We first introduced our list of “Haute 100” New Yorkers to readers in last year’s anniversary edition. The positive response was so overwhelming that we revamped the list for other cities, but New York remains, undoubtedly, the hub for the elite leaders across the globe. In the past year, many experienced dramatic shifts in their financial portfolios due to the changes in the global economy. These pages feature the top 100 power players who managed to stay at the top of their game, even through adversity. Congratulations Haute 100ers of New York.
Category Entrepreneurs
Roger Ailes
Company Fox Television
Industry Media
What Makes Him Haute The czar of cable news, Ailes took CNBC to the top of the media industry before jumping ship to Fox where he has served as chairman and the CEO of Fox News channel of Fox Entertainment Group Inc. since 1996.
Category Entrepreneurs
Herbert Allen
Company Allen & Company, Coca-Cola
Industry Media & Finance
What Makes Him Haute Renowned as one of the most formidable advisers to media moguls, Allen aided Google in going public. He is president and CEO of Allen & Company and a director of both The Coca-Cola Company and the Convera Corporation. Each summer, he hosts a summit for media company executives in Sun Valley, Idaho. In recent years, this annual meeting of the minds has shifted from old school print executives to new school technology wizards.
Category Thinkers
Woody Allen
Industry Film
What Makes Him Haute New York’s greatest auteur always presents his beloved Big Apple in a sophisticated and romanticized way. His film Vicky Christina Barcelona, which was released in August of 2008, won the 2009 Spirit Award for Best Screenplay. A jazz clarinetist for over 25 years, Allen will make his operatic debut directing a new production for the opening of the L.A. Opera’s 2008-2009 season.
Category Originators
André Balazs
Company André Balazs Properties
Industry Hotels
What Makes Him Haute In New York (The Mercer, The Standard, Sunset Beach, 40 Mercer Residences, One Kenmare Square, William Beaver House) and across the country, Balazs properties are a beacon for the haute bourgeoise. He just sold The Raleigh Hotel in Miami so that he can focus on building his Standard Hotel brand, and the new Meatpacking District location, which jumps the tracks of the High Line, constantly makes headlines thanks to guests who have a penchant for exhibitionism.
Category Thinkers
Maria Bartiromo
Company CNBC
Industry Media
What Makes Her Haute In 1995, Bartiromo became the first journalist to report live from the New York Stock Exchange. In today’s turbulent market, more people than ever are counting on the anchor of CNBC’s The Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo for information. Her nationally syndicated Wall Street Journal Report was recently rated the most watched financial news show in the country. See our profile in this issue for more info on the Money Honey.
Category Power Couples
Mercedes & Sid Richardson Bass
Company Bass Brothers Enterprises
Industry Oil
What Makes Them Haute Sid Richardson, American investor and billionaire, made his fortune in oil and gas. He and his philanthropist and socialite wife, Mercedes, split their time between their Texas and New York homes.
Category Entrepreneurs
Brian Benstock
Company ParagonCars.com
Industry Automotive & Internet
What Makes Him Haute An automotive pioneer, Benstock made ParagonCars.com the No. 1 Honda and Acura retailer in the world by revolutionizing the way the world buys cars on the Internet.
Category Billionaires
Leon Black
Company Apollo Management LP
Industry Finance
What Makes Him Haute The past year Black has taken some hits as the value of his Apollo Management fell drastically after selling a percentage to Abu Dhabi in 2007. He bought Linens ’N Things in 2005, which filed for bankruptcy this year. He’s also an art world heavyweight, making Forbes’ Billionaire Art Collectors list in 2009.
Category Entrepreneurs
Lloyd Blankfein
Company Goldman Sachs
Industry Finance
What Makes Him Haute As chairman and CEO of one of the most well-known investment banks in the world, Blankfein has had his turn in the spotlight during this economic crisis. As the economy struggled during the recession and unemployment approached 10 percent, Goldman did some of the best investment banking of its 140-year history, posting a record quarterly revenue of $13.8 billion and 65 percent growth in profits. The company’s stock has doubled since January.
Category Billionaires
Michael Bloomberg
Company New York City and Bloomberg LP
Industry Politics
What Makes Him Haute The popular current mayor of New York City convinced the City Council to extend the two-term limit last year, allowing him to run for a third term. He earned his multibillion-dollar fortune by selling financial data and analytic tools to Wall Street. This lucrative business evolved into Bloomberg LP, which now has a magazine, cable network, and radio station. It has been reported that the philanthropic Bloomberg will sell his 68 percent stake one day and perhaps give away the fortune. In March 2009, Forbes reported his net worth at $16 billion, which makes him one of the most successful billionaires in the United States during the recession, and the world’s biggest increase in wealth in 2009. As mayor of New York, Bloomberg declines to receive a city salary, accepting compensation of $1.00 annually for his services.
Category Originators
Daniel Boulud
Company Daniel Boulud
Industry Restaurant
What Makes Him Haute His establishments have defined the haute dining scene for over a decade. In 2009, he opened DBGB Kitchen & Bar, a “lowdown downtown place where the French brasserie meets the American tavern,” and his Restaurant Daniel was awarded three stars in the 2010 Michelin Guide, the book’s highest rating.
Category Entrepreneurs
Edgar Bronfman Jr.
Company Warner Music Group
Industry Finance
What Makes Him Haute Not only does Bronfman serve as chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group, he’s also a general partner at Accretive, LLC, is chairman of the board of InterActiveCorp., and is on the board at many institutions.
Category Originators
Joe Cayre
Company Midtown Equities, Core Group Marketing
Industry Real Estate & Sales
What Makes Him Haute Cayre is part of a group of investors that bought the World Trade Center in 2001 and a different team of investors that bought Sears Tower in 2004. In 2007, he sold his house in Midwood, Brooklyn, for $10 million, one of the most expensive sales in the borough. Midtown Equities and Israeli holding company IDB GROUP recently acquired HSBC Bank USA’s headquarters for $330 million. Cayre made his fortune by selling videos to discount retailers, including Wal-Mart.
Category Power Couples
Georgina Chapman & Harvey Weinstein
Company Marchesa, The Weinstein Company
Industry Fashion, Film
What Makes Them Haute The 2007 union between the legendary filmmaker and cofounder of Miramax and the supermodel-turned-designer for Marchesa has resulted in a New York power couple.
Category Entrepreneurs
Peter Chernin
Company Chernin Entertainment
Industry Media
What Makes him Haute Widely considered one of the most powerful media executives in the world, Chernin began his own production company, titled Chernin Entertainment, following his departure from News Corporation in 2009. He is currently a board member of Malaria No More, a New York-based nonprofit with the goal of ending all deaths caused by malaria.
Category Entrepreneurs
Ken Chenault
Company American Express
Industry Finance
What Makes Him Haute The CEO and Chairman of American Express is one of New York City’s highest paid executives. He is currently co-chair of the Business Roundtable, a director at IBM, and a member at the Council of Foreign Relations.
Category Power Couples
Eva & Michael Chow
Company MrChow
Industry Restaurants
What Makes Them Haute The bi-coastal couple opened MrChow in Midtown in 1979, and it famously served the faction who put Studio 54 in the history books. Tribeca’s outpost opened in 2005 and quickly became the restaurant of choice for New York stock market mavens.
Category Entertainers
Madonna Ciccone
Industry Music
What Makes Her Haute The American recording artist, actress, entrepreneur, and pop icon is ranked by the Recording Industry Association of America as the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century and the second top-selling female artist in the United States. She has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide.
Category Billionaires
Steven Cohen
Company SAC Capital Advisors
Industry Finance
What Makes him Haute Cohen’s hedge fund, SAC Capital, has 700 employees and $25 billion under management. According to Forbes, as of September 2008, Steven Cohen’s estimated net worth was $8 billion, but fell to $5.5 billion in 2009. SAC is responsible for 2 percent of the daily volume on New York Stock Exchange.
Category Entertainment
Clive Davis
Company Sony Music Entertainment Worldwide
Industry Media
What Makes Him Haute With such titles as former president of Columbia Records, founder and president of Arista Records, chairman and CEO of the RCA Music Group, and chairman and CEO of BMG North America, Clive Davis knows music. Currently CEO of Sony Music Entertainment Worldwide, he is credited with signing such classic greats as Donovan, Janis Joplin, Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, and the Grateful Dead. After four decades, Davis still knows what it takes to make a hit.
Category Power Couples
Oscar & Annette de la Renta
Company Oscar de la Renta
Industry Fashion
What Makes Them Haute Oscar de la Renta is inarguably one of the world’s leading fashion designers. He received the CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990 and the CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year Award in 2000 and in 2007. Annette serves on the boards of the Metropolitan Museum, the New York Public Library, the Morgan Library, The Animal Medical Center, and the Engelhard Foundation. She also served on the board of directors of Rockefeller University for 25 years.
Category Entertainers
Robert De Niro
Industry Film
What Makes Him Haute Arguably the finest actor of his generation, he’s also a force in Tribeca real estate and dining. The Greenwich Hotel, which is co-owned by the actor, opened in 2008.
Category Entertainers
Kasseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean
Industry Music
What Makes Him Haute The rapper/record producer and executive sold his first beat when he was just 17, and it became DMX’s hit single Ruff Ryders Anthem. The multi-talented Beatz is also a painter, collector, CEO, entrepreneur, father, and even the United Nation’s Music Ambassador for World Peace.
Category Entrepreneurs
Jamie Dimon
Company JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Industry Finance
What Makes Him Haute Current CEO and chairman of JPMorgan, as well as a Class A director of the Board of Directors of the New York Federal Reserve, Dimon’s expert finance management has earned him praise from President Obama. Previously the CEO of Bank One, then the nation’s fifth-largest bank, he acquired his current position when JP Morgan Chase acquired BankOne in 2004. He was named to Time Magazine’s 2009 list of the world’s 100 Most Influential People.
Category Entrepreneurs
Steve Forbes
Company Forbes
Industry Media
What Makes Him Haute Since taking the role of president and CEO of Forbes and editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, the company has launched a variety of new magazines and businesses. In 1997, he launched Forbes.com, which attracts millions of unique visitors each month. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in economics from Stevenson University on April 30th, 2009. He also served as John McCain’s Economic Adviser on Taxes, Energy, and the Budget during McCain’s bid for the 2008 presidential election.
Category Designers
Tom Ford
Company Tom Ford
Industry Fashion
What Makes Him Haute Formerly the creative director of Gucci, he now heads Tom Ford Fragrances and a dapper menswear line, all of which are housed in his famed Madison Avenue boutique. He is credited with turning the almost-bankrupt Gucci house into an empire valued at $4.3 billion upon his departure. He was named Menswear Designer of the Year in 2008 by the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
Category Thinkers
Larry Gagosian
Company Gagosian Galleries
Industry Art
What Makes Him Haute Gagosian is a powerful figure in the contemporary arts scene, as he reps Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, and Richard Serra, amongst others. The American art dealer, who started his business selling posters near the UCLA campus in Los Angeles, now owns the Gagosian Gallery chain, with locations in New York City, London, Los Angeles , Rome, and Athens.
Category Philanthropists
Richard Gilder
Company Gilder, Gagnon, Howe & Co.
Industry Finance
What Makes Him Haute A trustee of Morgan Library and Museum, Central Park Conservancy, American Museum of Natural History, and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Gilder, along with Lewis Lehman, received the National Humanity Medal in 2005 for their work promoting education in American history.
Category Entrepreneurs
Rudy Giuliani
Company Giuliani Partners LLC
Industry Politics
What Makes Him Haute The former mayor is still the national face of New York’s post-9/11 comeback. While he didn’t make it all the way to the White House, he is still deciding whether or not to run for governor of New York in 2010.
Category Originators
Tony Goldman
Company Goldman Properties
Industry Real Estate
What Makes Him Haute He can be credited with the creation of Soho. Goldman Properties was established in 1968 with one employee in a 200-square-foot office in New York City. It has since grown to a 250-person real estate and hospitality company with offices in New York, Miami, Philadelphia, and Boston.
Category Socialites
Patricia Hearst
Company Hearst
Industry Media
What Makes Her Haute She’s the heiress to the Hearst fortune.
Category Designers
Carolina Herrera
Company Carolina Herrera New York
Industry Fashion
What Makes Her Haute Best known for her classic minimalist designs and for having served as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ personal stylist for over a decade, Herrera’s design house epitomizes the essence of timeless, classic style. Last year, she received the Council of Fashion Designers of America Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement award.
Category Designers
Tommy Hilfiger
Company Tommy Hilfiger
Industry Fashion
What Makes Him Haute He took a vision of classic American sportswear and made it into one of the world’s most recognized lifestyle brands. He married his second wife, Dee Ocleppo, on December 12, 2008, and in August, they welcomed a baby boy, Sebastian Thomas Hilfiger. Then in September, he opened his new global flagship storefront on Fifth Avenue.
Category Billionaires
Carl Icahn
Company Icahn Enterprises
Industry Finance
What Makes Him Haute He is chairman of diversified holding company Icahn Enterprises, American Railcar Industries, ImClone Systems, and Federal-Mogul, and has served as a director of Blockbuster since May 2005. He and his wife Gail are also active philanthropists, and founded three charter schools in the South Bronx, and are responsible for Icahn House in The Bronx and Icahn House East, a homeless shelter in New York City.
Category Entrepreneurs
Jeff Immelt
Company General Electric
Industry Business
What Makes Him Haute GE’s CEO since 2001, Immelt has been named one of the World’s Best CEOs three times by Barrons. In February, 2009, he was appointed as a member to the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide the President Obama and his administration with advice and counsel in fixing America’s economic downturn.
Category Designers
Marc Jacobs
Company Marc Jacobs, Inc.
Industry Fashion
What Makes Him Haute He has built an eponymous fashion empire while simultaneously acting as creative director of Louis Vuitton. In 2009, Jacobs was ranked 15th on Out magazine’s annual list of “50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America.” He is currently set to marry Brazilian advertising executive Lorenzo Martone.
Category Athletes
Derek Jeter
Industry Baseball
Company NY Yankees
What Makes Him Haute The Yankees drafted Derek the sixth overall pick in the June 1992 MLB First-Year Player Draft. He was the first high school player chosen that year and became the third shortstop selected in Yankees history with a first-round pick. Derek made his ninth All-Star Team in 2008, and just before our press run, he hit a two-run homer in game one of the American League division series, which the Yankees won.
Category Entrepreneurs
Woody Johnson
Company Johnson Company, Inc.
Industry Investments
What Makes Him Haute The philanthropic heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune purchased the New York Jets in 2000 for $635 million. In June of this year, he wed Suzanne Ircha, a former equities specialist and actress, with whom he has two sons, Robert Wood Johnson V and Jack Johnson.
Category Billionaires
Paul Tudor Jones II
Company Tudor Investment Corp.
Industry Finance
What Makes Him Haute The self-made hedge fund billionaire founded New York City poverty-fighting group Robin Hood Foundation in 1988, which raised $70 million at a single banquet in 2007. He also formed a $125 million commodity pool with LBO executive Ray Chambers, called the One to One Charitable Fund, that devoted most of its profits to helping disadvantaged children. One of Jones’ earliest and major successes was predicting Black Monday in 1987, tripling his money during the event.
Category Designers
Donna Karan
Company DKNY
Industry Fashion
What Makes Her Haute Fashion designer Donna Karan founded Urban Zen Foundation in 2007 with a mission to advance the journey of health care by combining Eastern traditions with Western science. Her fashion collections continue to make headlines every season.
Category Originators
Raymond Kelly
Company New York City Police Department
Industry Law Enforcement
What Makes Him Haute Raymond Kelly is the current commissioner of the New York City Police Department and the first person to hold the post for two nonconsecutive tenures. Kelly spent 31 years in the NYPD, serving in 25 different commands. After his handling of the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, he was mentioned as a possible candidate for FBI Director, a position that he declined. He received The Hundred Year Association of New York’s Gold Medal in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York in 2006 and has received 15 citations for meritorious service in the New York City Police Department.
Category Entertainers
Alicia Keys
Industry Music
What Makes Her Haute This nine-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist, musician, actress, and philanthropist became the first female to have an MTV Unplugged album to debut at No. 1. In June 2009, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers honored Keys with the Golden Note Award, which is given to artists “who have achieved extraordinary career milestones.” She is also the co-founder and Global Ambassador of Keep a Child Alive, a non-profit organization that provides medicine to families with HIV and AIDS in Africa. Keys was honored at the 2009 BET Awards with the Humanitarian Award for her philanthropic work. Her long-awaited third studio album, As I Am, is set for a worldwide release on November 13 on J Records.
Category Power Couples
Beyonce Knowles & Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter
Industry Music
What Makes Them Haute These media darlings together make up one of the wealthiest power couples in the entertainment industry. More than just a hip-hop icon, the former CEO of Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella co-owns the New Jersey Nets, the 40/40 Club, and is the creator of the clothing line Rocawear and Roc Nation. With the 2009 release of The Blueprint album, he became the record-holder of most No. 1 albums by a solo artist. The track “Empire State of Mind” pays homage to New York City. Beyonce Knowles, who he quietly married in April of 2008, is an R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, and model considered to be one of the most marketable artists in the music industry. In 2009, Forbes listed Beyonce fourth on its list of the “100 Most Powerful and Influential Celebrities” in the world, third on its list of the top-grossing musicians, and No. 1 on the list of “Best-Paid Celebs Under 30,” with more than $87 million dollars in earnings between 2008 and 2009.
Category Billionaires
David Koch
Company Koch Industries
Industry Manufacturing, energy, and commodities
What Makes Him Haute While his fortune may have fallen over the past 12 months, sales at his Koch Industries topped $100 billion in 2008, and it is now the country’s second-largest private company.
Category Thinkers
Jeff Koons
Industry Art
What Makes Him Haute In November 2007, Koons’ works became some of the most expensive by any living artist when his giant stainless-steel Hanging Heart sold at Sotheby’s New York for $23.6 million, only to be topped in July 2008 by his Balloon Flower (Magenta) selling for a record $25.7 million at Christie’s in London. In July of this year, he had his first major solo show at the Serpentine Gallery in London.
Category Billionaires
Bruce Kovner
Company Caxton Associates
Industry Finance
What Makes Him Haute The self-made hedge fund billionaire dropped out of Harvard to drive a New York City taxi. He started his fortune with $3,000 borrowed from credit cards.
Category Power Couples
Marie-Josée & Henry Kravis
Company Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Industry Finance
What Makes Them Haute One of the wealthiest American families, the Kravises are actively involved with several New York institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mount Sinai Medical Center, and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Henry Kravis, an American business financier, investor, and philanthropist, is notable for co-founding and heading a leading private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., which is finally expected to go public this fall.
Category Billionaires
Edward Lampert
Company Sears Holdings Corporation, ESL Investments
Industry Finance
What Makes Him Haute While he has taken some recent hits, the financial wizard, who once was hailed as the next Warren Buffett, went on record in September 2009 saying that his companies made important progress over the past year.
Category Philanthropists
Kenneth Langone
Industry Venture Capitalism
Company Home Depot
What Makes Him Haute The financial backer and co-founder of Home Depot is also the former director of the New York Stock Exchange and an active philanthropist. He is chairman of the NYU Langone Medical Center, and in September was chosen to be the Grand Marshal of the 2009 Columbus Day Parade in New York City because he is a “virtuous man of good character, who is an ideal role model for Italian-Americans and indeed all Americans.”
Category Entrepreneurs
Leonard & Ronald Lauder
Company Estée Lauder
Industry Beauty
What Makes Them Haute Born and raised on the Upper East Side, brothers Leonard and Ronald took their mother’s face cream concoction made in her kitchen and turned it into one of the nation’s largest beauty conglomerates. “The Lipstick Index,” an indicator of whether the economy is thriving or diving based on the sale of lipsticks, was coined in the early 2000s by Leonard.
Category Billionaires
Ralph Lauren
Company Ralph Lauren
Industry Fashion
What Makes Him Haute This ambitious fashion designer and brilliant businessman, most notable for his Polo Ralph Lauren clothing line, stated in high school that he wanted to be a millionaire. Now included on the Forbes 400 list, he has succeeded his goal in spades.
Category Entrepreneurs
Howard Lorber
Company Vector Group Limited
Industry Real Estate
What Makes Him Haute As co-owner and chairman of the largest residential real estate agency in New York and chairman of hot dog conglomerate Nathan’s Famous, Lorber embodies New York living, mind, body, and soul. His Prudential Douglas Eliman runs the town’s high-end real estate scene, with 60 offices in the New York area, and 3,500 people who do 14,000 transactions yearly.
Category Power Couples
Jennifer Lopez & Marc Anthony
Industry Music
What Makes Them Haute While she may also have homes in Miami and Los Angeles, she will always be Jenny from the Block. Her husband Marc is the top tropical salsa artist of all time, selling more than 10 million albums worldwide. He was the first solo salsa act to ever sell out Madison Square Garden.
Category Entrepreneurs
William Mack
Company Apollo Real Estate Advisors, L.P.
Industry Real Estate
What Makes Him Haute Mack is a third generation real estate tycoon best known for co-developing the Time Warner Center. He also heads Apollo Real Estate Advisors, serves as chair of real estate investment trust Mack-Cali Realty, and is chairman of the Guggenheim. As of December 2008, Apollo managed more than $37 billion of investor commitments across its private equity funds and other investment vehicles, making it one of the largest private equity firms in the world.
Category Originators
Harry Macklowe
Company Macklowe Properties
Industry Real Estate
What Makes him Haute The Manhattan developer might have made some recent headlines over some deals gone south, but make no mistake that Macklowe is still one of the city’s great real state moguls, owning a number of New York landmarks.
Category Athletes
Eli Manning
Company New York Giants
Industry Sports
What Makes Him Haute After delivering an against-all-odds Super Bowl title with a near-flawless and gutsy playoff run during the 2007-2008 season, he’s got the Giants rolling again in 2009. As of press time, he’s averaging two touchdown passes and better than 250 passing yards per game this season, and his completion rate of 63.2 percent is seven points above his career average.
Category Originators
Richard Meier
Company Richard Meier & Partners, Architects LLP
Industry Architecture
What Makes Him Haute The starchitect is the brainchild behind the three glass towers at 173 and 176 Perry Street and 165 Charles Street in the West Village, which have attracted the likes of Martha Stewart, Natalie Portman, and Calvin Klein.
Category Billionaires
Paul Milstein
Company Milstein Properties
Industry Real Estate
What Makes Him Haute This American real estate developer and philanthropist billionaire owns apartment towers from Battery Park City to the Upper East Side, offices in Midtown, and several undeveloped lots across Manhattan.
Category Billionaires
Rupert Murdoch
Company News Corp.
Industry Media
What Makes Him Haute The Australian-born global media mogul controls News Corp., which brings in $25 billion a year and has more than 50,000 employees, making it the most powerful media conglomerate. According to the 2009 Forbes 400, Murdoch is the 132nd-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $4 billion.
Category Billionaires
Si Newhouse Jr.
Company Condé Nast
Industry Media
What Makes Him Haute As the chairman of Advance Publications, which controls more than two dozen magazines, the low-profile and hands-on Newhouse personally selects Condé Nast’s publishers and editors in chief. He is best known for his philanthropy, which resulted in the SI Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, as well as being a notable art collector.
Category Thinkers
Dr. Mehmet Oz
Company New York Presbyterian Medical Center
Industry Medicine
What Makes Him Haute After five years as the health expert on The Oprah Winfrey Show, the city’s most famous surgeon debuted his own syndicated health show in September, aptly titled The Dr. Oz Show. He is also director of the Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital.
Category Entrepreneurs
Richard Parsons
Company Time Warner
Industry Media
What Makes Him Haute His financial advice is coveted by even the most powerful individuals; Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met with Parsons as many as 17 times during his first year in office. The lawyer-turned-banker-turned-media executive is the chairman of Citigroup and the former chairman and CEO of Time Warner, and he announced in September that he joined Providence Equity Partners as a senior advisor.
Category Originators
I.M. Pei
Company Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
Industry Architecture
What Makes Him Haute From the Kips Bay Plaza in 1963 to the Four Seasons Hotel in 1993 to the Centurion in 2008, this Pritzker Prize-winning architect has been shaping the skyline of New York City for decades. Known as the last master of high modernist architecture, he has been named as the recipient of the 2010 RIBA Royal Gold Medal, an honor that will be presented in February 2010 at a ceremony at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London.
Category Billionaires
Ronald Perelman
Company Scientific Games Corp.
Industry Finance
What Makes Him Haute Yet another self-made billionaire on our list, Perelman made his fortune through leveraged buyouts. In 2008, the Chronicle of Philanthropy listed Perelman as the 26th largest donor in the U.S., having donated more than $63 million to a multitude of charities in 2008 alone. He just branched into the restaurant business, opening Monkey Bar in Manhattan with Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter and Blue Parrot in East Hampton with Renée Zellweger.
Category Billionaires
Mikhail Prokhorov
Industry Investment
What Makes Him Haute In September, Russia’s wealthiest man agreed to a $200 million deal that makes him principal owner of the New York Nets and a key investor in the team’s proposed new Brooklyn home. He may still live in Russia, making him the NBA’s first overseas team owner, but New York women already have their eyes peeled for the playboy billionaire, who has a reputation for throwing lavish parties.
Category Billionaires
Stewart Rahr
Industry Pharmaceuticals
Company Kinray
What Makes Him Haute He evolved his father’s Brooklyn pharmacy into the world’s largest privately held distributor of pharmaceutical, generic, health and beauty, and homecare health products, with an annual revenue of around $5 billion. One of the wealthiest men on the planet, “Rah-Rah” Rahr is the self-proclaimed King of All Fun. At the time, his $45 million purchase of an estate in East Hampton was the most expensive real estate transactions in New York State’s history.
Category Thinkers
Emily Rafferty
Company Metropolitan Museum of Art
Industry Art
What Makes Her Haute Rafferty oversees 2,000 employees, a $190 million annual operating budget, and an $80 million merchandising business. She is the first woman to run the day-to-day operations of the Metropolitan Museum of New York and consequently is renowned as one of the most influential women in New York.
Category Socialites
Denise Rich
Industry Social
What Makes Her Haute The successful songwriter is a staple in the New York society circuit.
Category Power Couples
Loren & JR Ridinger
Industry Internet Commerce
Company Market America
What Makes Them Haute The Ridinger’s company, Market America, which they started out of a garage in North Carolina, has generated more than $2.5 billion in accumulated retail sales, earning MA distributors and UnFranchise Business Owners more than $1.6 billion in commissions and estimated retail profits. The Ridingers spend their winters in Miami and the summer months in their New York penthouse, where they entertain a plethora of their celebrity friends including Eva Longoria, Shakira, Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, and others.
Category Dynasties
The Rockefellers
Company Standard Oil Company, Chase Manhattan Bank/JPMorgan Chase
Industry Industrial, Banking
What Makes Them Haute This world-renowned industrial, banking, real estate, and political dynasty made the world’s largest private fortune in the oil business, primarily through the Standard Oil Company, powering America’s lamps and, eventually, their automobiles. Most noted for their philanthropic endeavors in education, health, and conservation, John D. Rockefeller reportedly gave away $540 million over his lifetime and became the greatest lay benefactor of medicine in history. Independent researchers have valued the assets of the Rockefeller family as high as $110 billion, though an exact figure is unknown. The family business headquarters is now located in New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza.
Category Thinkers
Charlie Rose
Company Charlie Rose
Industry Media
What Makes Him Haute In September, 2009, CNN described Rose as “America’s tallest, handsomest, best-connected, most inquisitive, most talkative late-night TV interviewer.” Over the past 16 years, he has interviewed nearly 6,500 of the globe’s most interesting and influential people, including President Obama, Bill Clinton, Al Pacino, and Jonathan Tisch.
Category Originators
Aby Rosen
Company RFR Holding
Industry Real Estate
What Makes Him Haute This superstar German-born developer is a New York real estate mogul. His collection of prized New York landmarks like the Seagram Building and the Lever House can only be rivaled by his contemporary art collection. In July 2009, his project in Miami, the W South Beach, opened its doors and instantly became the Beach’s go-to haute spot.
Category Entrepreneurs
Barry Rosenstein
Company JANA Partners, LLC
Industry Finance
What Makes Him Haute Formerly in our “Billionaires” category, this corporate takeover specialist is the founder and managing partner of JANA Partners LLC, a $5 billion event-driven hedge fund that launched in April 2001.
Category Billionaires
Wilbur Ross
Company W.L. Ross & Co.
Industry Finance
What Makes Him Haute Billionaire Ross launched the W.L. Ross & Co. investment fund with $440 million in capital and a small staff that he recruited from Rothschild. His current net worth is estimated at $1.7 billion.
Category Originators
Stephen Ross
Company Related Companies
Industry Real Estate
What Makes Him Haute Ross’ Related has acquired or developed more than $15 billion in real estate assets since its inception. Currently, Related is working on developing Moynihan Station, which will move Madison Square Garden and renovate Penn Station. In January 2009, he purchased the Miami Dolphins and Land Shark Stadium for $1 billion.
Category Thinkers
Scott Rudin
Company Scott Rudin Productions
Industry Film
What Makes Him Haute The prolific Academy Award-winning American film producer and Tony Award-winning theater producer is notorious for making 500-plus phone calls a day and was involved in 2008’s Oscar nods There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men (with eight nominations for each). No Country for Old Men took home the Best Picture prize.
Category Power Couples
Diane Sawyer & Mike Nichols
Company ABC (Sawyer)
Industry News, Movies
What Makes Them Haute Emmy-winning Sawyer gives us the news and Oscar-winning Nichols, a television, stage, and film director, writer, and producer, provides the entertainment. The duo lives happily on the Upper East Side.
Category Thinkers
Julian Schnabel
Industry Art
What Makes Him Haute This award-winning painter, sculptor, film director, and musician will soon launch his next film, and audiences are eagerly awaiting its arrival.
Category Originators
Ian Schrager
Company Ian Schrager Company
Industry Hospitality
What Makes Him Haute Credited with revolutionizing the entertainment and hospitality industries, Schrager burst onto the scene in the 70s with his club Studio 54. He has since redefined the boutique hotel genre, and his residential projects, such as 40 Bond and 50 Gramercy Park North, make national headlines. Schrager reportedly inked a deal in May of 2009 with Murray Hill Properties LLC, a New York City real estate investment firm, to develop a six-star, ultra luxury hotel at 1414 Avenue of the Americas.
Category Billionaires
Stephen Schwarzman
Company Blackstone Group
Industry Finance
What Makes Him Haute The chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Blackstone Group, known for his lavish lifestyle, donated $100 million to the New York City Library in March of 2008, which led to the main building being renamed in his honor. In October 2009, it was announced that the Blackstone private equity empire is buying 10 U.S. theme parks, including SeaWorld in Florida and California, for $2.7 billion from brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Category Thinkers
Martin Scorsese
Company World Cinema Foundation
Industry Film
What Makes Him Haute Critics and film scholars have called him the greatest living American director, several of his movies occupy spots on the AFI’s list of greatest movies, he finally got that Oscar for 2007’s The Departed, and, thankfully, there are no signs of him slowing down.
Category Entertainers
Jerry Seinfeld
Industry Television
What Makes Him Haute He revolutionized the TV sitcom, left an indelible mark on popular culture, and became wealthy in the process. He’s also remained grounded in his New York roots. This September, the Seinfeld cast reunited for an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which gave the show its highest rating in years.
Category Entrepreneurs
Russell Simmons
Company Rush Communications
Industry Fashion, Music
What Makes Him Haute The founder of Rush Communications, which has a hand in music, fashion, art, media, telecom, philanthropy, jewelry, and more, can be credited with starting the hip-hop movement through the founding of Def Jam Recordings. In May 2009, Simmons was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the Permanent Memorial at the United Nations to Honor the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Category Philanthropists
George Soros
Company Soros Fund Management, LLC
Industry Finance
What Makes Him Haute Soros Fund Management was one of the few hedge-fund firms that saw this financial crisis as a buying opportunity, and the firm’s assets across all types of investments grew by 41 percent to $24 billion from July 2008 to July 2009. Besides presiding over the hedge fund that bears his name, he has authored 10 books, is a strong political activist, and one of the city’s most revered philanthropists.
Category Entrepreneurs
Michael Sovern
Company Sotheby’s, Comcast
Industry Business Services
What Makes Him Haute The former president of Columbia University is currently the Chancellor Kent Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and the director and chairman of the board at Sotheby’s Holdings, Inc., as well as the director of Comcast Corporation.
Category Billionaires
George Steinbrenner
Company New York Yankees
Industry Sports
What Makes Him Haute The principal owner of the Bronx Bombers, “The Boss” has reigned over baseball’s greatest dynasty since 1973, sparing no expense to bring home 10 pennants and six World Series rings. This season he witnessed the fulfillment of a dream, a new Yankee Stadium. Legend’s Field, the Yankees Spring Training facility in Tampa, was renamed Steinbrenner Field in March 2008 in his honor.
Category Entertainers
Howard Stern
Company The Howard Stern Show on Sirius Satellite Radio
Industry Media
What Makes Him Haute The iconoclastic gatekeeper of a legion of 15-minutes-of-famers, the self-proclaimed “King of All Media” remains a top-rated radio personality. He has had a successful movie, two best-selling books, and now, his own digital cable station, Howard TV. He is one of the highest-paid radio personalities in the United States.
Category Billionaires
Leonard Stern
Company Hartz Group
Industry Real Estate
What Makes Him Haute Stern’s company owns 38 million square feet of commercial, residential, and retail property in New Jersey and New York. His son Emanuel oversees family’s real estate empire, including Manhattan hotels Soho Grand and Tribeca Grand. Thanks to a $30 million donation to his alma mater, NYU, in 1988, the business school now bears his name.
Category Originators
Robert A.M. Stern
Company Robert A.M. Stern Architects
Industry Architecture
What Makes Him Haute Stern is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and received the AIA New York Medal of Honor in 1984 and the Chapter’s President’s Award in 2001. Stern is the architect behind the Zeckendorf’s 15 Central Park West.
Category Entrepreneurs
Martha Stewart
Company Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Industry Entertainment
What Makes Her Haute The doyenne of domesticity, this comeback queen is an American business magnate, television host, bestselling author, and magazine publisher. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she has garnered success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing publishing, broadcasting, and merchandising.
Category Thinkers
Arthur Sulzberger Jr.
Company New York Times
Industry Media
What Makes Him Haute Chairman and publisher of the New York Times has been running the paper’s day-to-day operations since 1992. Say what you will about the newspaper industry; during his tenure as publisher, the paper has earned 39 Pulitzer Prizes.
Category Philanthropists
Tisch Family
Company Various
Industry Various
What Makes Them Haute Arguably one of the most influential families in New York, the Tisch’s philanthropic involvement has touched nearly every institution of the city from NYU to Central Park.
Category Originators
Trump Family
Company Trump Organization
Industry Real Estate
What Makes Them Haute One of the most iconic families in the city, the Trumps are a real estate dynasty.
Category Power Couples
Ivanka Trump & Jared Kushner
Industry Real Estate & Publishing
Company Trump Organization / New York Observer
What Makes Them Haute Ivanka not only is a style icon, but an unstoppable business force, and not solely thanks to her heiress status. She has proven her business acumen time and again as VP of Real Estate Development and Acquisitions for the family company, and also launched a highly successful jewelry line. In July of this year, she converted to Judaism in preparation for her nuptials at the end of October with owner of the New York Observer, Jared Kushner, son of real estate developer Charles Kushner. They plan to wed at Trump golf course in Bedminster, NJ.
Category Dynasties
Vanderbilt Family
Company Michigan Central Railroad
Industry Railroad & Shipping
What Makes Them Haute Leaders of the high society until the 1900s, the Vanderbilt family, led by Cornelius Vanderbilt, created railroad and shipping empires, in addition to sprawling mansions in New York, Newport, and Asheville. The Vanderbilt family remains the seventh wealthiest family in history, and their modern legacy includes Vanderbilt University as well as Vanderbilt Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, which runs alongside Grand Central Terminal. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper is the son of Gloria Vanderbilt and great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt II.
Category Power Couples
Diane von Furstenberg & Barry Diller
Company Diane von Furstenberg / Interactive Corp.
Industry Fashion / Media
What Makes Them Haute The president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, she has one of her famous wrap dresses displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He’s a media titan and visionary who heads New York holding company Interactive Corp. DVF’s atelier, office, apartment, takes up a corner building in New York’s Meatpacking District, and Diller stays in a suite at the Carlyle during the week. They spend weekends at Cloudwalk, her estate in Connecticut, or on Diller’s yacht, Eos, thought to be the largest private sailing boat in the world.
Category Entrepreneurs
Bruce Wasserstein
Company Lazard Ltd and Lazard Group
Industry Finance
What Makes Him Haute This financial wizard is also the owner of the venerable New York magazine. In 2009, it looked like he was going to add Business Week to his portfolio, but decided against making a final bid in September.
Category Entrepreneurs
Jack Welch
Company Jack Welch, LLC
Industry Media & Finance
What Makes him Haute This award-winning syndicated writer and special partner of private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice was named “Manager of the Century” by Fortune in 2000 due to his tenure at General Electric. This year, he spent three months in the hospital battling discitis, and his prognosis was so bad doctors didn’t think he would make it, but he persevered, going home from the hospital in early October.
Category Originators
William & Arthur Zeckendorf
Company Terra Holdings
Industry Real Estate
What Makes Them Haute They are the brothers behind the most expensive address in the city: 15 Central Park West. Owners and co-chairmen of Terra Holdings and Zeckendorf Realty, LP, the brokerage that developed 515 Park Avenue, a 43-story condominium in Manhattan that is the most luxurious apartment house built in more than 50 years. 515 Park Avenue has established records for the highest priced residential property per square foot in Manhattan history. They were both the owners and developers of this project.
Category Entrepreneurs
Mortimer Zuckerman
Company Boston Properties, U.S. News & World Report, New York Daily News
Industry Real Estate & Media
What Makes Him Haute Zuckerman, a Canadian-born American magazine editor, publisher, and real estate billionaire, is chairman of Boston Properties, one of the largest real estate developers in the United States, and the owner the New York Daily News and U.S. News & World Report, of which he is also editor-in-chief.
