Ronald Perelman
Encyclopedia
Ronald Owen Perelman is an American business magnate
. Through his company MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., he has invested in various companies in grocery, cigar, licorice, makeup, car, photography, television, camping, security, lottery, jewelry, banks, and comic book industries.
on January 1, 1943 to Raymond and Ruth Perelman. He was raised in a Jewish family. 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.
On Raymond's knee, Perelman learned the fundamentals of business. 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. A recent article published in the Forbes 400
discusses their relationship in detail.
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.
lasted from 1985 to 1994. He wed socialite Patricia Duff
in 1994 and divorced in 1996. He was married to actress Ellen Barkin
from 2000 to 2006. On October 13, 2010, Perelman married Dr. Anna Chapman, a Harvard-educated psychiatrist.
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.
, in 1984 at Le Cirque
. In August 1993, Ron filed for divorce. Claudia left the marriage with well over $80 million. 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. In March 2008, Perelman decided to change the name of Logan Hall, located at the University of Pennsylvania
, to Cohen Hall, after his late ex-wife. He donated $20 million to the University to remodel what is now Perelman Quadrangle and as part of his donation, he had the option to change the name of Logan Hall. His decision to rename Logan Hall surprised some Penn faculty, alumni, and students.
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
. 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. 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. 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, Perelman caught a great deal of flak for testifying that it cost about $3 a day to feed his daughter, and both sides alleged physical abuse by the other party. The judge's sealed decision means the public will never know the exact results of the case, but it's known that neither party actually won. Perelman is Caleigh's legal guardian, but Patricia has extensive visitation rights.
Perelman met his fourth wife, actress Ellen Barkin
, at a Vanity Fair
Oscar after-party in 1999. 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. 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) had 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.
Dr. Anna Chapman. In August 2010 they announced they are expecting a baby --her first, his seventh--via a surrogate . In September 2010, they were married . And in late November, 2010, the couple celebrated the birth of their son, Oscar .
In August 2011, Ronald Perelman hosted his second annual benefit for the Apollo Theater, raising over $1.5 million. Richard Gere and Carey Lowell, George Stephanopoulos and Ali Wentworth, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell were among attendees; performers included Ben E. King, Bettye Lavette, Jon Bon Jovi, Jamie Foxx and Alicia Keys. Mr. Perelman's 2010 event also raised over $1 million for the famed Apollo Theater.
In August 2010, Ronald Perelman signed the Gates-Buffett Pledge, committing up to half his assets to be designated for the benefit of charitable causes (after his family and children have been provided for).
Recently, one of his biggest transformational gifts—a $50 million donation—was to the New York Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical Center. The $50 million gift created the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute
, and provided vital financial aid to the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine. On May 4, 2008, on The O'Reilly Factor
, FOX News star Bill O'Reilly
named Mr. Perelman an "American Patriot" for this gift during the program's "Pinheads and Patriots" segment.
MacAndrews & Forbes has a strong commitment to philanthropy, with its core mission focused on women’s health issues, education, and the arts. Led by Perelman, the company established the Revlon/UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Program in 1994 for research into the causes and treatment of breast and ovarian cancer. The program is responsible for the development of Herceptin, the first genetically based treatment for a major cancer to be approved by the FDA.
The company also founded the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology at NYU Medical Center, recognized internationally as a leader in patient care, education and research for skin diseases. Over the years, MacAndrews & Forbes has also provided significant support for such organizations as the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund, Carnegie Hall, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital and Mr. Perelman’s alma mater, The University of Pennsylvania.
In 2008, the Chronicle of Philanthropy listed Perelman as the 26th largest donor in the USA. Mr. Perelman donated $63.5 million in 2008 to causes including, but not limited to: Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Other key beneficiaries: Stand Up to Cancer, World Trade Center Memorial Fund and Ford's Theatre. Mr. Perelman pledged $25-million to Weill Medical College, in New York, to support research, education, and patient care at the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine. In addition, Mr. Perelman pledged $15-million to Stand Up to Cancer, a Pasadena, Calif., organization that supports cancer research and efforts to advance treatment for cancer patients; $5-million to the World Trade Center Memorial Fund, in New York; and $2.5-million to Ford's Theatre, in Washington. Mr. Perelman declined to provide details about payments on those pledges. He also gave a total of $16-million to 581 nonprofit organizations, including Big Brothers Big Sisters, in Philadelphia; the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, in New York; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in Baltimore; the Rainforest Foundation U.S., in New York; and other arts, education, Jewish, medical research, and women's-health groups. Mr. Perelman serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Police Athletic League of New York City
, a nonprofit youth development agency serving inner-city children and teenagers. On June 3, 2011, Perelman was honored for his charitable contributions at the New York Police Foundation's 40th Anniversary Gala at the Waldorf Astioria in New York City - an event that raised $2.3 million for charity.
In 2006 alone, he donated over $60 million to various charitable groups and causes including Carnegie Hall
and the World Trade Center Memorial
. Other notable donations include $20 million to the University of Pennsylvania for naming rights to the quadrangle, $10 million to New York University
to create the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, $4.7 million to Princeton University
to create the Ronald Perelman Institute for Jewish Studies, and $20 million to the Guggenheim Museum
..
Ronald Perelman's parents, Raymond and Ruth, are also deeply dedicated to philanthropy; in 2011, they donated $225 million to the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
, the largest single donation to that university in its history, changing the school's name to the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. His mother, Ruth, passed away on July 31, 2011 at age 90 in Philadelphia.
magazine claimed his new wife, Ellen Barkin, made him quit, and Forbes suggested he quit because he sold Consolidated Cigar. Perelman set the record straight in an interview with Institutional Investor
: he quit at the encouragement of his youngest daughters, Samantha and Caleigh, with whom he lived.
has had a strong influence on Perelman's life. He grew up in a Conservative
household, and had a religious reawakening at the age of eighteen while on a family trip to Israel
. "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". Today, he strictly observes the Jewish Sabbath, spends three hours every Saturday in prayer, keeps a kosher home, and donates millions to Jewish groups and causes, particularly the Chabad-Lubavitch
sect. 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.
. He and his father bought the Esslinger Brewery for $800,000, then sold it three years later for a $1 million profit.
Throughout Perelman's tenure at the Belmont Iron Works (later renamed Belmont Industries) he assisted his father 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.
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.
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 particularly sweet.
MacAndrews & Forbes
has become a holding company with interests in a diversified portfolio of public and private companies. Wholly owned by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ronald O. Perelman, MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. invests in companies with strong market positions, recognized brands and growth potential. Current holdings include leading participants across a wide range of industries, from cosmetics and entertainment to biotechnology and military equipment, including AM General, Deluxe, Fanueil, Revlon, Scientific Games, SIGA Technologies and TransTech Pharma.
He has done dozens of deals with Revlon Corporation
, thrifts
for $315 million and renamed it First Gibraltar Bank., Marvel Entertainment Group, Coleman Company
, Sunbeam Products
, New World Entertainment
The story of Perelman's Marvel adventures were caricature
d in Titans of Finance (Alternative Comics
, 2001, ISBN 1891867059) by R. Walker
and Josh Neufeld
, 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, with Mike Vranos
, Al Dunlap, and Victor Niederhoffer
among those included.
. 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. Hobbled, Morgan Stanley had no choice but to argue that Perelman was too savvy an investor to have fallen for their transparent tricks. After a five-week trial, the jury deliberated for two days, found in favor of Perelman, and awarded him $1.45 billion. The damages stung particularly because Morgan Stanley passed up Perelman's offer to settle the case for $20 million. 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. 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, but found himself shot down by the Florida Supreme Court
who dismissed it in a 5–0 decision. Undeterred even after that setback, Perelman went back to the trial court and asked for the case to be reopened because the hiding of email evidence was "a classic example of fraud on the court". The trial court rejected his arguments, but as of January 2009, he is beseeching Florida's 4th Circuit to reopen the case.
. "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. Perelman insists he seriously intended to buy every corporation he bought into.
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.
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. Whatever his intentions may have been, he never acted on them. As a part of Transworld's restructuring in 1988, he sold his stake.
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. 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. Opening 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. In October 1987, Perelman finally gave up and withdrew his offer.
. In early 1998, Vernon Jordan recommended Monica Lewinsky
to Perelman as a potential employee, pitching her as a very smart young woman. 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 he had determined there was no position available for Lewinsky at Perelman's company, but that he had forwarded Lewinsky's resume to Revlon. Perelman claims to have been as surprised as anyone when he found out about the Lewinsky-Clinton connection later that month. 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.
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 and took their complaints to the courts. 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 cinematography
. The share price tumbled from six to three after the deal and reflected M&F Worldwide shareholders' lack of confidence. 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.
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 had been taking longer vacations, he kept shorter hours at the office that precluded Perelman's famous breakfast meetings, and he 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; an injury 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 and partially from his large benefits package, which included a luxury car of a brand of his choice. 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 Tepperman would personally gain millions of dollars.
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 on account of telecommuting
; he could do his job just as well in Florida as in New York. Perelman's attorney Stanley Arkin argued that Tepperman was unable to perform his job, had refused to accept this, and was justifiably fired. Stanley revealed earlier in the case 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 were aware of the arrangement, 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.
$12 billion.
Business magnate
A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a capitalist, czar, mogul, tycoon, baron, oligarch, or industrialist, is an informal term used to refer to an entrepreneur who has reached prominence and derived a notable amount of wealth from a particular industry .-Etymology:The word magnate itself...
. Through his company MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., he has invested in various companies in grocery, cigar, licorice, makeup, car, photography, television, camping, security, lottery, jewelry, banks, and comic book industries.
Early life
Perelman was born in Greensboro, North CarolinaGreensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
on January 1, 1943 to Raymond and Ruth Perelman. He was raised in a Jewish family. 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.
On Raymond's knee, Perelman learned the fundamentals of business. 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. A recent article published in the Forbes 400
Forbes 400
The Forbes 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by Forbes Magazine magazine of the wealthiest 400 Americans, ranked by net worth. The list is published annually in September, and 2010 marks the 29th issue. The 400 was started by Malcom Forbes in 1982 and treats those in the list like...
discusses their relationship in detail.
Perelman attended The Haverford School
The Haverford School
The Haverford School is a private, non-sectarian, all-boys college preparatory day school, junior kindergarten through grade twelve. Founded in 1884 as The Haverford College Grammar School, it is located in Haverford, Pennsylvania, nine miles northwest of Philadelphia, on Philadelphia's historic...
and then the Wharton School
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wharton was the world’s first collegiate business school and the first business school in the United States...
at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
where he followed in his father's foot steps and majored in business. He graduated in 1964 and completed his master's in 1966.
Marriage
Perelman has been married five times. He married Sterling Bank heiress Faith Golding in 1965 and they divorced in 1984. His marriage to gossip columnist Claudia CohenClaudia Cohen
Claudia Lynn Cohen was an American gossip columnist, socialite, and television reporter.-Early life and education:...
lasted from 1985 to 1994. He wed socialite Patricia Duff
Patricia Duff
Patricia Duff is an American actress, political activist and a United States Democratic Party fundraiser.-Career:Duff studied international economics at the Edmund A...
in 1994 and divorced in 1996. He was married to actress Ellen Barkin
Ellen Barkin
Ellen Barkin is an American film, television and theatre actress.-Early life:She was born Ellen Rona Barkin in Bronx, a borough of New York City, New York, the daughter of Evelyn , a hospital administrator who worked at Jamaica Hospital, and Sol Barkin, a chemical salesman...
from 2000 to 2006. On October 13, 2010, Perelman married Dr. Anna Chapman, a Harvard-educated psychiatrist.
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. They adopted three children named Steven, Josh, and Hope, and Faith gave birth to a fourth child named Debra. Their marriage lasted until 1984 when Faith discovered Perelman was having an affair with a local florist after a bill for a BulgariBulgari
Bulgari is an Italian jeweler and luxury goods retailer which has been owned by the French firm LVMH since October 2011. The trademark is usually written "BVLGARI" in the classical Latin alphabet , and is derived from the surname of the company's Greek founder, Sotirio Voulgaris...
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
Roy Cohn
Roy Marcus Cohn was an American attorney who became famous during Senator Joseph McCarthy's investigations into Communist activity in the United States during the Second Red Scare. Cohn gained special prominence during the Army–McCarthy hearings. He was also an important member of the U.S...
and flatly denying all of the allegations. The pair quickly settled the divorce with an estimated payout to Faith in excess of $8 million.
Claudia Cohen
Perelman met his second wife, Claudia CohenClaudia Cohen
Claudia Lynn Cohen was an American gossip columnist, socialite, and television reporter.-Early life and education:...
, in 1984 at Le Cirque
Le Cirque
Le Cirque is a French restaurant in Manhattan owned and operated by Sirio Maccioni. It first opened at the Mayfair Hotel in 1974. It closed and reopened as Le Cirque 2000 at the Palace Hotel in 1997. The latest installation of Le Cirque opened in 2006 in the Bloomberg Tower building at One Beacon...
. In August 1993, Ron filed for divorce. Claudia left the marriage with well over $80 million. 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. In March 2008, Perelman decided to change the name of Logan Hall, located at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, to Cohen Hall, after his late ex-wife. He donated $20 million to the University to remodel what is now Perelman Quadrangle and as part of his donation, he had the option to change the name of Logan Hall. His decision to rename Logan Hall surprised some Penn faculty, alumni, and students.
Patricia Duff
Patricia DuffPatricia Duff
Patricia Duff is an American actress, political activist and a United States Democratic Party fundraiser.-Career:Duff studied international economics at the Edmund A...
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
Mike Medavoy
Morris Mike Medavoy is an American film producer and executive, co-founder of Orion Pictures , former chairman of TriStar Pictures, former head of production for United Artists and current chairman and CEO of Phoenix Pictures.-Early life and career:Medavoy was born in Shanghai, China in 1941 to...
. 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. 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. 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, Perelman caught a great deal of flak for testifying that it cost about $3 a day to feed his daughter, and both sides alleged physical abuse by the other party. The judge's sealed decision means the public will never know the exact results of the case, but it's known that neither party actually won. Perelman is Caleigh's legal guardian, but Patricia has extensive visitation rights.
Ellen Barkin
Ellen Barkin
Ellen Barkin is an American film, television and theatre actress.-Early life:She was born Ellen Rona Barkin in Bronx, a borough of New York City, New York, the daughter of Evelyn , a hospital administrator who worked at Jamaica Hospital, and Sol Barkin, a chemical salesman...
, at a Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
Oscar after-party in 1999. 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. 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) had 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.
Anna Chapman
Since summer 2006 Perelman has been dating psychiatristPsychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
Dr. Anna Chapman. In August 2010 they announced they are expecting a baby --her first, his seventh--via a surrogate . In September 2010, they were married . And in late November, 2010, the couple celebrated the birth of their son, Oscar .
Philanthropy
Ronald Perelman gives extensively to charity – he is consistently one of the world's top philanthropists, and has donated well over $200 million to charitable causes in the past decade.In August 2011, Ronald Perelman hosted his second annual benefit for the Apollo Theater, raising over $1.5 million. Richard Gere and Carey Lowell, George Stephanopoulos and Ali Wentworth, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell were among attendees; performers included Ben E. King, Bettye Lavette, Jon Bon Jovi, Jamie Foxx and Alicia Keys. Mr. Perelman's 2010 event also raised over $1 million for the famed Apollo Theater.
In August 2010, Ronald Perelman signed the Gates-Buffett Pledge, committing up to half his assets to be designated for the benefit of charitable causes (after his family and children have been provided for).
Recently, one of his biggest transformational gifts—a $50 million donation—was to the New York Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical Center. The $50 million gift created the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute
Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute
Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute is a "medical town square" dedicated to the treatment of heart disease in New York City. Ronald O. Perelman, chairman of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., made a $50 million gift to the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center on February 28,...
, and provided vital financial aid to the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine. On May 4, 2008, on The O'Reilly Factor
The O'Reilly Factor
The O'Reilly Factor, originally titled The O'Reilly Report from 1996 to 1998 and often called The Factor, is an American talk show on the Fox News Channel hosted by commentator Bill O'Reilly, who often discusses current controversial political issues with guests.The program was the most watched...
, FOX News star Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)
William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
named Mr. Perelman an "American Patriot" for this gift during the program's "Pinheads and Patriots" segment.
MacAndrews & Forbes has a strong commitment to philanthropy, with its core mission focused on women’s health issues, education, and the arts. Led by Perelman, the company established the Revlon/UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Program in 1994 for research into the causes and treatment of breast and ovarian cancer. The program is responsible for the development of Herceptin, the first genetically based treatment for a major cancer to be approved by the FDA.
The company also founded the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology at NYU Medical Center, recognized internationally as a leader in patient care, education and research for skin diseases. Over the years, MacAndrews & Forbes has also provided significant support for such organizations as the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund, Carnegie Hall, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital and Mr. Perelman’s alma mater, The University of Pennsylvania.
In 2008, the Chronicle of Philanthropy listed Perelman as the 26th largest donor in the USA. Mr. Perelman donated $63.5 million in 2008 to causes including, but not limited to: Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Other key beneficiaries: Stand Up to Cancer, World Trade Center Memorial Fund and Ford's Theatre. Mr. Perelman pledged $25-million to Weill Medical College, in New York, to support research, education, and patient care at the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine. In addition, Mr. Perelman pledged $15-million to Stand Up to Cancer, a Pasadena, Calif., organization that supports cancer research and efforts to advance treatment for cancer patients; $5-million to the World Trade Center Memorial Fund, in New York; and $2.5-million to Ford's Theatre, in Washington. Mr. Perelman declined to provide details about payments on those pledges. He also gave a total of $16-million to 581 nonprofit organizations, including Big Brothers Big Sisters, in Philadelphia; the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, in New York; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in Baltimore; the Rainforest Foundation U.S., in New York; and other arts, education, Jewish, medical research, and women's-health groups. Mr. Perelman serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Police Athletic League of New York City
Police Athletic League of New York City
The Police Athletic League, Inc. is an independent, non-profit youth development agency in New York City. PAL is funded by a combination of private donations and public funding sources and is a designated charity of the New York Police Department. Robert M. Morgenthau, retired District Attorney...
, a nonprofit youth development agency serving inner-city children and teenagers. On June 3, 2011, Perelman was honored for his charitable contributions at the New York Police Foundation's 40th Anniversary Gala at the Waldorf Astioria in New York City - an event that raised $2.3 million for charity.
In 2006 alone, he donated over $60 million to various charitable groups and causes including Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
and the World Trade Center Memorial
World Trade Center Memorial
- Fundraising :The Foundation has fundraising responsibilities because of the tasks assigned to it by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation...
. Other notable donations include $20 million to the University of Pennsylvania for naming rights to the quadrangle, $10 million to New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
to create the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, $4.7 million to Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
to create the Ronald Perelman Institute for Jewish Studies, and $20 million to the Guggenheim Museum
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...
..
Ronald Perelman's parents, Raymond and Ruth, are also deeply dedicated to philanthropy; in 2011, they donated $225 million to the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
, the largest single donation to that university in its history, changing the school's name to the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. His mother, Ruth, passed away on July 31, 2011 at age 90 in Philadelphia.
Cigars
The phrase 'cigar-chomping' tends to appear anywhere the name Ronald Perelman is written and with good reason. 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. From that day until he quit in 1999, he smoked between one and five cigars a day. Perelman had Consolidated Cigar manufacture a custom 38-ring H. Upmann-style cigar just for him. The media speculated extensively about the exact reason he quit; New YorkNew York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine claimed his new wife, Ellen Barkin, made him quit, and Forbes suggested he quit because he sold Consolidated Cigar. Perelman set the record straight in an interview with Institutional Investor
Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC
Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC is one of Europe's largest business and financial magazine publishers which has interests in financial publishing and event organization. It is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index...
: he quit at the encouragement of his youngest daughters, Samantha and Caleigh, with whom he lived.
Judaism
JudaismJudaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
has had a strong influence on Perelman's life. He grew up in a Conservative
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
household, and had a religious reawakening at the age of eighteen while on a family trip to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. "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". Today, he strictly observes the Jewish Sabbath, spends three hours every Saturday in prayer, keeps a kosher home, and donates millions to Jewish groups and causes, particularly the Chabad-Lubavitch
Chabad-Lubavitch
Chabad-Lubavitch is a Chasidic movement in Orthodox Judaism. One of the world's larger and best-known Chasidic movements, its official headquarters is in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York...
sect. 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.
Belmont Industries
Perelman's first major business deal took in 1961 during his Freshman year at the Wharton School at the University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
. He and his father bought the Esslinger Brewery for $800,000, then sold it three years later for a $1 million profit.
Throughout Perelman's tenure at the Belmont Iron Works (later renamed Belmont Industries) he assisted his father 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.
On his own
See main article: MacAndrews & ForbesMacAndrews & Forbes Holdings
MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc. is the principal holding company used by and wholly owned by businessman and private equity investor, Ronald Perelman...
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.
His next target was MacAndrews & Forbes
MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings
MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc. is the principal holding company used by and wholly owned by businessman and private equity investor, Ronald Perelman...
, 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 particularly sweet.
MacAndrews & Forbes
MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings
MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc. is the principal holding company used by and wholly owned by businessman and private equity investor, Ronald Perelman...
has become a holding company with interests in a diversified portfolio of public and private companies. Wholly owned by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ronald O. Perelman, MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. invests in companies with strong market positions, recognized brands and growth potential. Current holdings include leading participants across a wide range of industries, from cosmetics and entertainment to biotechnology and military equipment, including AM General, Deluxe, Fanueil, Revlon, Scientific Games, SIGA Technologies and TransTech Pharma.
He has done dozens of deals with Revlon Corporation
Revlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...
, thrifts
Savings and loan association
A savings and loan association , also known as a thrift, is a financial institution that specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage and other loans...
for $315 million and renamed it First Gibraltar Bank., Marvel Entertainment Group, Coleman Company
Coleman Company
Coleman Company, Inc., is an American company that specializes in outdoor recreation products. Historically, Coleman is known for camping gear....
, Sunbeam Products
Sunbeam Products
Sunbeam Products is an American brand that has produced electric home appliances since 1910. Their products have included the Mixmaster mixer, the Sunbeam CG waffle iron, Coffeemaster and the fully automatic T20 toaster. Sunbeam is owned by Jarden Consumer Solutions after Jarden's acquisition in...
, New World Entertainment
The story of Perelman's Marvel adventures were caricature
Caricature
A caricature is a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.Caricatures can be...
d in Titans of Finance (Alternative Comics
Alternative Comics (publisher)
Alternative Comics is a U.S. independent graphic novel and comic book publisher which operated from 1993–2007. Located in Gainesville, Florida, it is owned and operated by its founder, attorney Jeff Mason...
, 2001, ISBN 1891867059) by R. Walker
Rob Walker (journalist)
Rob Walker is an American author and freelance journalist. He is a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine and blogger for Design Observer....
and Josh Neufeld
Josh Neufeld
Josh Neufeld is an alternative cartoonist known for his nonfiction comics on subjects like Hurricane Katrina, international travel, and finance, as well as his collaborations with writers like Harvey Pekar and Brooke Gladstone...
, a comic book collaboration between a cartoonist and a finance columnist, which casts Wall Street executives
Senior management
Senior management, executive management, or management team is generally a team of individuals at the highest level of organizational management who have the day-to-day responsibilities of managing a company or corporation, they hold specific executive powers conferred onto them with and by...
and traders as heroes and villains. The lead story features Perelman, with Mike Vranos
Mike Vranos
Michael W. "Mike" Vranos is an American hedge fund manager and philanthropist who in the 1990s was referred to by some as the "most powerful man on Wall Street." In 1993, he reportedly earned $15 million from trading mortgage bonds...
, Al Dunlap, and Victor Niederhoffer
Victor Niederhoffer
Victor Niederhoffer is a hedge fund manager, champion squash player, bestselling author and statistician.Victor Niderhoffer was born in Brooklyn to a Jewish family. His father, Arthur, graduated from Brooklyn Law School but went to work in the police. Victor’s mother, Elaine was a teacher....
among those included.
Morgan Stanley
On February 17, 2005, Perelman filed a lawsuit against Morgan StanleyMorgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....
. 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. Hobbled, Morgan Stanley had no choice but to argue that Perelman was too savvy an investor to have fallen for their transparent tricks. After a five-week trial, the jury deliberated for two days, found in favor of Perelman, and awarded him $1.45 billion. The damages stung particularly because Morgan Stanley passed up Perelman's offer to settle the case for $20 million. 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. 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, but found himself shot down by the Florida Supreme Court
Florida Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of Florida is the highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. The Supreme Court consists of seven judges: the Chief Justice and six Justices who are appointed by the Governor to 6-year terms and remain in office if retained in a general election near the end of each...
who dismissed it in a 5–0 decision. Undeterred even after that setback, Perelman went back to the trial court and asked for the case to be reopened because the hiding of email evidence was "a classic example of fraud on the court". The trial court rejected his arguments, but as of January 2009, he is beseeching Florida's 4th Circuit to reopen the case.
Greenmail
In the late 1980s, Perelman was repeatedly accused of engaging in greenmailGreenmail
Greenmail or greenmailing is the practice of purchasing enough shares in a firm to threaten a takeover and thereby forcing the target firm to buy those shares back at a premium in order to suspend the takeover....
. "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
Carl Icahn
Carl Celian Icahn is an American business magnate and investor.-Biography:Icahn was raised in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York City, where he attended Far Rockaway High School. His father was a cantor, his mother was a schoolteacher...
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. Perelman insists he seriously intended to buy every corporation he bought into.
He was first accused of greenmail in late 1986 during a run at CPC International
Hellmann's and Best Foods
Hellmann's and Best Foods are brand names that are used for the same line of mayonnaise and other food products. The Hellmann's brand is sold in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, and also in Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Canada...
when he bought 8.2% of CPC at around $75 a share and indirectly sold it back to CPC through Salomon Brothers
Salomon Brothers
Salomon Brothers was a bulge bracket, Wall Street investment bank. Founded in 1910 by three brothers along with a clerk named Ben Levy, it remained a partnership until the early 1980s, when it was acquired by the commodity trading firm Phibro Corporation and then became Salomon Inc. Eventually...
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.
Transworld
Trans World Corporation
Trans World Corporation was the original name of the holding company set up to own Trans World Airlines.In 1967 , when the airline sought to diversify into other areas of business, a key investment was Hilton International Hotels, the non-American interests of the Hilton Hotels chain...
, 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. Whatever his intentions may have been, he never acted on them. As a part of Transworld's restructuring in 1988, he sold his stake.
The third charge of greenmailing levied against him was the best-known and stemmed from his attempt to purchase Gillette
Global Gillette
Gillette is a brand of Procter & Gamble currently used for safety razors, among other personal care products. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was one of several brands originally owned by The Gillette Company, a leading global supplier of products under various brands, which was...
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
Insider trading
Insider trading is the trading of a corporation's stock or other securities by individuals with potential access to non-public information about the company...
. 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
Nestlé Purina PetCare
Nestlé Purina PetCare Company is the pet food division of Swiss-based Nestlé S.A., following its acquisition of the American Ralston Purina Company on December 12, 2001 and subsequent merger with Nestlé's Friskies PetCare Company. As a wholly owned subsidiary, it is headquartered at the General...
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. Undeterred by the agreement he signed declaring he wouldn't attempt a hostile takeover
Takeover
In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company by another . In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to the acquisition of a private company.- Friendly takeovers :Before a bidder makes an offer for another...
of Gillette for at least 10 years, he waited until June 1987 to attempt a friendly takeover. Opening 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. In October 1987, Perelman finally gave up and withdrew his offer.
Monica Lewinsky
Perelman stumbled into the Lewinsky scandalLewinsky scandal
The Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging in 1998 from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a 25-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of...
. In early 1998, Vernon Jordan recommended Monica Lewinsky
Monica Lewinsky
Monica Samille Lewinsky is an American woman with whom United States President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an "improper relationship" while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996...
to Perelman as a potential employee, pitching her as a very smart young woman. 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 he had determined there was no position available for Lewinsky at Perelman's company, but that he had forwarded Lewinsky's resume to Revlon. Perelman claims to have been as surprised as anyone when he found out about the Lewinsky-Clinton connection later that month. 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.
Panavision
In April 2001, M&F Worldwide bought Perelman's 83% stake in PanavisionPanavision
Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during the widescreen boom in the 1950s, Panavision expanded its product...
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 and took their complaints to the courts. 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 cinematography
Digital cinematography
Digital cinematography is the process of capturing motion pictures as digital images, rather than on film. Digital capture may occur on video tape, hard disks, flash memory, or other media which can record digital data. As digital technology has improved, this practice has become increasingly common...
. The share price tumbled from six to three after the deal and reflected M&F Worldwide shareholders' lack of confidence. 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.
Fred Tepperman
Perelman hired Fred Tepperman as his CFOChief financial officer
The chief financial officer or Chief financial and operating officer is a corporate officer primarily responsible for managing the financial risks of the corporation. This officer is also responsible for financial planning and record-keeping, as well as financial reporting to higher management...
after Tepperman left Warner Communications
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
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 had been taking longer vacations, he kept shorter hours at the office that precluded Perelman's famous breakfast meetings, and he 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; an injury 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 and partially from his large benefits package, which included a luxury car of a brand of his choice. 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 Tepperman would personally gain millions of dollars.
It took over three years for the case to make it to court. Tepperman's attorney, Barry Slotnick
Barry Slotnick
Barry Slotnick is a New York defense attorney, best known for defending Bernhard Goetz.-Early life:Slotnick was born in The Bronx in 1939 to Jewish Orthodox Russian immigrants. He graduated with a B.A. from City College of the City University of New York, a J.D. from New York University Law School,...
, 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 on account of telecommuting
Telecommuting
Telecommuting or telework is a work arrangement in which employees enjoy flexibility in working location and hours. In other words, the daily commute to a central place of work is replaced by telecommunication links...
; he could do his job just as well in Florida as in New York. Perelman's attorney Stanley Arkin argued that Tepperman was unable to perform his job, had refused to accept this, and was justifiably fired. Stanley revealed earlier in the case 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 were aware of the arrangement, 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.
Wealth
He is the 25th richest American, and 64th richest person in the world, with an estimated wealth of USDUnited States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
$12 billion.