65 Beverly Hills television
123 John Tu 2,500 67 Los Angeles computer memory
123 Steven Udvar-Hazy 2,500 63 Beverly Hills International Lease Finance
141 William Barron Hilton 2,300 81 Los Angeles hotels, casinos
147 Tom Gores 2,200 45 Beverly Hills leveraged buyouts
154 A. Jerrold Perenchio 2,100 78 Bel Air Univision
158 Michael Milken 2,000 63 Los Angeles investments
158 Sumner Redstone 2,000 86 Beverly Hills Viacom
193 Alan Casden 1,850 63 Beverly Hills real estate
204 John Edward Anderson 1,700 92 Bel Air investments
220 Alec Gores 1,600 56 Beverly Hills leveraged buyouts
220 Anthony Pritzker 1,600 48 Los Angeles hotels, investments
230 Charles Munger 1,550 85 Los Angeles Berkshire Hathaway
236 Edward Roski Jr. 1,500 70 Los Angeles real estate
277 Alfred Mann 1,400 83 Los Angeles medical devices
296 David Hearst Jr. 1,300 64 Los Angeles Hearst Corp
296 George Randolph Hearst Jr. 1,300 82 Los Angeles Hearst Corp
296 Gary Michelson 1,300 60 Los Angeles medical patents
347 Thomas Barrack 1,100 62 Los Angeles Colony Capital
Here's the OC contingent:
16 Donald Bren 12,000 77 Newport Beach real estate
123 David Sun 2,500 58 Orange County computer memory
158 William Gross 2,000 65 Laguna Beach bonds
212 Henry Samueli 1,650 55 Newport Beach Broadcom
220 Irwin Jacobs 1,600 76 La Jolla Qualcomm
236 George Argyros 1,500 72 Newport Beach real estate, investments
236 Henry Nicholas 1,500 50 Newport Coast Broadcom
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted
until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.