1. KIRK KERKORIAN
Net Worth: $9.3 billion +15%
Last Year: $8.1 billion
Age: 88
Residence: Beverly Hills
Source of Wealth: Investments
Background: Billionaire investor and shareholder activist has plunged $1.6 billion into General Motors Corp., raising his stake to 9.9 percent, in an effort to steer the company to a comeback. Holds 56 million shares of the struggling U.S. auto maker and won seat on its board of directors; top lieutenant, Jerome York, sits on his behalf. Beverly Hills-based holding company, Tracinda Corp., also owns more than 158 million shares in Las Vegas casino MGM Mirage, nearly 56 percent of the company; investment is valued at more than $7 billion. MGM Mirage received regulatory approval in March for its 2005 acquisition of the Mandalay Bay Resort group, a deal worth about $7.9 billion that would give MGM Mirage control of about half the hotel rooms on the Strip. Has history as shareholder-agitator, launching hostile takeover bid of Chrysler Corp. in the 1990s to pressure the company into upping its dividend. Eventually reached agreement with management and supported merger with Daimler-Benz – only to sue the companies two years later for $1 billion, claiming the merger proposal was misleading. Forfeited $30 million of settlement from a shareholder class-action suit against the company to pursue individual action. Also has bought and sold film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. three times, most recently to Sony Corp.-led consortium for $4.9 billion in 2004, netting about $2 billion.2.SUMNER REDSTONE
Net Worth: $7.4 billion -11%
Last Year: $8.3 billion
Age: 82
Residence: Beverly Hills
Source of Wealth: Media, entertainment
Background: The chairman of the board of CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. led a split of the two companies to prop up shares of both firms late last year; both stocks have taken a hit since then. Shares of CBS, which includes television holdings CBS Network, Showtime and UPN as well as CBS Radio, fell to under $25 last month from roughly $27. Shares of Viacom, which has Paramount, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central and Spike under its umbrella, tumbled to roughly $38 from around $44. Tom Freston took over as chief executive of Viacom from Redstone in January, with Les Moonves filling the role at CBS. Also last year, Paramount outmaneuvered Universal to acquire DreamWorks in a $1.6 billion deal and then sold off film library for $900 million. CBS Radio lost raunchy radio ratings booster Howard Stern to satellite radio, but CBS television network recently scored a coup by wooing Katie Couric to helm its news desk. Redstone, chairman of the board and chief executive of film exhibition firm National Amusement Inc., is adamant that he’s not slowing down, but is grooming daughter Shari to succeed him. She’s vice chair of the board of directors at CBS and Viacom and president of National Amusements Inc. Purchased a controlling stake in Viacom, which he founded, in 1987. Married former schoolteacher Paula Fortunato in April 2003 and lives with her in a Beverly Hills mansion.
3.BARBARA DAVIS & FAMILY
Net Worth: $6 billion -7%
Last Year: $6.4 billion
Residence: Beverly Hills
Source of Wealth: Oil, real estate, entertainment
Background: The Davis family is almost entirely out of the oil business, thanks to the havoc caused to its Gulf Coast oil rigs by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Houston-based Davis Petroleum Corp. and its subsidiaries – Davis Pipeline and Davis Offshore – filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year to facilitate a $150 million buyout by a private equity firm. After paying off creditors, the family is only likely to see $35 million from the deal. Marvin Davis sold much of the family’s oil contracts and leases before he died two years ago, leaving his vast fortune to his wife and five children. Son Gregg still has an 8.8 percent stake in Davis Petroleum, where he continues to serve as chief executive. The company became burdened with debt after a margin call when the price of natural gas futures skyrocketed last year. Then the hurricanes battered the company’s Gulf Coast operations, further stretching the cash-strapped outfit. The Davis family made its fortune nearly 50 years ago, drilling for oil in Colorado (Marvin Davis later moved the company to Los Angeles). Daughter Patricia Davis Raynes has filed a suit against the petroleum company and her mother and siblings, claiming her father stole hundreds of millions of dollars from her trust fund. Son Jon Davis, head of Davis Entertainment Co. and Davis Entertainment Television, has produced nearly 80 feature films and made-for-TV movies. The family has also long been active in charitable causes. After daughter Dana was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes in 1977, Barbara Davis founded Children’s Diabetes Foundation and Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes. Also founded the Nancy Davis Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis after daughter Nancy was diagnosed with disease.
4. ELI BROAD
Net worth: $5.6 billion +17%
Last year: $4.8 billion
Age: 73
Residence: Brentwood
Source of Wealth: Homebuilding, insurance
Background: The most high profile of L.A.’s billionaires, Broad is a modern-day Medici; the self-proclaimed “venture philanthropist” is an advocate for education reform and an avid modern art collector. Broad has used his fortune and influence to remake the face of Los Angeles, most notably in jump-starting the faltering Disney Concert Hall; last month, the Grand Avenue Committee he chairs unveiled the Frank Gehry-designed first-phase of the massive $1.8-billion makeover of Bunker Hill; plan calls for up to eight condo and office towers, a major hotel, shopping centers and a 16-acre public park. Also in January, thanks in large part to Broad’s $60 million contribution, ground was broken on expansion of Los Angeles County Museum of Art, including the 70,000-square-foot Broad Contemporary Art Museum, scheduled for completion in late 2007. He’s doled out more than $1 billion to educational and cultural institutions over the years; last November, added $100 million to his original $100 million grant to the Broad Institute, a collaborative scientific effort between Harvard University and MIT in Cambridge; in February, announced $8.9 million Broad Fellows Program in brain circuitry at Caltech; in March, announced $25 million grant to create Broad Institute for Integrative Biology and Stem Cell Research at USC; this September, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Center at UCLA will open. A fierce advocate for education reform, his Broad Education Foundation works to improve public education governance throughout the nation, with a $1 million annual prize. One project Broad supports, the High School for Performing Arts on the site of former Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters, is facing controversy as costs surge past $200 million. Broad donated $5 million to the effort. He made his fortune co-founding Kaufman & Broad homebuilders to construct suburban homes for baby boomers and from financial services firm SunAmerica.
5. JEFFREY SKOLL
Net Worth: $4.8 billion +7%
Last Year: $4.5 billion
Age: 41
Residence: Los Angeles
Source of Wealth: Internet auction site
Background: First president of eBay Inc. and one of its largest shareholders; retired from company in 2001. Holds more than $3 billion in volatile eBay stock (about 6 percent of the company), which is trading in the high $30-range. Intensely private individual, Skoll and his production company, Participant Productions, landed in the Oscar limelight this year. Its four film releases, “Good Night, and Good Luck,” and “Syriana,” both starring George Clooney; “North Country,” starring Charlize Thieron; and “Murderball,” a documentary about paralympic athletes, received a total of 11 Academy Award nominations. Skoll is the sole owner of Participant Productions, founded in 2004 to finance films with socially conscious themes. Though the movies were not big moneymakers – “Syriana” led the group with $86 million at the box office – the Oscar nods vindicated social consciousness as a theme. Skoll splits his time between L.A. and the Bay area. Serves as chairman of Palo Alto-based Skoll Foundation, which he founded in 1999 with $380 million to support social entrepreneurship. Gave away almost $20 million last year to startups in the U.S. and developing countries. Endowed the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Said Business School at Oxford University. Born in Canada, graduated from University of Toronto and Stanford Business School.
6. DAVID MURDOCK
Net Worth: $4.5 billion
Last Year: $4.5 billion
Age: 83
Residence: Los Angeles
Source of Wealth: Agriculture, real estate
Background: His major holdings include Dole Food Co. Inc. and Castle & Cooke Inc., both of which Murdock took private. His combined companies employ more than 68,000 people in more than 90 countries. Vast holdings include land and homes in Hawaii, California, Arizona, North Carolina and Florida. Owns 98 percent of Lanai in Hawaii, the largest privately owned island in America. Real estate up in value, but Dole earnings took hit as the industry was affected by hurricanes and rising fuel costs. An advocate of healthy eating, he organized medical and nutrition experts from Mayo Clinic, UCLA and Dole to write “The Encyclopedia of Foods, A Guide to Healthy Nutrition.” He plans to open a wellness complex in Westlake Village later this year. The complex will be branded as a Four Seasons Hotel & Spa and will house the California WellBeing Institute, which includes a healthy lifestyle-teaching center, medical facilities and a television studio. He contributed $150 million to build the North Carolina Research Campus. Hobbies include reading, the arts, poetry and horticulture. He is a breeder of more than 200 prized Arabian horses, has a 30,000-plant orchid collection and collects art and antique furniture.
7. DAVID GEFFEN
Net Worth: $4.2 billion -2%
Last Year: $4.3 billion
Age: 63
Residence: Malibu
Source of Wealth: Entertainment
Background: Sold DreamWorks Studios, the live-action unit of the studio that he co-founded with Spielberg and Katzenberg in 1994. Paramount Pictures bought the studio for $2.1 billion after Geffen felt that another potential buyer, NBC Universal, stalled in negotiations. Studio spun off animation unit in 2004 before release of “Shrek 2,” a film that helped animation unit gross over $1 billion. DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. stock has fallen to IPO price. After securing distribution deal for films and videos, Vivendi Universal bought DreamWorks Records for an estimated $100 million. Geffen had earlier sold the music unit’s Beverly Hills office for $33 million. He also discussed buying the Los Angeles Times last year and was forced to pay legal bills after losing a highly public legal battle to privatize beach in front of his Malibu beachfront property. Born in Brooklyn to working-class parents, he dropped out of college to pursue career in entertainment. Started out in William Morris Agency’s mailroom and worked his way up. Founded Geffen Records in 1980 and sold it a decade later to MCA. Invested $200 million in 1991 with hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert. Could be worth more than $5 billion today, but he declines to comment.
8.PATRICK SOON-SHIONG
Net Worth: $4 billion +11%
Last Year: $3.6 billion
Age: 53
Residence: Los Angeles
Source of Wealth: Pharmaceuticals
Background: It was a mixed year for the South African-born surgeon. Abraxane, the cancer drug manufactured by his American Pharmaceutical Partners Inc., did 2005 net sales of $134 million after February 2005 launch. An April merger created L.A.-based Abraxis BioScience Inc., a combination of American Pharmaceutical (best known as a generic drug maker) and American BioScience Inc., the privately held Los Angeles drug developer Soon-Shiong founded. Today he owns 81 percent of the combined companies, whose share price is down 39 percent from American Pharmaceutical’s a year ago, in part because of shareholder reaction to the deal. However, his wealth actually increased given the market’s valuation of the formerly private American BioScience. He joined the UCLA medical school faculty in 1983 and helped pioneer procedures to transplant pancreatic cells to treat diabetes in 1986. He co-invented 30 patented compounds that form basis for Abraxane and other possible drugs.
9.BRADLEY WAYNE HUGHES & FAMILY
Net Worth: $3.6 billion +33%
Last Year: $2.7 billion
Age: 72
Residence: Malibu
Source of Wealth: Storage facilities
Background: The chairman of Glendale-based Public Storage Inc. received a boost this year as stock climbed about 30 percent. After several years of hostile takeover attempts, finally acquired competitor Shurgard Storage Centers Inc. for $5 billion. Deal scheduled to close later this year. Started Public Storage with one property in 1972; merged 18 affiliated real estate investment trusts into Public Storage from 1994 to 1998. Company originally named “Private Storage,” confusing customers who thought facilities were closed to the public. Name change brought customers. Today, REIT has interests in more than 1,400 storage facilities in 37 states. Drew $60,000 salary as chief executive until his retirement in 2004. Owns two adjacent, two-acre beachfront properties in Malibu. Longtime racehorse owner, he bought 773-acre Kentucky thoroughbred nursery Spendthrift Farm in 2004.
10.STEVEN FERENCZ UDVAR-HAZY
Net Worth: $3.4 billion +13%
Last Year: $3 billion
Age: 60
Residence: Beverly Hills
Source of Wealth: Aircraft leasing
Background: Chairman and chief executive of International Lease Finance Corp. had a good year with the rebound of embattled insurance giant American International Group. Udvar-Hazy and partners Leslie and Louis Gonda sold their jet leasing company, which they founded in 1973, to AIG in 1990. Holds about $1.4 billion in AIG stock; claims to hold $1.5 billion in other publicly traded companies, $165 million in real estate, $47.5 million in private equity investments, and likes to keep about $224 million in bonds and cash equivalents. His art collection, autos and antiques are worth about $38 million. A certified jet pilot, he sits on the board of Skywest Inc. Donated $60 million to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum and there’s a Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center dedicated to him. He gives to UCLA, the L.A. Science Center Museum, Stanford University and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1946, he immigrated to the U.S. in 1958.
11. HAIM SABAN
Net Worth: $3.1 billion +35%
Last Year: $2.3 billion
Age: 61
Residence: Beverly Hills
Source of Wealth: Entertainment, media
Background: He founded Saban Entertainment in 1980, and parlayed wealth from the kids’ TV shows the firm developed – “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” – into global telecommunications empire. He sold “Power Rangers” to News Corp. for half-ownership in Fox Family Network, then Walt Disney Co. subsequently snapped up Fox Family for $5.3 billion; Saban’s stake was $1.7 billion. He used this money to start up Saban Capital Group, a private equity investor. That firm bought 36 percent stake in German broadcaster ProSiebenSat1 from bankrupt Kirch Media in 2003. Last year, German regulators blocked a $5.2 billion sale of the broadcaster to German publisher Axel Springer but value of Saban Capital’s investment still tripled. The Egyptian-born Saban moved to Israel at age 12 and has become a major business player in that country. A friend of former President Bill Clinton, Saban is a major player in Democrat circles. He donated $7 million towards cost of national headquarters building for the party.
12.JOHN SHEA & FAMILY
Net Worth: $3 billion +25%
Last Year: $2.4 billion
Age: 79
Residence: Pasadena
Source of Wealth: Homebuilding, real estate
Background: The red-hot housing market has given a boost to the Shea family’s residential, commercial and mortgage businesses. J.F Shea Co. Inc. units develop and maintain commercial buildings and apartments, design and build homes and finance home purchases. Family patriarch John F. Shea started the company as an Oregon-based plumbing wholesaler in 1881. Shea also does tunneling and other major public works construction, including work on Washington, D.C. subway system, Golden Gate Bridge and Hoover Dam. Shea Homes is now the nation’s largest privately held homebuilder, posting more than $3 billion in revenues last year and selling nearly 7,000 homes. The unit has operations in California, Washington, Arizona and North Carolina. Shea Properties continues to be the company’s fastest growing segment. The subsidiary holds a portfolio of apartment buildings and shopping centers across the West Coast and Colorado valued at over $1.5 billion. John Shea owns 50 percent of the company; cousins Peter and Edmund share the rest.
12.ROBERT ADDISON DAY JR.
Net Worth: $3 billion +76%
Last Year: $1.7 billion
Age: 62
Residence: Los Angeles
Source of Wealth: Financial management
Background: Founded Trust Co. of the West in 1971 with $1.5 million. Trust Co. eventually became investment manager TCW Group. In 2001, Day sold a 51 percent interest to French bank Groupe Société Genérale SA for $880 million in stock, more than 14 million shares. It turned out to be a very good deal. SG’s stock gained about 50 percent over the past 12 months, almost doubling Day’s fortune given the strength of the Euro against the dollar. Under the agreement, the French bank’s holdings in TCW increased to 70 percent by 2006. Day also owns a 1,800-acre resort in Los Cabos, Mexico, called Cabo del Sol, which includes two golf courses – one designed by champion golfer/designer Jack Nicklaus. Resort has two premier hotels and a planned community on two miles of beachfront. He’s chairman of W.M. Keck Foundation, a $1.5 billion non-profit that makes grants for medical research, science and engineering. Maternal grandfather William M. Keck founded Superior Oil Co.
