- New York City is a well-established home for real-estate businesses and media conglomerates – along with the firms that invest in them.
- According to Forbes’ real-time billionaires data, the 25 richest people in New York include Wall Street moguls, along with billionaires in fashion and food.
- Two of the three top seats belong to media moguls, with Michael Bloomberg in first and Rupert Murdoch in third.
- Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.
New York is home to many of the United States’ real-estate moguls, media empires, and hedge fund billionaires.
For years, New York City held most of the world’s ultra-wealthy population, until Hong Kong surpassed it in 2018. Still, with Billionaires’ Row for real estate, Wall Street for the stock exchange, and Fifth Avenue for fashion, many of the world’s richest people still work – and often live – in Manhattan.
For this list, we included people and families whose companies are based in Manhattan. That left many notable tech titans out of the ranking, as many dwell in Silicon Valley. And though Ken Griffin recently purchased a $238 million penthouse near Central Park, his hedge fund, Citadel, is based in Chicago.
Notable dynasties, such as the Waltons, also have companies based outside the Big Apple, leaving the bulk of the list to Wall Street brokers and real-estate moguls.
Keep reading for a look at the 25 richest people in New York.
25. Leonard Stern
Source of wealth: Hartz Mountain Industries
Industry: Real estate
Net worth: $4.8 billion
Stern built his real-estate empire by purchasing warehouses, most of which are in New Jersey. After over 50 years in the business, Stern owns over 42 million square feet of property. New York University's business school bears his name, following his $30 million donation to the university.
24. John Paulson
Source of wealth: Paulson & Co.
Industry: Finance and investments
Net worth: $5 billion
Founder of the hedge fund Paulson & Co., Paulson previously worked at the New York investment company Bear Stearns. According to Forbes, Paulson "made his fortune betting against subprime mortgages at the peak of the 2007 credit bubble."
23. Sheldon Solow
Source of wealth: Solow Building Company
Industry: Real estate
Net worth: $5.16 billion
Solow earned fame and fortune upon completion of the Solow Building, at 9 W. 57 St. on Billionaires' Row. The skyscraper houses the fashion label Chanel, Leon Black's Apollo Global Management and Henry Kravis' KKR - two other New York billionaires who are on this list.
22. Bruce Kovner
Source of wealth: Caxton Associates LP
Industry: Finance and investments
Net worth: $5.23 billion
Kovner headed his hedge fund Caxton Associates for three decades before retiring in 2011. According to Forbes, he has donated to the Met Opera, Lincoln Center, and Julliard.
21. Henry Kravis
Source of wealth: KKR
Industry: Finance and investments
Net worth: $5.57 billion
Kravis is the co-chairman and co-CEO of KKR, founded with - and named after - him, Jerome Kohlberg, and George Roberts. The firm bought RJR Nabisco for $25 billion in 1989. Kravis has donated $125 million to Columbia Business School.
20. Charles Dolan
Source of wealth: Cablevision
Industry: Media and entertainment
Net worth: $5.64 billion
The chairman and founder of Cablevision, Dolan sold his company in 2016 for $17.7 billion. In addition to this main source of wealth, Dolan is a major shareholder of AMC Networks and Madison Square Garden.
T19. David Siegel
Source of wealth: Two Sigma Investments
Industry: Finance and investments
Net worth: $6.14 billion
Siegel, the cofounder and co-chairman of Two Sigma Investments, is one of the most successful hedge fund managers. Today, the company manages over $57 billion.
T19. John Overdeck
Source of wealth: Two Sigma Investments
Industry: Finance and investments
Net worth: $6.14 billion
Alongside Spiegel, Overdeck founded and chairs Two Sigma Investments. The hedge fund is headquartered in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood.
17. Richard LeFrak
Source of wealth: LeFrak Organization
Industry: Real estate
Net worth: $6.29 billion
LeFrak inherited the LeFrak Organization from his father in 2003. He's the CEO of the massive real estate company and plans to pass on the empire to his two sons. LeFrak City, a 5,000-apartment complex in Queens, also carries the family name.
16. Leon Black
Source of wealth: Apollo Global Management
Industry: Finance and investments
Net worth: $6.35 billion
After the bank he worked at filed for bankruptcy protection, Black started Apollo Global Management with two colleagues in 1990. Today, the firm manages over $269 billion, with Black owning about 21% of the company.
15. Israel Englander
Source of wealth: Millennium Management
Industry: Finance and investments
Net worth: $6.4 billion
Englander, who started Millennium Management in 1989 with $35 million, now oversees $35 billion. He attended New York University and began his career at Kaufmann, Alsberg & Co.
14. James Chambers, Katharine Rayner, Margaretta Taylor
Source of wealth: Cox Enterprises
Industry: Media and entertainment
Net worth: $6.42 billion
James Chambers, Katharine Rayner, and Margaretta Taylor inherited their family's fortune when their mother, Anne Cox Chambers, died in 2016. Each received a 17% stake in Cox Enterprises, which their grandfather James M. Cox founded in 1898.
Today, the conglomerate is worth $20.4 billion, with Taylor's son, Alex, serving as president and CEO. The company is based in Atlanta, though it also has New York offices.
Rayner is on the New York Public Library's board of directors.
13. Ralph Lauren
Source of wealth: Ralph Lauren
Industry: Fashion and retail
Net worth: $6.98 billion
Though he relinquished his title as CEO in 2015, Lauren is still his fashion label's executive chairman and chief creative officer. The company began in 1967 in the Empire State Building and recently celebrated its 50th anniversary in Central Park with a star-studded guest list.
12. David Shaw
Source of wealth: D.E. Shaw & Co.
Industry: Finance and investments
Net worth: $7 billion
The hedge fund manager who founded D.E. Shaw, Shaw is also a former Columbia University computer-science professor. Shaw has not worked at the firm since 2002, working instead at his research firm, D.E. Shaw Research, as the chief scientist.
11. Stephen Ross
Source of wealth: Related Companies
Industry: Real estate
Net worth: $7.69 billion
Ross, a real-estate mogul, continues to make headlines for his rapidly growing $25 billion project, New York's Hudson Yards. Both his penthouse and his company offices are in the Time Warner Center. Additionally, Ross is the owner of the NFL's Miami Dolphins.
10. George Soros
Source of wealth: Soros Fund Management
Industry: Finance and investments
Net worth: $8.3 billion
Following a 42-year career on Wall Street, Soros now lives upstate after retiring from Soros Fund Management.
Soros is perhaps most famous for his effect on the British stock market on Black Wednesday in 1992. According to Forbes, Soros "made $1.5 billion in just a single month by betting the British pound and several other European currencies were priced too richly against the German deutsche mark."
9. Ronald Perelman
Source of wealth: MacAndrews & Forbes
Industry: Finance and investments
Net worth: $9.09 billion
The owner and chairman of the investment firm MacAndrews & Forbes, Perelman holds significant shares in companies such as AM General, Deluxe Entertainment, and Revlon. His daughter Debra is the cosmetics empire's president and CEO.
In 2016, Perelman donated $75 million for a new arts center at the World Trade Center, the Ronald O. Perelman Center for the Performing Arts, set to open in 2021.
8. Donald Newhouse
Source of wealth: Advance Publications
Industry: Media and entertainment
Net worth: $12.09 billion
Newhouse owns Advance Publications, the massive empire that includes Condé Nast publications, Reddit, and a stake in the Discovery Channel. Samuel Newhouse, his brother with whom he split the family fortune, died in 2017. Donald Newhouse is still the company's president.
7. Stephen Schwarzman
Source of wealth: Blackstone Group
Industry: Finance and investments
Net worth: $13.46 billion
The founder, chairman, and CEO of Blackstone, Schwarzman heads the world's largest buyout firm, which, according to Forbes, has $439 billion in assets. Schwarzman has donated to the New York Public Library and other organizations.
6. Leonard Lauder
Source of wealth: Estée Lauder
Industry: Fashion and retail
Net worth: $15.71 billion
Currently the chairman emeritus, Lauder joined his mother's company in 1958 and is responsible for the acquisition of MAC, Bobbi Brown, and Aveda brands during his career. Lauder retired as the company's CEO in 1999.
5. Len Blavatnik
Source of wealth: Access Industries
Industry: Diversified
Net worth: $18.06 billion
Blavatnik's fortune comes from Access Industries, which owns major shares in names across varied industries, from the chemical company LyondellBasell to the fashion brand Tory Burch.
4. Carl Icahn
Source of wealth: Icahn Enterprises
Industry: Finance and investments
Net worth: $18.13 billion
Icahn heads Icahn Enterprises, his holding company, and briefly served as a special adviser to the Trump administration in 2017.
3. Rupert Murdoch
Source of wealth: News Corp
Industry: Media and entertainment
Net worth: $19.09 billion
Murdoch is the chairman and CEO of the News Corp media empire, which owns The Wall Street Journal and Fox News. After starting with a small Australian newspaper, Murdoch acquired the New York Post, his first major US acquisition, in 1976.
Just this year, Murdoch finalized his newsworthy deal with the Walt Disney Company: Disney purchased Fox for $71 billion, substantially growing his family's fortune.
2. David Koch
Source of wealth: Koch Industries
Industry: Diversified
Net worth: $52 billion
Now the director emeritus, Koch was previously the executive vice president of his family's business. His brother Charles, who shares the same net worth, still heads the company from its headquarters in Wichita.
According to Forbes, Koch has made major contributions to New York organizations such as Lincoln Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
1. Michael Bloomberg
Source of wealth: Bloomberg LP
Industry: Media and entertainment
Net worth: $59.44 billion
Beginning his career on Wall Street, Bloomberg cofounded his company in 1981 and owns 88% of it; it's now worth over $9 billion.
He was New York City's mayor for over a decade, from 2001 to 2013, before resuming his role as Bloomberg's CEO at the end of 2014.