Top Five Wealthiest People in Los Angeles

Eli Broad

Net Worth: $5.7 billion

Profession: American philanthropist

How He Made His Wealth: A native of Detroit, Michigan, Broad made his fortune with his real estate company, Kaufman & Broad, which he founded with $25,000 that he had to borrow from family. He went on to buy financial company Sun Life Insurance (later called SunAmerica), where he served as CEO. He sold to AIG in 1998 for $18 billion in cash and stock. Despite the collapse of AIG in 2008, Broad’s net worth is up $500 million over the last year, thanks to various investments and the appreciation of his celebrated art collection.

Fast Facts: He is actively involved in revitalizing L.A.’s downtown area and is an avid supporter of enriching the city’s cultural life. Along with his wife Edythe, Broad created a family foundation in the 1960s as a way to support their charitable interests and causes. Combined, The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and The Broad Art Foundation have assets of $2.5 billion. The Broads have one of the most expansive collections of contemporary art, which they lend generously to museums and galleries, and they have plans on building their own museum to house the collection.

Patrick Soon-Shiong

Net Worth: $5 billion

Profession: Medical surgeon and CEO of Abraxis BioScience, a company that creates treatments for cancer

How He Made His Wealth: He’s smart. He developed the first FDA-approved protein nanoparticle delivery technology for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer and this drug is being developed for lung, melanoma, gastric and pancreatic cancer. He is a co-inventor of more than 50 issued U.S. patents and has published more than 100 scientific papers. He is also the founder of two publicly traded pharmaceutical companies, American Pharma Partners and Abraxis Bioscience.

Fast Facts: He was born in South Africa, where his parents landed after fleeing their native China during World War II. He graduated from high school when he was 16 and got a medical degree by the time he was 23. He is the executive director of the UCLA Wireless Health Institute and is a professor of microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics of bioengineering at UCLA.

Ronald Burkle

Net Worth: $3.2 billion

Profession: American business mogul

How He Made His Wealth: He made his fortune buying and selling supermarket chains, including Wild Oats, which was bought by Whole Foods for a hefty half-billion-dollar sum. He founded Yucaipa Companies, a private equity firm that invests in retail, manufacturing, and distribution, which is actively trying to purchase 20 percent of Barnes & Noble shares.

Fast Facts: He worked as a bag boy in supermarkets when he was young. He never finished college, proving to dropouts everywhere that you can still make it in this world without a degree. He sits on the board of organizations like KB Home and Yahoo! and is the co-chairman for the Burkle Center for International Relations at UCLA. The Ronald W. Burkle Foundation supports programs designed to strengthen the community.

Kirk Kerkorian

Net Worth: $3.1 billion

Profession: President and CEO of Tracinda Corporation, a private investment company based in Beverly Hills

How He Made His Wealth: With only a high school diploma, Kerkorian is arguably one of the greatest business visionaries in the world. After serving as a fighter pilot in WWII,  he built a charter flight company that he sold for a $104 million profit. In 1969, he bought the MGM Studios and later opened the Grand Hotel & Casino. After that, he bought Steve Wynn’s Mirage Resorts. Shortly after he bought the Mandalay Bay Resorts for $7.9 billion. His City Center gambling heaven opened in December 2009. With a $8.5 billion price tag, it is the most expensive privately funded project in U.S. history.

Fast Facts: He has married three times and is currently 92 years old. He loves to play tennis and is known to have an expensive taste for clothes.

David Murdock

Net Worth: $2.5 billion

Profession: American businessman

How He Made His Wealth: This high school dropout made a tidy fortune in the real estate industry, then he bought portions of Dole Food Company, Inc. and Castle & Cook. The two combined companies result in one of the largest privately held entities in the U.S., with 63,000 employees in more than 90 countries. Its portfolio includes development and ownership of real estate, leasing of transportation equipment, manufacture of brick and building materials, oil and gas holdings, aviation services, and ownership of public warehouses. In Hawaii the company also owns a significant portion of the 90,000-acre island of Lanai and two award-winning Four Seasons Hotels.

Cool Facts: Murdock is a high school drop out and didn’t receive his diploma until much later in life. He was drafted by the U.S. Army during World War II, and after he finished his tour, he was homeless. He made his first profit after selling a diner he bought with a loan. Despite being 86, he still does 50 push-ups every day.

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