OC’s WEALTHIEST
Real Estate, Tech, Banking, Hard Work Made Them Rich; Many Dabble in Politics, Social Issues
No. 1
Donald Bren
Owner, chairman, The Irvine Company
Estimated worth: $7.5 billion
By our estimate, Don Bren got richer in the past year as his greatest asset,land,continued its escalation in value.
We decided to add half a billion to Bren’s estimated worth, bringing him in at $7.5 billion. The catalyst: Northern Sphere, a 7,700-acre development The Irvine Company owns near the former El Toro Marine base.
This November, the company is kicking off sales of the first housing project at Northern Sphere.
The impact on Bren’s wealth during the life of the project should be sizable,Irvine Co. residential land is said to sell for $1 million to $3 million per acre.
That puts the potential market value of Northern Sphere’s residential acreage at more than $2 billion.
To come up with this year’s higher estimate, we’ve factored in debt and planning costs, and that the company could face challenges to phases of Northern Sphere. We also took into consideration that 5,700 acres of Northern Sphere are set to remain as open space or parks.
But add to that rising values for the Irvine Co.’s office buildings, and we feel comfortable with this year’s estimate for Bren. Sources contend he’s worth much more than even this year’s higher estimate.
Interestingly, Forbes still has Bren at $4 billion, where he’s been for the past few years.
Bren is far ahead of the second wealthiest person on our list, Ernest Rady, who runs Irvine-based Westcorp Inc. and checks in at an estimated $2 billion.
In fact, Bren’s worth is more than all others in the top five combined, including Broadcom Corp. cofounders Henry Samueli and Henry Nicholas, who eclipsed Bren for a while during the technology boom.
Bren’s wealth comes from a real estate empire of unrivaled size for a single person in California, and perhaps the country.
His holdings include 400 office and industrial buildings, 35 shopping centers, 80 apartment complexes, two hotels, five marinas and three golf courses. He’s said to shun stocks.
In all, Bren’s investment properties come in at about 30 million square feet. His holdings of developed or developable land are estimated at 25,000 acres in OC.
Among Bren’s holdings: parts of the 5,000-acre Irvine Spectrum and Newport Center, half of the 185-acre University Research Park and all of Fashion Island, Jamboree Center and the Four Seasons Hotel Newport Beach.
He’s set aside more than half of the 93,000-acre Irvine Ranch as open space and pledged up to $30 million through the Bren Stewardship to manage, preserve and restore land on the Irvine Ranch.
In recent years, Bren has expanded beyond OC, adding office buildings, shopping centers and apartments in San Diego, Los Angeles and Silicon Valley. Last year Bren paid an estimated $135 million for Symphony Towers, a downtown San Diego trophy tower.
Bren’s diverse real estate portfolio helped him weather the commercial real estate downturn of the past few years. As industrial and office space started to slump, Bren’s housing and retail operations gained steam. Lots sold to homebuilders and wealthy buyers at Shady Canyon, Turtle Ridge and Quail Hill have commanded top dollar.
And Bren’s malls and shopping centers have enjoyed strong demand from consumers who keep spending, aided in part by refinanced mortgages.
Now, with some signs of cooling in
housing, the office market seems ripe
for a comeback. Brokers say Bren is
raising office rents as much as 5% at his most popular buildings around Fashion Island.
Likewise, Bren’s Irvine Apartment Communities arm could be in for resurgence. The unit is developing key sites in Irvine and a big project in Silicon Valley. Economists expect the rental market to
pick up as the county adds jobs and
higher interest rates cool the housing
market.
OC has felt the ripple effects of Bren’s wealth. In December, Bren gave $20 million to University of California, Irvine’s computer school and recently was awarded a UC medal.
In all, Bren’s given $42 million to UCI and has endowed more chairs at the University of California than any other donor.
In 1977, Bren was part of a group that acquired a controlling stake in the Irvine Co. In 1983, he bought out most of his partners for $518 million. In 1996, he took sole ownership of the company.
,Mathew Padilla
No. 2
Ernest S. RADY
Chairman, chief executive, Westcorp Inc.;
Chairman, American Assets Inc.;
Chief executive, president, ICW Group
Estimated worth: $2 billion
It’s been a good year for Irvine-based bank operator Westcorp Inc., and, by extension, Ernest Rady.
With a 30% rise in Westcorp’s shares in the past year, we’ve upped our estimate of Rady’s wealth from $1.5 billion last year to $2 billion. He owns more than two-thirds of Westcorp, which counted a recent market value of $2 billion.
Westcorp runs Western Financial Bank and auto lender WFS Financial.
Even at this year’s higher estimate, we don’t feel our number for Rady is aggressive. That’s because his wealth goes beyond Westcorp and includes San Diego real estate holdings, investment management and insurance companies.
Rady, who lives in La Jolla, makes our list because a big chunk of his wealth comes from here.
His other businesses include San Diego-based American Assets Inc., a real estate developer and owner; and San Diego’s ICW Group, a trio of insurers including Insurance Company of the West.
In December, American Assets paid $136 million to the California State Teachers’ Retirement System for a pair of San Antonio, Texas, shopping centers.
American Assets owns 25 retail, office, apartment and industrial properties in all.
Rady’s business dealings don’t end there. In 2002, he sold his 53% stake in oil producer Summit Resources Ltd. to Paramount Resources Ltd., both of Calgary, Alberta, as part of Paramount’s $225 million buy of Summit.
In 2001, Rady sold his stake in San Diego’s Coast Distributing as part of Anheuser-Busch Cos.’ buy of the beer distributor.
Earlier, Rady owned San Diego radio stations, part of the San Diego Padres baseball team and the San Diego Sockers soccer team.
Rady cofounded Westcorp in 1972 and has been its driving force since. The 66-year-old comes to the company’s Irvine office regularly and meets with clients and investors.
A Canadian, Rady’s come a long way from his days in Manitoba. He earned degrees in law and commerce from the University of Manitoba and came to San Diego in 1966.
Rady and wife Evelyn made big news earlier this year when they gave $30 million to the fledgling School of Management at the University of California, San Diego. The school now is named after the publicity-shy Rady.
In 2000, the Radys gave $2 million to San Diego’s Children’s Convalescent Hospital. Ernest Rady served as chair of the children’s hospital’s board. The second floor of the Children’s Way Pavilion at the hospital is named for Dr. Max and Rose Rady,
his parents.
At the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in San Diego’s Golden Triangle area, an administration center is named for the Radys. They also are big supporters of the San Diego Performing Arts League. Ernest Rady also is a trustee of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
,Michael Lyster
No. 3
HENRY NICHOLAS
Cofounder, Broadcom Corp.
Estimated worth: $1.6 billion
No. 4
HENRY SAMUELI
Cofounder, chairman,
chief technical officer,
Broadcom Corp.
Estimated worth: $1.55 billion
It’s shaping up to be an off summer in an otherwise good year for Broadcom Corp.’s two dominant owners.
After a steady rise in the past 12 months, shares in the Irvine chipmaker are off 25% since late June on worries about slowing sales and a buildup of unsold products. Even so, Broadcom shares still are up about 40% since a year ago.
Henry Nicholas and Henry Samueli each own about 29 million shares of Irvine-based Broadcom, stakes worth about $950 million each at recent check. We estimate both men to be nearly double that based on years of stock sales by the two.
A proviso: Even with Broadcom’s stock gains in the past year, this year’s estimates for Nicholas and Samueli are unchanged from last year, based on what we feel is a more thorough calculation of past stock sales by the two.
We value Nicholas slightly higher based on what our sources call good investments in real estate and other areas. And while both are generous donors, Samueli has given more money away.
Since Nicholas left Broadcom in early 2003, amid changes at the company and his family, he’s been selling off chunks of his shares, putting him just behind Samueli in ownership. Nicholas has been selling to diversify his wealth and to lessen the shadow he casts over Broadcom.
Samueli also has been selling shares as part of a diversification plan.
Both men control a third of the company’s voting stock. Nicholas no longer is on the board, having resigned as a director last year.
Even with recent sales, the wealth of both men still is tied to Broadcom, the chipmaker they started in 1991. During the tech boom, their Broadcom shares made them the richest people in OC.
Nicholas became the poster-boy tech billionaire, complete with a hilltop mansion in Laguna Hill’s Nellie Gale, fast cars and a private jet. The lower key Samueli lives in Corona del Mar and has emerged as one of the nation’s top philanthropists.
This year, Nicholas and Samueli drop down a notch on our list from 2003 with a jump by No. 2 Ernest Rady of Westcorp Inc.
Nicholas and Samueli struck gold when their original stakes in the company went public in a bang-up 1998 offering.
Nicholas has been distancing himself from the company but still plays a role in Broadcom affairs. He’s said to get product briefings and had a hand in last year’s search for a Broadcom chief executive, an effort that’s ongoing.
After some soul-searching, Samueli elected not to take the chief executive’s job, saying research at Broadcom would suffer.
Samueli has other interests. He formed a company to oversee management of the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim late last year in a $45 million deal. On top of that, he’s said to be looking to add a basketball team to the arena.
Nicholas and Samueli first worked together at TRW Inc. designing chips for the military. They later joined Tustin-based PairGain Technologies Inc., now part of ADC Telecommunication Inc.
A former Air Force Academy student, Nicholas was Samueli’s first doctorate
student at the University of California,
Los Angeles, before turning business
partner.
Samueli is revered as a visionary, an
engineering genius. He’s given generously to the University of California’s Irvine and Los Angeles campuses, which renamed their engineering schools after him. In
all, Samueli’s given more than $150
million in charitable gifts in the past decade.
Nicholas also has donated to UCI and other causes, including a $10 million donation this year to St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano, which his three kids attend.
,Andrew Simons
No. 5
Roland Arnall
Owner, chairman,
Ameriquest Capital Corp.
Estimated worth: $1.2 billion
Americans refinancing mortgages is the best thing to happen to Roland Arnall.
In the past few years, Arnall’s wealth has surged along with the value of Orange-based Ameriquest Capital Corp., which owns mortgage lender Ameriquest Mortgage Co.
Driving Ameriquest’s growth: low mortgage interest rates and soaring home prices, which have prompted borrowers to swap credit card debt for a refinanced or second mortgage.
Like some others on our list, Arnall doesn’t live here. In 2002, he and wife Dawn paid $30 million for Engelbert Humperdinck’s 10-acre compound in Holmby Hills. Earlier this year, the Arnalls paid $46 million for an Aspen, Colo., getaway estate.
We’re including Arnall on our list because his company is based in Orange County. Industry speculation values Ameriquest at a ballpark $2 billion, and Arnall is believed to be the primary owner.
We’re conservatively estimating Arnall’s wealth at $1.2 billion to allow for debt and any ownership stake offered to management or outside investors.
Ameriquest is a somewhat low-key,
privately held company. Last year, the company became the nation’s largest lender to borrowers with less-than-perfect credit.
Arnall generally shuns the limelight. But his company is working hard to be noticed by homeowners and buyers.
Ameriquest has expanded into more
traditional home loans and is spending
big on sponsorships and advertising tied
to Major League Baseball. The company
in May agreed to pay $2.5 million a year for 30 years for naming rights to the
stadium home of the Texas Rangers,
now known as Ameriquest Field in Arlington, Texas.
The company said it is gaining brand recognition via baseball and national advertising.
Arnall has been a big donor to Democrats, including former Gov. Gray Davis, and Hillary Clinton and John Kerry during their 2000 Senate runs. Davis even officiated at Arnall’s wedding. Arnall gave to the anti-recall effort but backed Arnold Schwarzenegger once he was elected governor.
Last summer, Arnall hosted a fundraiser for President Bush at his home with Vice President Dick Cheney, in support of the administration’s stand on national security. The take: $1 million for the Bush campaign.
Arnall is said to be a “super ranger”,one of 160 or so fundraisers who have collected at least $28 million for Bush’s re-election efforts, according to the Republican National Committee.
He’s also a big charitable giver. Arnall and his wife have donated millions to local and national nonprofit groups, including the Siegal Glaucoma Research Pro-
fessorship at the University of Tennessee and the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.
Locally, the Arnalls support Olive Crest Homes and Services for Abused Children, The Fulfillment Fund and Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, among others.
,Mathew Padilla
No. 6
George Argyros
Ambassador to Spain;
Owner, Arnel & Affiliates;
Limited partner, Westar Capital LLC
Estimated worth: $1 billion
George Argyros has had other things on his mind besides getting richer.
We’ve kept his estimated worth at a round $1 billion as Argyros has focused more on diplomacy than business in the past few years.
He’s had a tough time at the tail end of his ambassadorship to Spain as the U.S.’s key European ally switched gears after the Madrid bombing earlier this year.
Argyros said he plans to return to Orange County after the November presidential election whe-ther or not President Bush wins re-election.
The businessman-turned-diplomat made his initial fortune here in apartments, office and industrial buildings and shopping centers. These days, Argyros’ wealth is split between real estate and stock and venture capital investments.
His stock portfolio includes holdings in Santa Ana-based First American Corp. and Kansas City, Mo.-based DST Systems Inc. (an early venture capital investment).
One of Argyros’ stocks, Valencia-based Newhall Land and Farming Co., got a pop last year on a buyout by Lennar Corp. and LNR Property Corp.
Before Argyros’ 2001 appointment as ambassador, he was chairman and chief executive of Costa Mesa-based real estate developer and owner Arnel & Affiliates. He still owns the company and is a financial backer of Westar Capital LLC, a Costa Mesa private equity firm he started.
As ambassador, Argyros isn’t involved in the day-to-day doings of his companies, though he retains ownership.
His financial disclosure report filed before becoming ambassador put his assets as high as $2 billion. After factoring in real estate debt and stock fluctuations, we feel $1 billion is an accurate ballpark estimate of Argyros’ wealth.
His real estate holdings include 5,400 apartments and more than 2 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space. Among them are the 280,000-square-foot Metro Pointe in Costa Mesa and the 356,000-square-foot Puente Hills Business Center in Industry.
Argyros has homes at Newport Beach, Indian Wells and Sun Valley, Idaho. These days, he lives in a four-bedroom suite on the second floor of the ambassador’s home next to the U.S. Embassy in Madrid.
His ambassador appointment topped years of Republican fundraising, including $30 million for the 2000 Bush campaign. (In 1990, the first President Bush appointed him to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. board.)
Born in Detroit and raised in Pasadena, Argyros graduated from Chapman University in 1959 with a major in business and economics. He also is an alumnus of Michigan State University. He served as chairman of Chapman’s board of trustees from 1976 until his appointment and is the school’s leading benefactor. The business school and student center are named after him.
,Mathew Padilla
No. 7
ANNE CATHERINE
GETTY EARHART
Heiress to J. Paul Getty
Estimated worth: $775 million
No. 7
CAROLINE GETTY
Heiress to J. Paul Getty
Estimated worth: $775 million
Anne Catherine Getty Earhart and sister Caroline Getty, heiresses of late oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, are known for their backing of environmental and Democratic causes.
They are two of the nation’s richest women and are among 16 grandchildren of the autocratic billionaire.
We’re pegging both at $775 million, based on Forbes’ numbers and conservative estimates of how their fortunes have fared.
Earhart, a 51-year-old Laguna Beach resident, has been giving to The Media Fund, which is raising money for John Kerry’s presidential bid. She recently pitched in $1 million, along with fellow Democratic activists Kevin Bacon, Paul Newman and Norman Lear.
Earhart surfaced in 1992 when she and husband John Earhart, who headed up the Homeland Foundation of Laguna Beach, unsuccessfully fought the San Joaquin Hills (73) Toll Road. She sits on the California board of trustees for the Nature Conservancy.
Sister Caroline Getty, 46, also an ardent environmentalist, drew attention earlier this year and in 2002 for a $1 million donation to the Nature Conservancy in support of two California parks bonds. Two years ago, Getty, who lives in Corona del Mar, said she was the mystery donor behind the gift listed under “Wild Rose LLC,” an entity named for her dog. Voters approved the bonds.
In March, Getty, called a “down-to-earth nature lover,” was fined $135,000 by the California Fair Political Practices Commission for disguising herself as the source of the donation. Getty didn’t benefit financially from the corporation and her attorneys said she set it up only as a means to donate to environmental causes.
Getty is a member of the board of the Wilderness Society and has served on the boards of the World Wildlife Fund and the National Fish and Wildlife Organization.
J. Paul Getty struck oil in 1953 and founded Getty Oil Co. in 1956. He set up the original Getty Museum art collection and endowed the J. Paul Getty Trust, which funds the Los Angeles museum. He died in 1976.
In 1985, settlement of a nine-year battle over Getty’s will resulted in Earhart, Caroline Getty and one other daughter of his late son George Franklin Getty II sharing $750 million. The entire Getty Trust was $4.1 billion when the funds were dispersed into six separate trusts.
The haggling was nasty: Gordon Peter Getty was in charge of the trust, founded with a $3.3 million bequest by J. Paul Getty’s mother, Sarah. Gordon ended the family feud by resigning as trustee. Gordon had been criticized for 1984’s selling of the trust’s 40% share of Getty Oil to what’s now ChevronTexaco Corp. The sale went through in 1986 for $10 billion. Caroline and Anne Catherine got another $400 million each from the sale.
,Sherri Cruz
No. 9
Igor Olenicoff
Owner, founder, president,
Olen Properties Corp.
Estimated worth: $750 million
Igor Olenicoff plans to add another trophy to his sizable commercial holdings: a 130,000-square-foot office building under development in Brea.
The five-story building is a $20 million final phase of his Olen Pointe Brea development. The project is being built on speculation and is set for completion early next year.
This year, we’ve upped our estimate of Olenicoff’s wealth based on a fresh look at his real estate empire. Last year, we had him at $500 million.
Olenicoff did grow richer in the past year with rising values for office buildings and apartments,but not necessarily by $250 million. This year’s higher figure is the result of better accounting on our part and input from sources.
Newport Beach-based Olen Properties Corp., which Olenicoff started and owns, has 4.5 million square feet of office and industrial space from Brea to San Clemente.
Prime Orange County holdings include Olen Point Brea, Irvine’s Spectrum Technology Center and Spectrum Pointe in Lake Forest. Two years ago, he finished the 100,000-square-foot Orchard Technology Park in Lake Forest.
Olen Properties also owns more than 10,000 apartments in Las Vegas, Phoenix and South Florida.
Olenicoff recently cashed out of a big project in Colorado, where he had teamed with Hadi Makarechian of Newport Beach-based Capital Pacific Holdings Inc. to develop a masterplanned community on 24,000 acres in Colorado Springs. Last month, Olenicoff sold his stake in the project for $90 million, according to newspaper accounts and a source familiar with the deal.
Olenicoff made a fortune here after he and his family fled Soviet Moscow and landed in America by way of Iran in 1957. He’s regarded as a shrewd businessman who knows how to get around obstacles to get his projects done, including using other entities to buy land.
Son Andrei is playing a bigger role in the company.
Olenicoff worked his way through the University of Southern California, where he graduated with four degrees,bachelors in finance and engineering, a master’s of business administration and a master’s in statistics and quantitative analysis.
,Mathew Padilla
No. 10
James Jannard
Founder, chairman, chief executive,
Oakley Inc.
Estimated worth: $700 million
Jim Jannard’s money manager likely is cringing.
Jannard already owns 64% of Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc. Now he wants more.
Last month Jannard said he plans to buy another 2 million Oakley shares to go with the 43 million he already owns.
“Oakley’s stock is undervalued and represents an attractive investment at current market prices,” he said.
Jannard’s Oakley stake was worth about $440 million at recent check. Since 1996, Jannard has foregone a salary while buying stock.
We conservatively estimate Jannard at $700 million, factoring in past stock sales, including $170 million during the company’s 1995 initial public offering and $200 million worth in 1996.
As with Donald Bren, we split with Forbes on Jannard, though in the opposite direction. Forbes valued Jannard at $1.1 billion this year and has ranked him as high as $1.4 billion in recent years. Based on stock sales, other assets and spending on hobbies, we feel comfortable with our number.
Jannard lives and breathes Oakley. The company’s name comes from his favorite dog breed, Oakley English Setters. He shows up at stockholder meetings wearing Oakley shorts, a T-shirt and athletic
shoes.
But he’s got a challenge on his hands. Oakley recently warned its 2004 earnings would come in lower than estimates due to slower sales of sunglasses, clothes and shoes, and production glitches with new sunglasses.
The company’s shares have slided downward since late June, erasing all of the gains of the past 12 months.
But Jannard,a blunt, cigar-smoking University of Southern California dropout,says he’s undaunted. Shoppers have been digging new sunglasses, which have “forced our in-house manufacturing operations and third-party vendors to scramble to respond for demand,” he
said.
The company also is betting on a deal that would see Circuit City Stores Inc. order “a large number of” new Thump sunglasses featuring a built-in digital music player.
Jannard’s other passion is drag racing. His company backs Mohawk-wearing Scotty Cannon and other drivers who compete in Oakley’s Time Bomb racecar, which inspired a limited edition wristwatch. Jannard has said most racing expenses come out of his pocket.
In 1975, Jannard started peddling motorcycle handle grips from his station wagon, moving on to goggles and then sunglasses,still Oakley’s bread and butter.
Jannard is a reclusive to the extreme and rarely grants interviews or photos, though he’s a photography buff himself. He splits his time between Orange County and Spieden Island, Wash., a getaway he bought in 1997 for $22 million.
,Jennifer Bellantonio
