Nicolas Berggruen | |
---|---|
Born |
Paris, France |
10 August 1961
Nationality | Germany, United States |
Alma mater | New York University |
Occupation | Investor and Philanthropist |
Net worth |
$2.0 billion (Sept 2013) |
Parent(s) |
Heinz Berggruen Bettina Moissi |
Website | Official site |
Nicolas Berggruen (born 10 August 1961) is a philanthropist and investor. A dual American and German citizen, he is the founder and president of Berggruen Holdings, a private investment company and the Berggruen Institute, a think tank that works on addressing governance issues as well as the cultures and philosophies behind political systems. Through the Berggruen Institute he is also a co-founder, with the Huffington Post, of The WorldPost, a media publication dedicated to global issues.
Berggruen was born in Paris, the son of art collector Heinz Berggruen, and actress Bettina Moissi. His father was of German-Jewish descent and his mother a Catholic of German and Italian/Albanian descent. His maternal grandfather was Albanian-Italian actor Aleksandër Moisiu, based in Vienna, and his maternal grandmother, Herta Hambach, was a German actress in Berlin. Berggruen attended the École Alsacienne in Paris and Le Rosey in Switzerland, before completing a baccalauréat in Paris as a candidat libre in 1978. That same year, at the age of 17, he worked as a trainee at London Merchant Securities in London, known today as LMS Capital Plc. He subsequently obtained a Bachelor of Science in Finance and International Business from New York University in 1981. He later worked for the investment company Bass Brothers Enterprises, in its real estate group. Between 1983 and 1987, Berggruen was a Principal at Jacobson and Co.
In New York, he began building his fortune, based on a trust fund worth about $250,000, by buying real estate before moving on to stocks, bonds and a portfolio of private equity and venture funds as well as hedge funds. He founded Berggruen Holdings, Inc. in 1984 to act as investment adviser to a Berggruen family trust that has made over 50 direct investments in businesses since its inception. In 1988, he and Julio Mario Santo Domingo, Jr. co-founded Alpha Investment Management, a hedge fund that was reportedly sold to Safra Bank in 2004. Today, the investments Berggruen oversees through Berggruen Holdings are highly diversified.