Irvine Company’s Donald Bren officially is the wealthiest person in Southern California.
The 77-year-old real estate mogul is estimated to be worth $12 billion, according to this week’s Business Journal list of OC’s Wealthiest.
Our estimate for Bren is based on a re-evaluation of his holdings and debt in which we determined our $10.5 billion estimate for him a year ago was too low, even amid an epic real estate downturn.
A year ago, we called our estimate conservative and said less conservative number crunching and input from sources put Bren at $15 billion to $20 billion.
Based on new information this year, it turns out Bren easily could have been put in that higher range, even the high end of that range.
Bren since has seen declines in value of the real estate he owns, bringing him closer to our still conservative estimate.
But those declines might not have been as severe as among the richest of Los Angeles, who traditionally have held most of Southern California’s wealth.
The top 10 wealthiest in L.A. saw their total wealth fall by more than $10 billion in the past year, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2009 list.
The top 50 wealthiest in L.A. saw a $32 billion decline.
Orange County’s top 10, in comparison, saw their wealth fall by about $3 billion, making up most of the decline seen for the 30 people on our OC’s Wealthiest list.
San Diego’s wealthiest saw their top 10 value fall by $4.2 billion in 2008, according to the San Diego Business Journal’s most recent list.
None took a harder hit than longtime Southland No.1 Kirk Kerkorian and former top three wealthiest Sumner Redstone.
Kerkorian’s wealth was estimated to be cut in half to $5.3 billion as continuing declines in Las Vegas hit his investments there. The 92-year-old Beverly Hills resident is the majority owner of MGM Mirage and is heavily invested in Sin City.
The $5 billion plummet dropped Kerkorian down two spots on the Los Angeles Business Journal’s list and made him the fourth wealthiest person in Southern California.
Redstone
Redstone, 86, lost his No. 2 position in Los Angeles (and third in all of Southern California) as his fortune dropped from $7 billion to $1.8 billion.
The media executive sold shares at a sharp discount in CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. to settle debt. That move took him out of the top 20 in Southern California.
The fall of those two players from the top of the region’s wealthiest allows Bren, OC’s largest landlord, to take over the No. 1 spot.
His Irvine Co. owns more than 475 office buildings, 41 shopping centers, 115 apartment complexes with some 42,000 units, three hotels, three golf courses and five marinas. He also owns 27,000 acres of land, with about half estimated to be developable.
Most of Bren’s holdings are in OC, as well as in Los Angeles, San Diego and Northern California.
L.A. Drug Executive
Among Angelenos, Patrick Soon-Shiong, 56, moved up on the list of Southern California’s wealthiest with the fall of Kerkorian.
He is the second wealthiest in Southern California and No. 1 in Los Angeles.
Soon-Shiong saw a 62% bump in his overall wealth to an estimated $6 billion. The former surgeon saw his wealth surge after selling his generic drug maker APP Pharmaceuticals Inc. a year ago to a German group for $5.6 billion including debt.
Soon-Shiong developed a cancer drug and markets that through Los Angeles-based Abraxis BioScience Inc., which has operations in Costa Mesa.
He was ranked No. 87 on Forbes annual wealthiest list last year.
Coming in at No. 3 in the region is philanthropist Eli Broad. Broad took an estimated 22% hit to his worth, registering at $5.4 billion. The 76-year-old built his wealth on real estate and insurance. He saw a drop in value from his shares in American International Group Inc.
San Diego’s wealthiest is Charles H. Brandes, founder of Brandes Investment Partners, with a $2.6 billion net worth.
The estimate for the 66-year-old could be high as the investor made bets on Washington Mutual Inc. and Countrywide Financial Corp. that didn’t pay off.
As with the rest of the Southland, San Diego’s wealthy who invested in technology largely are holding on to their riches, while those in real estate and finance are feeling the effects of the down economy.
