Southern California’s richest resident: activist investor Kirk Kerkorian.
The 89-year-old Beverly Hills businessman saw his already vast fortune grow 73% in the past year to an estimated $16.1 billion, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal.
The estimate puts Kerkorian ahead of Orange County’s richest man, The Irvine Company’s Donald Bren, by $5.6 billion.
Both men surpassed the $10 billion mark in estimated wealth this year.
A year ago, Kerkorian was No. 1 at an estimated $9.3 billion, while the Orange County Business Journal had Bren at $8.7 billion.
The top spot easily could be Bren’s, depending on how you value the real estate owner’s land and property holdings. Some real estate sources trump our conservative estimate by valuing Bren at $15 billion to $20 billion.
Kerkorian saw most of last year’s gain come from Las Vegas. The hot gambling industry and a May bid to buy two MGM Mirage properties (since abandoned) sharply raised the value of Mirage’s shares. Kerkorian’s 56% stake in MGM Mirage now is worth close to $13 billion at last check.
MGM Mirage now owns more than half the hotel rooms on the Vegas strip. The company has bought Steve Wynn’s Mirage Resorts for $6.4 billion and the Mandalay Bay Resort group for $7.9 billion in recent years. The company’s still rumored to be a buyout target down the line.
Kerkorian also continues to play a role in the auto sector. At the end of 2006, he sold off the last block of his General Motors Corp. stock, which was worth nearly $1.7 billion. He owned nearly 10% of the company at one point.
A few months ago, he made a $4.5 billion cash offer for Chrysler Corp. but was spurned in favor of a bid by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Man-agement LP.
Sumner Redstone, who held the title of Southern California’s richest man two years ago, rebounded in the past year with a 13% increase in wealth to $8.4 billion, good for No. 2 in Los Angeles and No. 3 in Southern California behind Bren. Redstone, 83, lives in Beverly Hills.
The Viacom Inc. executive chairman and chairman of CBS Corp., which split in 2005, had seen his wealth drop 11% the prior year as those companies saw their combined value drop following the breakup.
Los Angeles continues to be the home of the majority of Southern California’s billionaires. There were 41 billionaires in the county last year, up from 37 a year ago, according to the L.A. Business Journal’s list, which was published in June.
OC counts nine billionaires (including one dual entry) by our estimates, up from eight a year ago.
Other than Bren, none of OC’s wealthiest would crack the top 20 in Los Angeles.
The San Diego Business Journal lists six billionaires on its list, which was compiled at the end of 2006.
Only one San Diego resident, Ernest Rady, who is valued at $2.2 billion, would make the Southland top 20, coming in at No. 18.
La Jolla resident Rady, principal of real estate company American Assets Inc., had been listed as high as No. 2 on our list until being dropped off last year. Much of his wealth came from Irvine-based Westcorp Inc., which was bought by Wachovia Corp. for $3.9 billion in 2005.
Another San Diego resident with big OC ties continues to distance himself from the area.
Ted Waitt, founder of Irvine-based Gateway Inc., is valued by the San Diego Business Journal at $1.7 billion.
The La Jolla resident stepped back from the struggling computer maker in 2005, relinquishing management ties. He’s been selling shares at a steady clip in the past few years. His holdings are valued at about $80 million at last check.
In Los Angeles, the family of Walnut-based homebuilder J.F. Shea Co. has ties to OC. The company owns Aliso Viejo-based developer Shea Properties. Peter Shea Jr., J.F. Shea’s chief executive, lives in Newport Beach.
Chairman John Shea and his family were valued at $3 billion two years ago on L.A.’s list. This time around, the paper split up Pasadena resident John Shea’s share of the company from the rest of his family. John Shea owns half of the company (and as a result is listed at $1.3 billion this year), while cousins Peter Shea and Edmund Shea share the rest.
