Saul Steinberg (businessman)
Saul Steinberg | |
---|---|
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania | |
Occupation(s) | Founder of Leasco CEO of Reliance Insurance Company |
Spouses | Barbara Herzog
(m. 1957; div. 1974)Laura Sconocchia Fisher
(m. 1974, divorced)Gayfryd McNabb MacLean Johnson
(m. 1983) |
Children | 6 |
Relatives | Maria Bartiromo (daughter in-law) Liz Lange (niece) |
Saul Phillip Steinberg (August 13, 1939 – December 7, 2012)
Early life
Steinberg was born to a Jewish family
Career
Business career
In 1961, at the age 22, Steinberg founded Leasco Data Processing Equipment Corporation, a computer leasing company that leased IBM computers. While at Wharton, Steinberg had written a paper about IBM Corp., and he had learned that IBM was charging premium prices to lease its computers. Steinberg discovered that he could offer computer leases that would undercut IBM's prices and still obtain bank financing for the entire purchase price of the computers by using the signed leases as collateral with lenders.[6] Leasco grew rapidly, and in 1965, it went public.[7]
Leasco bid to acquire Reliance Insurance Company, a Philadelphia insurance company ten times the size of Leasco.[citation needed] Reliance had been in business 150 years, having been established in 1817 to provide fire insurance.[7] It was managed conservatively. Insurance companies have much capital, which is just what computer leasing companies need. Steinberg offered the Reliance shareholders a combination of convertible subordinated debentures and common stock warrants (rather than cash). Reliance management resisted but eventually capitulated, and Leasco was successful in assuming control of Reliance in 1968. Steinberg was 29 when he took over Reliance.[citation needed]
In 1969, Steinberg attempted to take over Chemical Bank, then one of the nation's largest financial institutions.[8] The attempt failed.
Steinberg also successfully took over Pergamon Press from British businessman Robert Maxwell.[9] The two initially got along, but the relationship quickly soured, and Steinberg was able to rally British investors to oust Maxwell from his position.[9] However, Maxwell bought Pergamon back with borrowed funds in 1974.[10]
Steinberg became the CEO of Reliance, and he and his brother were the senior managers of Reliance for the next thirty years. Steinberg took on large amounts of debt during the junk bond era and grew, apparently by underpricing its insurance policies.[2] The company paid out dividends to the shareholders, including the Steinberg family members as major shareholders, and paid Saul Steinberg large sums in compensation.[2]
At Reliance, Steinberg hired dealmaker Henry Silverman, who later became the CEO of HFS Inc. and later Cendant Corp. In 1986, while Silverman was at Reliance, he and Steinberg were involved with television executive Joseph Wallach in acquiring Spanish language television stations and creating the Spanish-language media company Telemundo.[11]
In 1995, Steinberg had a serious stroke. He was forced to step back from management of Reliance. The leverage, low pricing on insurance policies led Reliance to financial problems. Management attempted to sell the company. Reliance Group negotiated a transaction to be sold to
Reliance filed for
Involvement with Wharton
Steinberg was a major benefactor of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He served as chairman of Wharton's Board of Overseers for over 15 years and continued as a member of the board until his death.[15] The Steinberg name is highly visible at Wharton, most notably attached to Steinberg-Dietrich Hall, which served as the main undergraduate building, containing classrooms, lounges, computer labs, and departmental offices.[16][17] The Steinberg Conference Center serves as home to the Executive Education Center and the Aresty Institute of Executive Education. Additionally, Steinberg endowed the Saul P. Steinberg Professor of Management chair.[18]
Charity and advocacy
In 2000 Steinberg donated The Death of Adonis (1614) by Peter Paul Rubens to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.[19]
Personal life
- Steinberg met his first wife Barbara Herzog in high school; they had three children and divorced in 1974:[2]
- Jonathan ("Jono") married
- Laura married Loews Hotels executive Jonathan Tisch in 1988;[23][24] they later divorced. In 2001, she married Stafford Broumand, a plastic surgeon.[25]
- Nicholas owns comic-book stores in Philadelphia.[2]
- Steinberg divorced his first wife after he met Italian-American Laura Bordoni Sconocchia Fisher in 1974; Laura converted to Judaism before their marriage. They had a son, Julian, and later divorced.[2]
- In 1983, Steinberg married Canadian-born, Gayfryd (McNabb MacLean Johnson) Steinberg, a twice divorced Louisiana businesswoman who once ran her own steel-pipe business.[26][27] Gayfryd also converted to Judaism before their marriage.[2] Steinberg adopted Gayfryd's son, Rayne, from a previous marriage and they also had a daughter, Holden together.[citation needed] Gayfryd is a trustee of the New York Public Library.[2][28][26]
In 1989, Steinberg hosted an opulent 50th birthday party for himself that included live models depicting his favorite Renaissance paintings.[29]
Steinberg's brother Robert worked as a senior executive at Reliance, helping Steinberg run the company for many years. In 1999, as Reliance encountered severe financial problems, Saul Steinberg fired his brother, and the brothers became estranged from one another.[2] In 2000, Steinberg's mother Anne Steinberg sued Saul for $5 million that she says he borrowed from her in 1997 and promised to repay in December 1999. She also sued her other son Robert for $1.5 million, a debt that was due in December.[5]
Saul had a stroke in 1995.[30]
In 2000 Steinberg sold his apartment at
Steinberg died on December 7, 2012 at the age of 73 on the same day as his mother Anne Steinberg.[32][33]
References
- ^ a b Collins, Margaret (December 10, 2012). "Saul Steinberg, Corporate Raider, Reliance Chief, Dies at 73". Bloomberg. Retrieved December 23, 2012. Note that this source, and the majority, spell his middle name Phillip, while others spell it Philip.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Berkman, Johanna. "Fall of the House of Steinberg" New York magazine, June 19, 2000
- ^ "SAUL P. STEINBERG". The New York Times. Retrieved December 9, 2012.
- ^ Silbiger, Steve The Jewish Phenomenon: Seven Keys to the Enduring Wealth of a People p. 79
- ^ a b Eaton, Leslie. "Sorry, Mother, But Get in Line For Your Money; Suit Says Steinberg Sons Failed to Repay Loans" New York Times, September 9, 2000
- ^ Welles, Chris "Fast Money" New York Magazine, May 12, 1969, "The Fast Money Explosion", available at Google Books
- ^ a b "Reliance Group History". FundingUniverse.
- ^ Forbes Face: Saul Steinberg June 18, 2001, Forbes magazine
- ^ ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
- ^ "Robert Maxwell: Overview". August 18, 2002. Archived from the original on August 18, 2002. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
- ^ Museum of Television article about Telemundo
- ^ Uchitelle, Louis (May 27, 2000). "A Struggling Reliance Group Is Sold and a Corporate Raider Retires". New York Times. Archived from the original on September 6, 2012.
- ^ "Leucadia Backs Out of Reliance Deal". Insurance Journal. July 19, 2000.
- ^ Martin, Douglas (December 10, 2012). "Saul P. Steinberg, Bold Corporate Raider, Dies at 73". The New York Times.
- ^ Wharton website list of Board of Overseers
- ^ "Philadelphia Campus".
- ^ Forbes article His Own Man (Jono Steinberg) December 13, 2007
- ^ "Wharton faculty page". Archived from the original on December 13, 2009.
- ^ "Rubens's Classical Spectacle, Rated R", by Ellen Gamerman, Wall Street Journal, January 7–8, 2012, pg C14
- ^ "WEDDINGS: Jonathan Steinberg, Maria Bartiromo". New York Times. June 13, 1999. Archived from the original on November 15, 2017.
- ^ "Wisdom Tree website".
- ^ "Maria Bartiromo Reportedly Leaving CNBC for Fox Business Network". mediaite.com. November 18, 2013. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
- ^ "Jonathan Tisch, Executive, to Marry Laura Steinberg". New York Times. May 3, 1987.
- ^ GEORGIA DULLEA (April 19, 1988). "Candlelight Wedding Joins 2 Billionaire Families". New York Times.
- ^ "Weddings; Laura Tisch, Stafford Broumand". New York Times. October 14, 2001.
- ^ a b Elizabeth Sporkin (May 7, 1990). "Marriage with a Midas Touch". People. Archived from the original on June 2, 2009.
- ^ The Fortune Hunters: Dazzling Women and the Men They Married by Charlotte Hays, pg 37; available on Google Books
- ^ "2008 Annual Report". NY Public Library. p. 58.
- ^ "A Century of Executive Excess". Bloomberg Business Week. December 9, 2010. Archived from the original on January 18, 2013.
- ^ Lopez, Linette. "Legendary Financier Saul Steinberg Has Died". Business Insider. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
- ^ A Blackstone Executive's Other Big Acquisition New York Times, October 8, 2007
- ^ Saul Steinberg, early "corporate raider", dies at 73
- ^ "Anne Steinberg Obituary". New York Times/Legacy.com. December 9, 2012. Retrieved December 23, 2012.
Further reading
- Insurance Journal: Reliance Files For Bankruptcy
- Forbes Face: Saul Steinberg June 18, 2001
- "Fall of the House of Steinberg" New York magazine, June 19, 2000, article by Johanna Berkman
- The Go-Go Years: The Drama and Crashing Finale of Wall Street's Bullish 60s by ISBN 978-0-471-35755-1
- ISBN 978-0-7679-1744-5
- Storming the Magic Kingdom: Wall Street, the Raiders, and the Battle for Disney by John Taylor, New York: Alfred A. Knopf (1987), ISBN 978-0-394-54640-7