Thursday, December 27, 2007

Ronald Perelman







Ronald Perelman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Ronald Perelman

2002 photo. (AP)
Born January 1, 1943 (1943-01-01) (age 64)
Flag of the United States Greensboro, North Carolina
Occupation Businessman, investor
Net worth Image:Green up.png $10 billion USD (2007)
Children 6
Website MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc.

Ronald Owen Perelman (born January 1, 1943) is an American billionaire investor who made his fortune buying beleaguered corporations and re-selling them later for enormous profits. Once the richest man in America,[1] he is now the 28th richest American with an estimated wealth of USD$10 billion.[2] He has invested in the grocery, cigar, licorice, makeup, car, photography, television, camping, security, lottery, jewelry, banks, and comic book industries.

Contents

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[edit] Business

[edit] Belmont Industries

Perelman consummated his first major business deal in 1961 during his Freshman year at the University of Pennsylvania. After he was put on the scent of the Esslinger Brewery by his father, Ronald turned his attention to the details and found it an excellent deal. He and his father bought it for $800,000, then sold it three years later for a $1 million profit.[3]

Throughout Perelman's tenure at the Belmont Iron Works (later renamed Belmont Industries) he assisted his father, Raymond, on many other deals, earning millions of dollars in the process. Their general strategy was one Perelman would follow for the rest of his life: Purchase a company, sell off superfluous divisions to reduce debt and generate profit, bring the company back to its core business, and either sell it or hang onto it for cash flow. In 1978, twelve years after Perelman formally joined Belmont Industries, he was the vice president but he still strove for more power and influence in the company. Raymond told him that he had no intention of stepping down anytime soon. Perelman resigned and moved to New York. The two barely spoke to one another for the next six years.[4]

[edit] On his own

He orchestrated the purchase of Cohen-Hatfield Jewelers in 1978, his first deal as an independent investor free of his father's influence. He recognized the enormous value of Hatfield's mismanaged jewelry cache and bought control of the company with a $1.9 million loan from his wife, Faith Golding. Within a year, Perelman had sold all of company's retail locations and reduced the company to its lucrative wholesale jewelry division, earning him $15 million.[5]

His next target was MacAndrews & Forbes, a distributor of licorice extract and chocolate. The management and investors repeatedly rebuffed his efforts to purchase the company and filed an unsuccessful lawsuit to prevent the acquisition, but Perelman prevailed. That his father had tried and failed to acquire it 10 years earlier made his success particularily sweet.[6]

[edit] Revlon

In 1985, Perelman took on his biggest deal yet: The Revlon Corporation. Financed with over $700 million in junk bonds from Michael Milken's firm Drexel Burnham Lambert, Perelman offered to buy any or all of Revlon's 38.2 million outstanding shares for $47.5 a share when its street price stood at $45 a share. Initially rejected, he repeatedly raised his offer until it reached $53 a share while fighting Revlon's manangement every step of the way. Forstmann Little & Company swooped in at $56 a share, a brief public bidding war ensued, and Perelman triumphed with an offer of $58 a share. Perelman paid $1.8 billion to Revlon's shareholders, but he also paid $900 million of other costs associated with the purchase.[7] Unfortunately for Perelman, Revlon has become nothing but trouble. Despite Perelman's regular cleansing of upper management[8] and injecting millions of dollars into the company,[9] Revlon stubbornly resists turning a profit. As of the first quarter of 2007, it has had one profitable quarter in the past 32.[10] Its lack of profitability shows in its stock price which has plummeted to less than $1.20 a share as of 2007.[11] A major cause of Revlon's financial problems is the huge debt load stemming from Perelman's purchase of the company.[12]

[edit] Savings and loans

Main article: Savings and Loan crisis

Perelman first entered what became known as the Savings & Loan crisis in 1988 when along with Gerald J. Ford he bought five insolvent thrifts with $12.2 billion in assets and $5.1 billion in federal aid for $315 million.[13] The five banks originally operated as a single entity named First Texas Bank, but the name changed to First Gibraltar after about a week.[14] Perelman's turn-around manifested as trimming the payroll, selling branches, and dumping of $2.5 billion of underperforming assets. In 1990, Perelman added San Antonio Savings Association and Sooner Federal to First Gibraltar for $10.1 million and $5.1 million, respectively. The purchase of San Antonio added $1.1 billion of healthy assets, $1.2 billion unhealthy assets, and a $1.3 billion government cash advance to Perelman's larder while Sooner only provided $1.2 billion in assets along with the typical government guarantees.[15][16] Sooner Federal was not only the last S&L Perelman bought, but the first he sold; In August 1992, he sold the pieces of Sooner to Bank of Oklahoma and Fourth Financial for $31.4 million.[15] The following month he sold the rest of First Gibraltar to BankAmerica for $110 million, retaining four branches in Plano, Texas and $1.2 billion of assets in the mortgage and property management sectors.[17] He renamed the four branches First Madison.[18] It's unclear how much money Perelman made from his savings & loan deals, but it's estimated that he made anywhere from $600 million to $1.2 billion with most of the profits manifesting as tax breaks elsewhere in his empire.[19] In essence, by owning First Gibraltar he was able to avoid paying hundreds of millions in federal taxes.[20]

Perelman jumped back into the savings & loan game in a big way in 1994 by buying First Nationwide from the Ford Motor Company for $664 million.[21] Ford held onto $1.8 billion of First Nationwide's assets valued at $444 million, two-thirds of which were considered troubled assets,[21] offered to buy back up to $500 million of First Nationwide's other $7.9 billion of assets that went bad in the future, and gave Perelman $50 million to cover potential severance payments.[19] Perelman quickly boosted its portfolio, adding $10 billion worth of mortgages in exchange for a $175 million payment to Resolution Trust Corporation.[22] Before 1995 ended, Perelman added two more thrifts to his collective: SFFed's $4.1 billion of assets for $250 million[23] and Home Federal Financial's $735 million of assets and $662 million of deposits for $70.6 million.[24] Just as quickly as he added assets, branches, and deposits in California, he dumped what he had elsewhere in the country. In 1995 alone he sold off 79 branches with $4.3 billion in deposits spread out across five states.[25] 1996 went a little slower, but not eventfully. He acquired California Federal Bancorp for $1.2 billion, creating the 4th largest thrift in the country with $32.3 billion in assets.[26] In 1997, another $3.3 billion in mortgages were added courtesy of WMC Mortgage but it was an otherwise quiet year for First Nationwide.[27] In 1998, Perelman negotiated a stock swap with Golden State Bancorp to create the third largest thrift in the country with $50 billion of assets. The deal left Golden State's shareholders the majority, but Perelman's camp still controlled the company.[28] Everything remained quiet until May 2002 when Citigroup announced plans to buy Golden State for $5.8 billion, but ultimately reduced the offer to $4.9 billion due to a stock drop.[29] Citigroup's final offer was 0.821 shares of Citigroup common stock and $7.47 cash for every share of Golden State exchanged, which converted Perelman's 43 million shares of Golden State into $321,210,000 in cash plus 36,124,000 shares of Citigroup. All things considered, Perelman expected to make about $2 billion off the deal, but because he had quasi-sold many of his shares in the past, he probably gained substantially less than that.[30]

[edit] Marvel

Main article: Marvel Comics

While the S&L crisis commanded national attention in 1989, Perelman made a move that left many analysts scratching their heads.[31] He bought the Marvel Entertainment Group, the parent company of Marvel Comics, from New World Entertainment for $82.5 million. "It is a mini-Disney in terms of intellectual property," said Perelman. "Disney's got much more highly recognized characters and softer characters, whereas our characters are termed action heroes. But at Marvel we are now in the business of the creation and marketing of characters."[32] Boosted by a massive merchandising effort, an increase in Marvel comic prices, and an overall boom in the comic book industry, Marvel's profits spiked. Perelman later added the baseball card companies Fleer Corporation and SkyBox International, Italian sticker manufacturer Panini Group, and comic book publishers Welsh Publishing and Malibu Comics to Marvel's holdings for a combined total of $700 million.[33] Investors around the world recognized his efforts and generated $80 million for Perelman when he issued Marvel's initial public offering. He later added a significant stake in Toy Biz to Marvel's holdings. His luck was not to last. Marvel's attempt to distribute its products directly led to a decrease in sales and aggravated the losses which Marvel suffered when the comic book bubble[34] popped, the 1994 Major League Baseball strike massacred the profits of the Fleer division,[35] and Panini was hobbled by poor showings at the box office by Disney (Licensing Disney characters provided a major source of revenue for Panini, so when the movies performed poorly Panini performed poorly).[36] A major bondholder, Carl Icahn, fought to take control of the company from Perelman. Both men failed as Ike Perlmutter and Avi Arad snatched Marvel from Perelman and Icahn in order to protect their own financial interests.[36] Estimates of his profit on the deal vary widely. Chuck Rozanski estimates that Perelman made $200-400 million off Marvel;[33] Forbes thinks he made nothing;[37] and the judge in the Marvel bankruptcy trial estimated he made $280 million plus various tax advantages.[36]

The story of Perelman's Marvel adventures were caricatured in Titans of Finance (Alternative Comics, 2001, ISBN 1891867059)[38] by R. Walker and Josh Neufeld, [39] a comic book collaboration between a cartoonist and a finance columnist, which casts wall street executives and traders as heroes and villains. The lead story features Perelman, and Mike Vranos, Al Dunlap, and Victor Niederhoffer are among those included.

[edit] New World Communications

Main article: New World Communications

In 1989, Perelman went back and bought New World Entertainment, the former parent comany of Marvel, and then Four Star International. In 1993, Perelman acquired three major entities: SCI Television for $120 million plus $730 million in assumed debt, withseven television stations included in the deal; Genesis Entertainment, and Guthy-Renker. In late 1993, he reorgnanized all of the above-mentioned companies into a single corporation called New World Communications. In 1994, Perelman bought four more stations from the Great American Communications Company for $360 million and four more from Argyle Television Holdings for $716 million. His purchases set the stage for the Fox affiliate switches of 1994 in which Ronald Perelman rewrote the rules for how television affiliates operated and helped establish Fox as a force to be reckoned with.[40] Naturally, Ronald took home a tidy profit: In two deals in 1994 and 1996, Rupert Murdoch bought complete control of New World Communications for $3 billion.[41][42]

[edit] Coleman and Sunbeam

In between his purchase of Marvel and New World Communications, Perelman bought the Coleman Company for $545 million. Perelman handled the deal in his characteristic style: Buy the company, sell everything but the core business—In the case of Coleman, the camping and boating divisions—and enjoy the profits. Over the next several years, he bought nine more divisions for Coleman.[43] In December 1997, Perelman and Al Dunlap met in order to discuss a possible deal between Coleman and Sunbeam Products. Coleman was stuck in a rut and Ronald Perelman wanted out. Coincidentally, Al Dunlap was sitting on a financially insolvent company he wanted to dump.[44] It took until March 2 for them to finally come to an agreement: With some convincing from his banker Morgan Stanley, Perelman sold his entire stake (82%) in Coleman to Al Dunlap in exchange for $1.5 billion in cash and $680 million of Sunbeam stock.[45] They completed the deal on March 30, despite a sell-off triggering press release from March 19 that said Sunbeam would not meet sales expectations. On April 3, another press release took Sunbeam's stock from bad to worse: It would not only fall short of sales expectations for that quarter, but it would barely meet the sales expectations of two years ago. The stock went into a tail spin, falling from $54 a share to $24 a share in a matter of weeks and continued its death spiral in the following weeks. Perelman bought control of Sunbeam in an effort to salvage the situation but it was for naught. The company had to file for bankruptcy within three years.[46]

[edit] Morgan Stanley

On February 17, 2005, Perelman filed a lawsuit against Morgan Stanley.[47] Two facts were at issue: Did Morgan Stanley know about the problems with Sunbeam and was Ronald Perelman misled? During the discovery phase, the judge became exasperated with what she perceived as deliberate stonewalling on the part of Morgan Stanley and ordered the jury to assume Morgan Stanley deliberately and knowingly defrauded Perelman.[48] Hobbled, Morgan Stanley had no choice but to argue that Perelman was too savvy an investor to have fallen for their transparent tricks.[49] After a five-week trial, the jury deliberated for two days, found in favor of Perelman, and awarded him $1.45 billion.[50] The damages particularly stunned Morgan Stanley considering they passed up Perelman's offer to settle the case for $20 million.[51] Morgan Stanley maintained that the court case was improperly decided, citing the judge's decision to use Florida law over New York law and her decision to order the jury to consider Morgan Stanley guilty before the trial began.[52] In 2007, the courts of appeal reversed the judgement. The judges' declared Perelman hadn't provided any evidence showing he'd suffered any actual damage as a result of Morgan Stanley's actions. Perelman appealed,[53] but found himself shot down by the Florida Supreme Court who dismissed it in a 5-0 decision. [54]

[edit] Other

Perelman's portfolio currently includes or has included Allied Barton,[55] Am General,[55] Clarke American,[55] Deluxe Laboratories,[55] Meridian Sports,[56] National Health Laboratories,[57] Pantry Pride,[58] Scientific Games,[55] Siga Technologies,[55] Technicolor,[59] and TransTech Pharma.[55]

[edit] Life

Ronald Perelman was born in Greensboro, North Carolina to Raymond and Ruth Perelman in 1943.[60] Raymond was an accomplished businessman in his own right. Along with his father and brother, he controlled the American Paper Products corporation. Raymond eventually left the company and bought Belmont Iron Works, a manufacturer of structural steel.[61]

On Raymond's knee, Perelman learned the fundamentals of business.[62] By the time Ronald turned eleven years old he regularly sat in on board meetings of his father's company. Raymond was a rough teacher, harshly criticizing Ronald for even the slightest misstep.[60]

Perelman attended The Haverford School and then the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania where he followed in his father's foot steps and majored in business. He graduated in 1964 and completed his master's in 1966.[63]

[edit] Cigars

The phrase 'cigar-chomping' tends to appear anywhere the name Ronald Perelman is written and with good reason.[64][65][66] Perelman first lit up when he was 26 years old. Trapped in a meeting that refused to end, he noticed a lawyer named Laddie Montague light up a cigar and start happily puffing away. Perelman asked if he could try one.[67] From that day until he quit in 1999,[68] he smoked between one and five cigars a day.[69] Perelman had Consolidated Cigar manufacture a custom 38-ring H. Upmann-style cigar just for him.[67][70] The media speculated extensively about the exact reason he quit; New York magazine claimed his new wife, Ellen Barkin, made him quit,[71] and Forbes suggested he quit because he sold Consolidated Cigar.[68] Perelman set the record straight in an interview with Institutional Investor: he quit at the encouragement of his youngest daughters, Samantha and Caleigh, whom he lived with.[9]

[edit] Marriage

Perelman has been married four times. He married Sterling Bank heiress Faith Golding in 1965 and they divorced in 1984. His marriage to gossip columnist Claudia Cohen lasted from 1985 to 1994. He wed socialite Patricia Duff 1994 and divorced in 1996. Most recently, he was married to actress Ellen Barkin from 2000 to 2006.

[edit] Faith Golding

Perelman met his first wife, Faith Golding, in 1965 while on a cruise to Israel. As the heir to a fortune made in real estate and banking, Faith Golding controlled a personal fortune of around $100 million at the time of their marriage.[72] They adopted three children named Steven, Josh, and Hope, and Faith gave birth to a fourth child named Deborah. Their marriage lasted until 1984 when Faith discovered Perelman was having an affair with a local florist after a bill for a Bulgari bracelet was sent to their home instead of Perelman's office. Faith threatened to scuttle Perelman's attempt to take MacAndrews & Forbes private in 1983 by staking a claim to a third of it due to a bank loan in her name. She further declared that Perelman defrauded the owners of the First Sterling Corporation (i.e. her) by buying thousands of dollars of gifts for the florist with the company's money, and made a very public spectacle of the divorce. Ronald Perelman responded by hiring Roy Cohn and flatly denying all of the allegations. The pair quickly settled the divorce with an estimated payout to Faith in excess of $8 million.[73]

[edit] Claudia Cohen

Perelman met his second wife, Claudia Cohen, in 1984 at Le Cirque. Since Claudia Cohen worked in the gossip industry and Perelman was immensely wealthy, tales of their whirlwind courtship of less than a year appeared regularly in the gossip columns.[74] They married in a private, Orthodox wedding. A daughter, Samantha, soon followed. Perelman bestowed love and jewelry upon his new-found love, blowing her kisses in the hallways of his office and home, receiving calls of "Ron! Oh, Ron!" in return.[75] In August of 1993, Ron filed for divorce.[76] Claudia left the marriage with well over $80 million.[76] In 2007, Claudia died after a secret seven-year battle with ovarian cancer. Perelman revealed during his speech at her funeral that he'd known about her cancer from the beginning and privately commissioned a vaccine as a part of his efforts to cure her.[77]

[edit] Patricia Duff

Patricia Duff was Perelman's third wife and messiest divorce. The pair first met in a Paris hotel lobby when both were still married: Perelman to Cohen, and Duff to Mike Medavoy.[78] After Duff divorced Medavoy, she soon married Perelman on January 25, 1995. She gave birth to his fourth daughter, Caleigh Sophia, before the wedding took place.[79] When the marriage between Duff and Perelman disintegrated in 1996, custody over Caleigh became a major issue. Both Perelman and Duff wanted full custody and their prenuptial agreement did not address the subject of child support. Initially private, the divorce proceedings were opened to the public at the request of Duff.[80] Neither party emerged with their reputations unscathed. The court psychiatrist found Duff to be paranoid and narcissistic and Perelman to have serious anger management issues,[81] Perelman caught a great deal of flak for testifying that it cost about $3 a day to feed his daughter,[82] and both sides alleged physical abuse by the other party.[83] The judge's sealed decision means the public will never know the exact results of the case,[80] but it's known that neither party actually won. Perelman is Caleigh's legal guardian, but Patricia has extensive visitation rights.[84]

[edit] Ellen Barkin

Perelman met his fourth wife, actress Ellen Barkin, at a Vanity Fair Oscar after-party in 1999.[85] After slightly more than a year of courtship, the two married in June 2000. All accounts indicate their five-year marriage was a stormy one. Much of the friction arose due to Ellen's acting career and her attendant travel schedule, but their mutually explosive tempers didn't help either. Perelman filed and obtained a divorce in early 2006. The press soundly mocked Perelman for his actions, the speed and timing of which suggested his real motivation was to avoid a clause in his prenuptial that would raise the amount in alimony he owed Ellen if he waited a few days longer. Depending on the source used, Ellen's yearly alimony ranges from $2 million to $3 million and the total payout ranged from $20 million to $65 million.[86] In late 2007, the pair exchanged lawsuits. Part of the divorce settlement required Perelman to invest several million dollars in a film production company Ellen and her brother George(an aspiring screenwriter) started. Perelman made only one of the payments claiming that there was no evidence the two were actually producing films. Ellen sued for her money while Perelman counter-sued alleging Ellen and her brother had looted the film company for themselves. [87]

[edit] Philanthropy

Perelman gives extensively to charity. In 2006 alone, he donated over $60 million to various charitable groups and causes including Carnegie Hall and the World Trade Center Memorial.[88] Other notable donations include $20 million to the University of Pennsylvania for naming rights to the quadrangle,[89] $10 million to New York University to create the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology,[90] $4.7 million to Princeton University to create the Ronald Perelman Institute for Jewish Studies,[91] and $20 million to the Guggenheim Museum.[92]

[edit] Religion

Religion has had a strong influence on Perelman's life. He grew up in a Conservative household,[93] and had a religious reawakening at the age of eighteen while on a family trip to Israel.[84] "I felt not just this enormous pride at being a Jew; I felt this enormous void at not being a better Jew. So I decided then to begin being a better Jew. As soon as I got married, we kept a kosher house, we became much more observant. We moved to New York shortly thereafter and joined an Orthodox synagogue and the kids grew up with much more Judaism surrounding them than I ever did".[84] Today, he strictly observes the Jewish Sabbath, spends three hours every Saturday in prayer,[94] keeps a kosher home,[95] and donates millions to Jewish groups and causes, particularly the ultra-conservative Chabad-Lubavitch sect.[94] He does not consider himself to be a member of Lubavitch. He supports them because he thinks they are Judaism's best chance for surviving and thriving in modern society.[84]

[edit] Controversy

[edit] Greenmail

In the late 1980s, Perelman was repeatedly accused of engaging in greenmail.[9] "Greenmail" is when someone buys a large block of a company's stock and threatens to take over the company unless he is paid a substantial premium over his purchase price. In the case of someone such as Perelman or Carl Icahn with a reputation as a corporate raider, the mere act of buying up shares could send a company into a panic and investors into a buying frenzy.[96] Perelman insists he seriously intended to buy every corporation he bought into.[8]

He was first accused of greenmail in late 1986 during a run at CPC International when he bought 8.2% of CPC at around $75 a share and indirectly sold it back to CPC through Salomon Brothers a month later at 88.5 a share for a $40 million profit. Both CPC and Perelman denied it was greenmail despite appearances to the contrary, including what looked like an artificial price increase by Salomon shortly before they sold Perelman's shares.[97]

Transworld, a company Perelman already held 15% of, was spooked by his taking of greenmail and instituted a variety of anti-takeover measures while preemptively putting themselves up onto the auction block to avoid a Perelman takeover.[96] Whatever his intentions may have been, he never acted on them. As a part of Transworld's restructuring in 1988, he sold his stake.[96]

The third charge of greenmailing levied against him was the best-known and stemmed from his attempt to purchase Gillette in November 1986. Perelman opened negotiations with a bid of $4.12 billion. Gillette responded with an unsuccessful lawsuit and public insinuations of insider trading. Perelman accumulated 13.8% of Gillette before he made what he would later call the worst decision he ever made and sold his stake to Gillette later that month for a $34 million profit. Gillette had put word out that Ralston Purina had agreed to buy a 20% block of stock, making any attempt by Perelman to buy Gillette much more difficult.

Perelman decided to sell his share to Ralston Purina, but before he did so Gillette's executives called him up, asking if he'd sell his shares to them and they'd sell the shares to Ralston Purina. He sold his shares to Gillette, Ralston backed out of the deal, and Perelman was left feeling a little foolish for having been tricked into taking greenmail.[67] Undeterred by the agreement he signed declaring he wouldn't attempt a hostile takeover of Gillette for at least 10 years, he waited until June 1987 to attempt a friendly takeover. Openning bidding at $4.66 billion, Perelman gradually upped his bid over the following months to $5.7 billion to no avail. Gillette's management had no interest in selling, insisting they were worth at least $55 a share.[98] In October 1987, Perelman finally gave up and withdrew his offer.[99]

[edit] Lewinsky

Perelman stumbled into the Lewinsky scandal. In early 1998, Vernon Jordan recommended Monica Lewinsky to Perelman as a potential employee, pitching her as a very smart young woman. This was not business as usual. While Jordan was on the Revlon board of directors, Jordan rarely spoke to Perelman and had never recommended anyone to him. Jordan indicated he'd already talked about Lewinsky with MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings vice president, Jaymie Durnan. Durnan told Perelman that she'd determined there was no position available for Lewinsky at Perelman's company, but she'd forwarded Lewinsky's resume to Revlon. Perelman was as surprised as anyone when he found out about the Lewinsky-Clinton connection later that month.[100] To his dismay, he found that Revlon had already made a job offer which was quickly withdrawn, but it was too late; Revlon and Perelman were all over the scandal.[101]

[edit] Panavision

In April 2001, M&F Worldwide bought Perelman's 83% stake in Panavision for $128 million. This would be unremarkable except that Perelman controlled M&F Worldwide and the price paid for his stake was four times market value. At the time, M&F Worldwide was a healthy company with an excellent balance sheet while Panavision was bleeding red ink. M&F Worldwide's other shareholders cried foul, alleging the only person who stood to benefit from the deal was Perelman. They took their complaints to the courts.[102] Perelman insisted the deal was an excellent one and in the best interest of the shareholders because Panavision was well-positioned to profit from the move to digital film.[103] The share price tumbled from six to three after the deal and reflected M&F Worldwide shareholders' lack of confidence.[104] Perelman tried to pacify M&F Worldwide's shareholders with a $15 million settlement, but the judge rejected it as grossly inadequate. Ultimately, Perelman agreed to undo the deal, making M&F Worldwide shareholder's, and the share price, jump with joy.[105]

[edit] Tepperman

Perelman hired Fred Tepperman as his CFO after Tepperman left Warner Communications in 1985. Starting with Pantry Pride, Tepperman worked on every single business deal Perelman orchestrated throughout Tepperman's seven-year stint at MacAndrews & Forbes. Tepperman's tenure came to an abrupt end just after Christmas in 1991 when Perelman fired him for being derelict in his duties. Tepperman had been distracted for the past year by his Alzheimers-afflicted wife of 30 years—He took longer vacations, he kept shorter hours at the office that precluded Perelman's famous breakfast meetings, and seemed generally distracted and distraught(According to Tepperman, Perelman once told him to not look sad in front of bankers because it made them nervous). A clause in Tepperman's contract entitled him to a large portion of his salary and benefits in the event of an injury that prevented him from being able to work - which Tepperman claimed he had in fact suffered, albeit of a psychological nature as a result of the effect his wife's condition had on him. His demands totaled up to $30 million. That number stems partially from Tepperman's salary which started at $275,000 and rose to $1.2 million in 1990[106] and partially from his large benefits package, which included a luxury car of a brand of his choice.[107] Perelman was quick to file a countersuit for fraud, claiming that Tepperman had sneakily changed the company's retirement plan in such a way that he would personally gain millions of dollars.[106]

It took over three years for the case to make it to court. Tepperman's attorney, Barry Slotnick, charged that the breakfast meetings were nothing but a podium Perelman used to boast about his sexual conquests and thus Tepperman was merely avoiding pointless meetings, as any worker would. His long vacations were declared to not be an issue thanks to the wonders of telecommuting; He could do his job just as well in Florida as in New York. On the other side of the court room, Perelman's attorney Stanley Arkin argued that Tepperman was unable to perform his job, refused to accept this, and was justifiably fired. Stanley dropped a bombshell early in the case, revealing that Tepperman was actually living with his wife's nurse, damaging his reputation as a devoted husband who was just looking out for his wife. Slotnick responded that his wife's family knew about it and was okay with it, believing it necessary for Tepperman to move on with his life. The only witness to take the stand was Tepperman who testified for six days before the case ended with a sealed settlement.[106]

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ This article contains a wealth of information about both Ronald and his close associates. Meyers, William (1989). "How Ron Perelman became the richest man in America". Institutional Investor 23 (6).
  2. ^ #28 Ronald Perelman. Forbes (2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-21.
  3. ^ This unauthorized biography was reviewed by Perelman before publication. Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King: How Revlon's Ron Perelman Mastered the World of Finance to Create One of America's Greatest Business Empires, and Found Glamour, Beauty, and the High Life in the Bargain. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 4-9. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  4. ^ Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 9. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  5. ^ Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 10-12. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  6. ^ Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 13. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  7. ^ Stevenson, Richard. "Pantry Pride Control of Revlon Board Seen Near", New York Times, 1985-11-05, p. D5. Retrieved on 2007-04-27.
  8. ^ a b Hagedom, Ann. "Possible Revlon Buyout May Be Sign Of a Bigger Perelman Move in Works", Wall Street Journal, 1987-03-09, p. 1. Retrieved on 2007-05-16.
  9. ^ a b c Atlas, Riva (2000). "The Perils of Perelman". Institutional Investor 34 (3).
  10. ^ Gale Group (2005). Revlon Reports First Profitable Quarter in Six Years; Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2004 Results in Line with Expectations. Business Wire. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  11. ^ Google Finance - Revlon, Inc. Google (2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  12. ^ Cotten Timberlake and Shobhana Chandra (2005). Revlon profit first in more than 6 years. Bloomberg Publishing. Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
  13. ^ Hayes, Thomas. "Talking Deals; A Veil of Secrecy In Texas Rescues", New York Times, 1988-12-29, p. D2.
  14. ^ Ladendorf, Kirk. "A bank by any other name . . . must be in Austin // Confusion, lawsuits greet the changes made of necessity", Austin American Statesman, 1989-04-03, p. 12.
  15. ^ a b Lancaster, Hal. "Perelman Sells Oklahoma Unit Of Texas Thrift --- Big S&L Purchased in 1988 Amid Much Controversy May Be Sold Piecemeal", Wall Street Journal, 1992-08-11, p. A4.
  16. ^ Hayes, Thomas. "Perelman Group Wins Bidding for San Antonio Savings", New York Times, 1990-03-10, p. A32.
  17. ^ King, Ralph T. "BankAmerica, in Texas Push, to Buy Branches of Perelman's First Gibraltar", Wall Street Journal, 1992-09-22, p. A3.
  18. ^ Racine, John. "Texas Dealmaker Is Plotting His Next Move", American Banker, 1993-11-08, p. 10.
  19. ^ a b Steinmetz, Greg. "Perelman Wins Bidding for Ford's Struggling Thrift --- First Nationwide Is Fairly Clean, as Seller Keeps Big Chunk of Bad Loans", Wall Street Journal, 1994-04-15, p. B4.
  20. ^ Sloan, Allan. "Perelman bucketed S&L 'soup'", Denver Post, 1992-09-26, p. C1.
  21. ^ a b Sloan, Allan. "Perelman replay in S&Ls may not pay off as well", Denver Post, 1994-11-24.
  22. ^ Ketelsen, James. "Mr. Fixit", Forbes, 1995-05-22, p. 66.
  23. ^ "First Nationwide Bank to acquire SFFed in $250 million pact", Wall Street Journal, 1995-08-29, p. C14.
  24. ^ Cahill, Tom. "1st Nationwide will buy Home Federal $70.6 million purchase is part of statewide expansion", San Francisco Examiner, 1995-12-20, p. B3.
  25. ^ Cline, Kenneth. "1st Nationwide Agrees To Buy Calif. Thrift For $70.6M in Cash Series", American Banker, 1995-12-26, p. 6.
  26. ^ Crockett, Barton. "1st Nationwide Buying Cal Fed for $1.2B Cash Deal Second in Week Between West Coast Thrifts", American Banker, 1996-07-30, p. 1.
  27. ^ Lamonica, Paul. "Weyerheuser Unit's Buyer Sells Off Most Servicing To Focus on Subprime", American Banker, 1997-06-27, p. 14.
  28. ^ Prakash, Snigdha. "Despite Deal's Complexities, CalFed Really Is the Buyer", American Banker, 1998-02-12.
  29. ^ Stein, George. "California; Golden State Shareholders OK Takeover; Mergers: Nearly 90% approve the purchase by Citigroup despite a stock drop that cuts the value of the deal to $4.9 billion from $5.8 billion", Los Angeles Times, 2002-08-23, p. C2.
  30. ^ Laing, Jonathan R. "Ron's triumph?", Barron's, 2002-03-27, p. 15.
  31. ^ Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 106. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  32. ^ Raviv, Dan (2002). Comic Wars. Random House. Retrieved on 2007-01-27.
  33. ^ a b Chuck Rozanski is a very well-known purveyor of comic books and had a walk-on role in the Marvel fiasco. Chuck Rozanski. Perelman's Team Nearly Destroyed the Entire World of Comics. Mile High Comics. Retrieved on 2007-01-27.
  34. ^ A minority of dissidents maintain there was never a bubble in the first place. Rozanski, Chuck. The Vicious Downward Spiral of the 1990s. Tales From the Database. Mile High comics. Retrieved on 2007-01-27.
  35. ^ Lott, Jeremy (2002). Smash! Pow! Bam!. Reason Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-01-27.
  36. ^ a b c Raviv, Dan. Comic Wars: Marvel's Battle For Survival. Sea Cliff: Heroes Books, 38-39. ISBN 0-7679-0830-9.
  37. ^ Miller, Matthew (2005). Don't Mess With Me. The Forbes 400. Forbes Publishing. Retrieved on 2007-01-29.
  38. ^ Titans of Finance: True Tales of Money & Business. Amazon.com, Inc. (2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-10.
  39. ^ McGeehan, Patrick (2001-06-03). Private Sector; Dumbed Down on Wall St.: Junk Finance, With Pictures. The New York Times Company. Retrieved on 2007-12-10.
  40. ^ Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 140-150. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  41. ^ Sloan, Allan. "Murdoch, Perelman Do the Cha-Cha", Newsday, 1994-05-29, p. A90.
  42. ^ "Murdoch Deal Makes Fox Biggest TV Station Owner", Bloomberg Business News, News Day, 1996-07-18, p. B53.
  43. ^ This is the best freely-available profile of Ronald Perelman. MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc.y. Answers.com (1999). Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
  44. ^ All citations of Testosterone Inc are from the paperback edition with a cigar on the cover. The original cover was a picture of Mount Rushmore with the subjects of the book(Albert J. Dunlap, Dennis Kozlowski, Ronald Perelman, and Jack Welch) photoshopped in place of the Presidents with a woman lying across the top of the mountain. Jack Welch sued, claiming the woman was an image of his wife Suzy Wetlaufer and it was being used without permission. Byron, Christoper M. (2004). Testosterone Inc. Tales of CEOs Gone Wild. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 265-269, 295-297. ISBN 0-471-42005-0.
  45. ^ Fred, Sheryl (2006). DiscoveryDishonesty. Inside Counsel. Retrieved on 2007-01-29.
  46. ^ Byron, Christoper M. (2004). Testosterone Inc. Tales of CEOs Gone Wild. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 295-301,295-297. ISBN 0-471-42005-0.
  47. ^ Court TV Online - Coleman vs. Morgan Stanley. Court TV (2005). Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
  48. ^ Craig, Susanne (2005). How Morgan Stanley botched a big case by fumbling emails. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
  49. ^ Rosser, Bo (2005). On the stand, billionaire Perelman accuses Morgan Stanley of fraud. Court TV. Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
  50. ^ Susan Rosser, Bo (2005). Jury awards Perelman $850 million in damages from Morgan Stanley. Court TV. Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
  51. ^ Cramer, James J.. Morgan Stanley CEO Phil Prucell's People Problem. New York Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
  52. ^ Jones, Carl (2005). Law.com - Morgan Stanley: 'Record Is Clear' That Florida Judge Erred. Daily Business Review. Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
  53. ^ Bruno, Joe Bel (2007). ABC News: Morgan Stanley-Perelman Judgment Flipped. ABC News. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  54. ^ Feeley, Jef (2007). Perelman Loses Appeal of Morgan Stanley Jury Award. Bloomberg. Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
  55. ^ a b c d e f g MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings inc (2007). MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings inc. Retrieved on 2007-03-25.
  56. ^ Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 147. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  57. ^ Freudenheim, Milt (1994). COMPANY NEWS; Blood-Testing Concerns Plan $1.79 Billion Merger. New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-03-25.
  58. ^ Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 42-44. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  59. ^ MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings inc (2007). MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings inc. Retrieved on 2007-03-25.
  60. ^ a b Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 1-3. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  61. ^ Philadelphia Museum of Art - Information: Our Future: Perelman Building: Raymond G. and Ruth Perelman. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
  62. ^ Ramirez, Anthony (2006). The Year's 50 Most Fascinating Business People Ron Perelman Revlon's Striving Makeover Man. Fortune Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-01-22.
  63. ^ Jeff Gordinier (2006). Perelman: Man behind the paln. Daily Pennsylvanian. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
  64. ^ Olson, Parmy (2005). Billionaire Perelman Buys Film Unit For $745M. Forbes.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-02.
  65. ^ Winters, Rebecca (2005). People - Tuesday, September 6, 2005 -- Page 1. Times.com. Time Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-02-02.
  66. ^ Sherwell, Phillip (2006). Divorce No 4 takes Revlon tycoon's payouts to $138m. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-02-02.
  67. ^ a b c A lengthy Q&A interview from 1995. Shanken, Marvin R.. Cigar Stars. Cigar Aficionado. Retrieved on 2007-02-02.
  68. ^ a b It's impossible to directly link to this article. "Famous for his ubiquitous cigars, Perelman gave up the habit after he sold Consolidated Cigar in 1999." Forbes 400 Richest in America 2000. Forbes (2000). Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  69. ^ Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 7. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  70. ^ Consolidated Cigar later retailed the cigar under the name "Chairman's Reserve". Levere, Jane L. (1997). Consolidated ads go one-up for H. Upmann. N.Y. Times News Service. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  71. ^ Beth Landman & Deborah Mitchell (1999). Barkin smokes out Ron's bad habit. New York Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-04-03.
  72. ^ Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 5-6. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  73. ^ Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 23-28. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  74. ^ Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 29-31. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  75. ^ Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 29-31,72. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  76. ^ a b Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 146,149. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  77. ^ Friedman, Roger (2007). Claudia Cohen: Funeral for a Friend. Fox411. Fox News. Retrieved on 2007-06-20.
  78. ^ Byron, Christoper M. (2004). Testosterone Inc. Tales of CEOs Gone Wild. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 183. ISBN 0-471-42005-0.
  79. ^ Byron, Christoper M. (2004). Testosterone Inc. Tales of CEOs Gone Wild. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 199. ISBN 0-471-42005-0.
  80. ^ a b Martinez, Andres (2005). Billionaire a name in gossip columns as often as business section. Court TV. Retrieved on 2007-03-25.
  81. ^ McShane, Larry (1999). Perelman v. Duff: A divorce of the vanities. Associated Press. Retrieved on 2007-03-25.
  82. ^ Oreklin, Michele (1999). People. Time Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-03-25.
  83. ^ Gregorian, Dareh. "Perelman custody case gets physical", New York Post, 1998-12-09, p. 3.
  84. ^ a b c d This chapter's primary source was an interview with Ronald. Pogrebin, Abigail (2005). Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish. New York: Broadway, 84-91. ISBN 978-0-7679-1612-7.
  85. ^ This is an excellent interview with Ellen Barkin. New York magazine shamelessly lifted quotes from it without attribution for its article Scenes from a Broken Marriage, see below. Susan Dominus (2005). Ms Barkin and the billionaire. The Irish Independent. Retrieved on 2007-04-03.
  86. ^ Gray, Geoffrey (2006). Ron Perelman vs. Ellen Barkin: Scenes From a Broken Marriage. New York Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-04-03.
  87. ^ Hurtado, Patricia (2008). Perelman Sues Ex-Wife Barkin, Claiming She Took Funds. Bloomberg. Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
  88. ^ America's Most Generous Donators. The Chronicle of Philanthropy (2006). Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
  89. ^ Schweiger, Tristan (2000). Trustees visit Perelman Quad opening. Daily Pennsylvanian. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
  90. ^ Myers, Steven Lee (1991). Chronicle. New York Times.
  91. ^ Myers, Steven Lee (1995). Chronicle. New York Times.
  92. ^ Rosebaum, Lee (2003). The Guggenheim regroups: The Story Behind the Cutbacks: in financial crisis, and with its downtown NYC expansion plan deferred or defunct, the Guggenheim museum continues to explore ambitious new global projects. Art in America. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
  93. ^ The temple he went to growing up was a Recontructionist temple,^ and his father has donated millions to Conservative causes.^
  94. ^ a b Powell, Michael (1998). Perelman Power. Washington Post. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
  95. ^ Ross, Lillian (2005). Ellen Barkin At Home. The New Yorker. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
  96. ^ a b c Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 80-81. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  97. ^ Sandler, Linda. "Big CPC Trade Has Money Managers Asking If It Was Actually Greenmail for Perelman", Wall Street Journal, 1986-11-07, p. 1.
  98. ^ Lenzner, Robert. "Gillette Can Hear The Footsteps", Boston Globe, 1987-09-27, p. A1.
  99. ^ Kadlec, Daniel. "Rates rock deal stocks", USA Today, 1987-10-16, p. B3.
  100. ^ 3273-3282. Office of the Independent Counsel (2004). Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
  101. ^ Byron, Christoper M. (2004). Testosterone Inc. Tales of CEOs Gone Wild. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 293. ISBN 0-471-42005-0.
  102. ^ Bary, Andrew. "Perelman's Price", Barron's, 1987-09-27, p. 45.
  103. ^ Atlas, Riva D. "Perelman's Endless (and Costly) Love", New York Times, 2000-12-17, p. C1.
  104. ^ Bary, Andrew. "Perelman's Plight", Barron's, 2001-08-13, p. 17.
  105. ^ Bary, Andrew. "Sour Candy", Barron's, 2002-08-05, p. 13.
  106. ^ a b c Hack, Richard (1996). When Money Is King. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 126, 185-219. ISBN 0-7871-1033-7.
  107. ^ Jehl, Douglas. "An Ill Wife, A Tough Boss And a Lawsuit", New York Times, 1995-06-28, p. D1.

106. ^ Tobin, Jonathan S. "If you build it, will they come?", Jerusalem Post, 2006-03-27, p. 13.
107. ^ Beth Sholom Synagogue, Elkins Park, PA, The Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora. Retrieved on 2007-05-22.

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