Metromedia’s Kluge Richest in U.S.
Metromedia Co. founder John Werner Kluge topped Fortune magazine’s list of the 400 richest people in America today, unseating Sam Walton who held the honor for the last four years.
The Wal-Mart Stores fortune was divided this year among Walton and his four children, sending each of them, with $1.8 billion each, to share the No. 17 spot on the magazine’s annual list.
Kluge, who placed second in 1988, has an estimated net worth of more than $5.2 billion, adding about $2 billion to last year’s coffers with lucrative sales of cellular phone licenses, Forbes said. The Charlottesville, Va., and New York City resident also launched a computerized billboard painting company and holds a majority stake in Orion Pictures.
Earning second place this year was investor Warren Edward Buffett, of Omaha, Neb., whose worth was placed at more than $4.2 billion.
Third place went to National Amusements Inc. founder Sumner Murray Redstone, who earned part of his $2.88 billion by purchasing and taking public Viacom Inc. and also battling Kluge for control of Orion.
Placing fourth was Ted Arison of Miami Beach, founder of Carnival Cruise Lines. Leveraged buyout artist Ronald Perelman earned fifth place, while publishers Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr. and his brother, Donald, shared sixth place.
Completing the top 10 were media owners Barbara Cox Anthony and sister Anne Cox Chambers, Texas businessman H. Ross Perot, financier brothers Jay Arthur and Robert Alan Pritzker, and real estate magnate A. Alfred Taubman.
Seven out of the top 10 had significant interests in media and communications, while two of the biggest casualties this year were in real estate, Forbes said. Trammell Crow’s fortune slipped to $300 million from $775 million, while Dallas’ Alfred Mack Pogue slipped off the list altogether.
Squeaking by at No. 400, with an estimated $275 million or more, was Nan Tucker McEvoy, granddaughter of San Francisco Chronicle founder Michael H. de Young. Her wealth beats out more than three-quarters of the people on Forbes’ first list in 1982, the magazine said.
Thirty-six people are newcomers this year, 15 of whom owe their new-found status to inheritances, Forbes said. They include the Waltons; the Dorrance family, founders of Campbell Soup Co., and the granddaughters of the late J. Paul Getty.
Forty percent of those on the list inherited their wealth, the magazine said. Among the 60 from last year’s list who failed to make this year’s cut were Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione, New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger and turnaround artist Bennett Lebow, undone in part by a takeover attempt of Prime Computer, the magazine said.
Sixty-six people on the list are billionaires, while just 54 of the 400 are women.
Others on the 1989 list include media mogul Ted Turner, No. 18; publisher Rupert Murdoch, No. 26, and indicted junk bond king Michael Milken No. 38 with an estimated $1.27 billion.
Among the real estate magnates were developer Donald Trump, No. 19, Harry Helmsley, No. 22, and Samuel LeFrak, No. 24.
