The Los Angeles Business Journal has published its list of the 50 wealthiest Angelenos, ranked by net worth, which is peppered by quiet a few Malibu residents.
As the Journal noted, the wealthiest’s total net worth has declined by $32 billion, yet the poorest on the list, Malibu’s Mel Gibson at No. 50, ranked with a net worth of $510 million.
The Journal credits Gibson’s earnings from his movie “The Passion of the Christ” (with global box office earnings of $600 million, plus $200 million from DVD sales) as the main reason the 53-year-old is on the list. It is anticipated, however, that his upcoming divorce from wife of 28 years Robyn Gibson will knock him back off the list.
Eli Broad, who has a home in Malibu, is listed No. 2 on the list, with a net worth of $5.4 billion. Broad, 76, has made his income from home building, starting with Kaufman & Broad, and in insurance, ending with Sun America, which he sold to AIG. Broad lost $3.6 billion in the value of his holdings with the giant insurance company. A philanthropist who has contributed greatly to local schools and institutions, Broad has continued to give, even in times of economic crisis-he recently pledged $425,000 to New York’s Julliard School, which had lost financing for its African American and Latino musical training program for children.
No. 6 on the list is none other than David Geffen, former co-owner of SKG DreamWorks. Geffen made his money in music, founding Geffen Records in 1980, which he sold for $750 million, according to the Journal. His current net worth is $3.6 billion, down $1.2 billion from last year. The 66-year-old entertainment mogul has spent some of that fortune in Malibu, buying the Malibu Beach Inn several years ago for an estimated $29 million.
Haim Saban, who has a home in Beverly Hills as well as in Malibu, first began his fortune building with the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” television show; he bought the U.S. rights from the Japanese. He later bought and sold the Fox Family Network and German TV network ProSiebenSat1. He is on the list at No. 8 with a net worth of $2.8 billion. He has lost a bit recently though, from the 2007 purchase of Univision Communications from A. Jerold Perenchio, who is listed right below Saban at No. 9 with a net worth of $2.4 billion, 26 percent less than last year.
The media-shy Perenchio, who owns the Malibu Bay Co. and sold the 20-acre Civic Center-area land where Legacy Park will be built, to the City of Malibu for $25 million, owns significant shares of Coca Cola. After selling Univision to friend Saban, he has shied away from large investments and keeps his dollars in family investment firm Chartwell Partners. Perenchio, 78, is listed by the Journal as living in Beverly Hills; however he owns a home near the Malibu Lagoon off Pacific Coast Highway, which has a nine-hole golf course and can be seen from the second level of the newly opened Malibu Lumber Yard mall, which sits on the land the city bought from Perenchio.
At No. 18 is Jeffrey Greene, 54, who has a net worth of $1.58 billion. While many of his cohorts lost great deals of money in the subprime mortgage scandals, he became the first investor to short subprime mortgage-backed securities using credit default swaps, according to the Journal, which garnered him $800 million. Greene is a man who knows what it’s like to be at the bottom (he grew up in blue-collar family, working multiple jobs to get through college) and work his way to the top only to come back down (he lost all of his $35 million net worth in the early ’90s), only to climb back up.
Clippers owner Donald Sterling, 72, has lost 28 percent of his net worth from last year, coming out at No. 22 on the Journal’s list with a net worth of $1.45 billion this year. His team was valued at $550 million last year; this year it’s worth $400 million. The developer and real estate owner also has a home in Beverly Hills.
Jamie and Frank McCourt, who like Sterling also own a sports team, the Dodgers, which they bought in 2004 and is now valued at $722 million, have several homes, including one in Malibu. The couple, married for 30 years, plans to develop retail space around the Dodger Stadium. They are listed at No. 27 with a net worth of $1.29 billion.
At No. 45 is moviemaker Jerry Bruckheimer, with a net worth of $600 million. The 63-year-old Bruckheimer is new to the Journal’s list, which states he makes 7.5 percent of the gross dollars from his films. He’s cashed in with television, too, as producer of the three CSI shows, which are in syndication now and generated $1 million each. Seems like owning a sports team is on every billionaire’s list: Bruckheimer has shown interest in owning the National Hockey League team.