Tags: Credit Suisse, Euro, Goldman Sachs, Greece, IRS, Junk Bonds, Lawsuit, poaching, Revolving Door, U.S. Dollar, Wealth
Big designer sales often bring out the obnoxious side of some people, and the annual Super Saturday in the Hamptons sounds like it was no exception. According to Page Six, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein’s wife didn’t think she should have to wait in line with the unwashed masses, making a big stink. Not exactly the behavior that hubby Lloyd is trying to instill in all of his Goldman Sachs associates who have big targets on their backs these days. (Blankfein himself isn’t known for his patience, though.) According to Page Six: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Conspicuous consumption, Goldman Sachs, Hamptons, Lloyd Blankfein, Wealth
Should a divorced spouse with a fat settlement share in their former spouse's pain now that they've fallen on hard times and their net worths have shrunk? Some bankers and others wealthy types who have agreed to large settlements are looking for do overs. Bloomberg looks at some UK cases:
Tags: Divorce
Tags: Autos, Barack Obama, Drugs, Politics
When you think of Goldman Sachs, you think of the vast wealth of its employees. But many of those employees put boatloads of their money into Goldman's own funds. Now many of those funds, focusing on real estate and private equity, are way under water, and the employees are getting capital calls. To help them out, last week the firm offered loans to more than 1,000 of them last week via email. The loans are only to be used for capital calls for the internal funds, and not for other personal uses….
Tags: Bonuses, Compensation, Goldman Sachs
Lest you should think otherwise, Saudi Prince Alwaleed is still a billionaire. That fact was trumpeted in a Kingdom Holdings press release citing the latest Forbes list of billionaires where he's #22 with a estimated net worth of $13.3 billion. But like everyone else, he's taken a lot of lumps, especially in his U.S. holdings like Citigroup. Below are updated charts for his U.S. equity holdings.
Because of his philanthropy over the last 15 years or so, some thought that former Drexel junk bond king Mike Milken would have a good shot at getting a pardon from President Bush before he left office. But it didn't happen. Alan Dershowitz thinks it's because of Marc Rich….
Tags: Drexel, Mike Milken, Philanthropy, Politics
Outspoken Third Point leader Dan Loeb was profiled by Gawker, which seemed to have never heard of him before from reading their piece. Seems that "widely hated surfer, yoga enthusiast, and hedge-fund manager" Dan flew a couple of lady bloggers home from Davos in his private jet. One of them, Julia Allison, posted pix on her website although they were apparently subsequently removed according to a Gawker story update. (Did Dan ask that they be taken down?). Gawker has a picture of Allison on the jet (at left) among others. Other than his well publicized recent losses he's been relatively quiet recently – the article is a fun read, a welcome walk down memory lane, recalling excerpts from some of the famous Dan Loeb rants / disses. They make us yearn for some new material from the dissmaster….
Tags: Activist Investing, Dan Loeb, Hedge funds, Private jets
With the credit crunch hitting New York State's budget hard, Governor Paterson is looking for ways to raise income:
New York Gov. David Paterson has repeatedly blocked Democrats in the state Assembly from wringing higher income taxes out of millionaires, saying this would just drive them out of state.
The governor's new $121 billion budget also targets the well-to-do in other ways, including levying an extra 5 percent sales tax on luxury goods, from yachts and jets to jewels and furs.
NY gov. mulls tax hike on hedge funds, luxury goods – Reuters
Tags: Hedge funds, Private equity, Private jets
Over two years ago, Nicole Buffett, adopted daughter of Warren Buffett's son Peter, famously made headlines when she dished about the family in Jamie Johnson's indie documentary "The One Percent" about rich kids, and subsequently on Oprah. Grandfather Warren Buffett, said to be furious, cut her off, saying "I have not emotionally or legally adopted you as a grandchild, nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece or a cousin." Apparently the struggling artist isn't doing well financially, unable to afford health insurance or cable, and she's dishing in Marie Claire Magazine. According to Page Six:
The New York Post’s Page Six Magazine (which is now online) tells us who you have to impress if you want to live in the highest class NYC Coops…
Tags: Alan "Ace" Greenberg, Real Estate
Now that Lazard Freres Bruce Wasserstein has a more svelte look, he might be looking to
make other changes in his life. No clue if this is true, but today’s NY
Daily News Rush & Molloy column suggests that Billionaire Bruce Wasserstein
could be "spinning off" wife number 3, Claude, who he married in 1996
and from whom he’s now separated, for "a young Asian beauty with whom he
may already be planning a family". The young chickie is said to be in
her twenties, to Wasserstein’s 60. According to the gossip column:
Tags: Bruce Wasserstein, Divorce, Lazard
Material girl Madge is reportedly getting paid around $25 million — roughly $15 million for a 90 minute concert and another $10 million for a millionaire’s private party, both in Dubai. According to Gordon Smart of The Sun (UK):
“The negotiations for the tour to stop in
Dubai in November are being finalised and she will get £7.5million for the one
show only. The figure is so big because of her new contract with Live Nation and
the huge funds available from private promoters in Dubai.”Madge signed to the company for £60million
last autumn.And if that wasn’t enough, she is also in
talks to perform at a private party for a mystery punter while she is out there
which will earn her another £5million.
That makes Rod Stewart’s performance at Blackstone CEO’s Steve Schwarzman’s 60th birthday bash sound like a bargain. Stewart was reportedly paid around a million bucks….
Madonna £12m for two gigs – The Sun
Tags: Blackstone, Music
Attention men, you now have reason to hope: Page Six tells us that Ivanka Trump has shed her boyfriend of nearly a year, NY Observer publisher Jared Kushner…..
New York’s hottest bachelorette, Ivanka Trump, is back on the market. We
noticed Trump – who had been dating real estate mogul and New York Observer
owner Jared Kushner for almost a year – was flying solo at a few recent
soirees, and friends of the couple confirmed yesterday to Page Six that the
power couple are no longer together. "It was mutual," said one pal.
Another added, "It’s a sad thing." Neither had a response for Page
Six.Unattached – Page Six
Tags: Donald Trump, Eye Candy
Selective reporting at the New York Times?: Pete Peterson, one of Blackstone Group’s founders, has a beef with the New York Times which profiled him last month in a not so flattering light….
"I’m allegedly the fat cat that
doesn’t pay much taxes or some such thing," Peterson, 81, complains to
Portfolio.com’s Lloyd Grove. "I made it clear to the New York Times that I
pay substantial taxes, but they chose not to print it." Peterson, who
claims he paid 38.7 percent in taxes on last year’s income of reportedly around
$200 million, blames the omission on the Times’ anti-wealth bias. "Somebody
gets a theme, and the theme is that fat cats don’t want to pay more taxes or
don’t care about income inequality, and we ignore some of these obvious facts
which are verifiable as far as my background is concerned."
Blackstone Pete Rips Times – NY Post Page Six
Tags: Blackstone, Private equity
Attention you Catholics!: Angelo Mozillo (we guessing he’s Catholic) may wanna beware if in the afterlife the wealth he’s created for himself is seen by the big man/woman upstairs as ill gotten gains: The Vatican has updated its list of deadly sins and creating excessive wealth by exploiting the poor is on it. And you know what that means: he might be going to hell. And it’s not just Mr. Mozilo who might want to evaluate how he made his big bucks — private equity guys, hedge funders, investment bankers, short sellers, and on and on and on may wanna search their souls…..
The Vatican has extended its list of mortal sins to include 21st century
transgressions such as destructive experiments on human embryos, pollution of
the environment, drug abuse and the exploitation of the poor by the super-rich.Published in the Vatican’s official newspaper L’Osservatore Romano the list of
mortal sins – those which are so serious they can lead a person to hell – were
revealed at the end of a week long refresher course for priests on the sacrament
of confession.
Tags: Countrywide Financial, Hedge funds, Private equity, Religion
The new Forbes World’s Richest list is out and there’s a new leader: Warren Buffett is the world’s richest man with $62 billion. Carlos Slim Helu is in the number two position ($60 billion) and Buffett’s bestest buddy Bill Gates is now number three ($58 billion)…..
Gates No Longer World’s Richest Man – Forbes
Last November, Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal spent £160million on a brand spanking new monster Airbus A380. Now he’s spending another £90m to remodel his new 600 passenger sized toy with all sorts of amenities, including a missile system. He’ll have his flying palace in around two year’s time:
Inside he is building a lounge to seat a
travelling entourage of 25 trusted aides.He has ordered a dining room, seating 14 and panelled in marble, to be
constructed next to a bar with curtains to mimic tents of the Arabian desert and
a fibre-optic mosaic that will depict a shifting desert scene.Where economy class usually begins the prince has ordered a whirlpool bath and
sauna to be constructed.
Tags: Alwaleed, Expensive Toys
Page Six sightings included Blackstone Group CEO Steve Schwarzman "eyeing a Van Gogh, "cheap" at $9.5 million, at the Boys Club of NY
preview party for the Westchester Enterprises Antiques & Art show
at the Park Avenue Armory, amid the likes Karen LeFrak and Geoffrey
Bradfield and co-chairs Jamee Gregory and Mario Buatta". No idea if he bought it. But to put it into other terms, the "cheap" price boils down to 23,750 of his beloved $400 stone crabs… Sightings – NY Post
Tags: Blackstone
Today’s Page Six tells us how George Soros is reportedly trying to stay young. He’s dating babes more than 50 years his junior, a la Hugh Hefner:
SINCE dumping his age-appropriate wife,
Susan Weber Soros, 63, in 2005, billionaire George Soros, 77, has turned to
younger women to satisfy his companionship needs. Sources say the financier
and founder of moveon.org has "a fondness for girls in their early 20s.
He has entertained many young lovelies at his house in Southampton and is
currently dating 22-year-old Russian playgirl Marina Zelle." A rep for
Soros declined to comment.
Thinking Young - Page Six New York Post
Tags: Eye Candy, George Soros, Playboy
A river runs through it: Friday’s Evening Standard described Thain’s massive Westchester property…..
John Thain’s New York country estate is so
big that the palatial property has five different addresses spanning three
separate towns. Thain has lived the lifestyle of a Wall Street chieftain for
many years. Now, in his new role as boss of Merrill Lynch, he must prove that he
has the professional mettle to match. During the past four years, Thain has
transformed the New York Stock Exchange, a huge yet old-fashioned open outcry
operation, into NYSE Euronext, the biggest, most comprehensive cash, futures and
options exchange in the world.
Tags: John Thain, Merrill Lynch, Real Estate
First Sergei left bachelorhood behind. And soon there’ll be one less marriageable billionaire on the market. Google co-founder Larry Page is getting hitched on the weekend of December 8th to girlfriend Lucy Southworth, a biomedical informatics doctoral student at Page’s alma mater, Stanford. They’ve been dating for over a year..
Page, 34, founded Google while a Stanford
University computer science doctoral student and is now among the world’s
wealthiest individuals, with a fortune around $20 billion. He is, by a wide
margin, Silicon Valley’s richest bachelor.Many current and former Google employees are expected to attend the wedding,
along with Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin business empire, and San
Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, according to sources familiar with the guest list.
Former Vice President Al Gore was also invited but said he can’t make it because
he will be receiving the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, on
Dec. 10."Larry Page allowed that, on the list of excuses, that was
acceptable," Gore said in an interview.
Now the other Google founder is planning a secret wedding – San Francisco Chronicle
Tags: Google
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