Malibu’s renown for wealthy denizens is vouched for once again with the names of nine people with Malibu connections making the list in the recent release of Forbes Magazine 400 Richest Americans report.
Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison, 60, ranks as America’s 10th richest man with his current net worth of $13.7 billion. Ellison grabbed the last empty seat among the nation’s top 10 wealthiest after taking a $4.3 billion dive from last year’s number nine spot at a net worth of $18 billion. Despite the downward shift in the American financial totem pole, Ellison still claims the title as the 12th richest man in the world. In addition to the recent purchase of five Malibu beachfront properties at a reported total value of $65 million, Ellison also owns the Windsail restaurant property and the neighboring Pier View Café.
Jerry Perenchio, Univision giant and principal owner of the Malibu Bay Company, fills the gap at the 72 ranking with a net worth of $2.7 billion, a slight slouch from the preceding 2003 spot at number 62 with a net worth of $2.8 billion. Perenchio, 73, is the 186th richest man in the world according to Forbes, and is Malibu’s largest landowner, owning a great deal of Civic Center area land.
Media mogul David Geffen ranked 37th with a net worth of $4.4 billion, stepping up from the $4 billion net worth that earned him the number 40 spot on last year’s list. The 53-year-old co-founder of Dreamworks SKG is listed as the 116th richest man in the world. Geffen’s founding partners at Dreamworks, Stephen Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, also made the list.
Spielberg, 57, ranked 74th (205th worldwide) at a net worth of $2.6 billion, down from last year’s 71st spot but up from a previous net worth of $2.5 billion, while 53-year-old Jeffrey Katzenberg’s $800 million net worth bought him a spot at 369, jumping down from a previous 318 ranking with a net worth remaining the same. All three own property in Malibu.
Marc Nathanson, also worth $800 million, shares the spot with Katzenberg at 369. The 53-year-old director at Charter Communications and chairman of Maple Investments LLC was not listed in last year’s Forbes report.
Haim Saban, worth $2.2 billion, ranked at 97 nationally. Saban was ranked at 117 with a net worth of $1.7 billion in the 2003 report. The 59-year-old Israeli emigrant is listed as the 342nd richest man in the world and is credited with such television creations as the children’s show, the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.” Saban owns beachfront property in Malibu, near Geffen.
Ted Field, 52, noted film and music producer ranked 340th with a net worth of $900 million, a sharp decline from last year’s ranking at 195 with a net worth of $1.2 billion.
Internet tycoon Barry Diller, 62, came in at 215 with a net worth of $1.3 billion, rising from last year’s 216 spot while declining in net worth from a previous $1.6 billion. Diller is Chairman and CEO of USA Interactive Corp. and is currently ranked as the world’s 406th richest man.