New Dodgers owner’s ties to one of America’s old money families
The new owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers have ties to one of America’s old money families.
Guggenheim Partners is connected to the family of Meyer Guggenheim, who came to the U.S. in the 1840s and made a fortune in mining. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is named after the family.
Peter Lawson Johnston II, a great-grandson of the Guggenheim’s patriarch, launched the financial services company in 2000. The company is run day to day by chief executive Mark Walter and executive chairman Alan Schwartz, the former CEO of Bear Stearns & Co.
The firm is a full-fledged investment bank in the mold of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Guggenheim has become a big player in commercial real estate debt, managing the type of investments that tripped up so many big Wall Street firms during the global financial crisis.
Guggenheim has varied holdings, including being a co-owner of the company that operates the Hollywood Reporter.
It has a large investment operation in Santa Monica, with more than 200 of its 1,700 employees based there. The firm manages about $125 billion in assets.
Guggenheim has traditionally shunned publicity but has gotten increasing attention as it has grown. Its biggest splash thus far was the hiring of Schwartz, who is regarded on Wall Street as one of the nation’s best deal-makers.
