Top priority on Wall Street is adding quantifiable value to your employer.
The most important contribution financiers bring to their firm is revenue. But value is also added by good management and presenting a positive image to the public.
So in judging Wall Street's Most Valuable Players, we looked at the people on Wall Street who bring the most total value to their firm in those three areas: revenue, good management, and positive press coverage.
The decision process
First we asked you, our readers, to nominate the financiers who matter the most at their firm. From a list of over 150 players in private equity, asset management, and investment banking, we then narrowed the list down to 100 and asked you to rank each of them on a scale from (1) "empty suit" to (5) "extremely valuable."
A clear winner emerged, and so did the 50 most valuable players on Wall Street. Their firms would be lost without them. Without further ado, we proudly present the 50 MVPs on Wall Street.
Why he's on the list: John Paulson was the clear winner in our poll. In the past year, his gold-denominated fund (he was the first hedge fund manager to launch such a fund) returned 35% in 2010. In total, his funds produced over $8.4 billion of gross gains (before fees) for investors in 2010. Also notable is that under Paulson, Brad Rosenberg traded over $100 billion in fixed income securities in 2010. Unfortunately, his biggest fund, Advantage, is down a bit (-1.2%) this year. But other funds are up, like Credit Opportunities (up 7.8% YTD) and the Recovery fund (up 5.7% YTD).
Fun Fact: On April 13th and 14th, he was in Vegas for the Advantage Fund's investor conference. Harrah's CEO and MGM's CEO spoke. Evening activities: Cirque du Soliel. Day activities: a golf outing. He's holding a mid-year investor conference in Paris from June 7-8. Also, Paulson is the first (and so far he's the only) finance guy to get a shout-out on 30 Rock.
Quote: "There are serious uncertainties about the exit strategy of the Fed. I'd be very surprised if there was a third round of QE." - Paulson, April 2011
George Soros
Founder and Chairman, Soros Fund Management
Why he's on the list: George Soros has been rampantly pushing for a new global economy this year and, bearish as he is on the dollar, he believes it will no longer be the world's reserve currency. In line with his vision of the future is a greener economy and the Soros Fund recently partnered with Silver Lake Silver Lake Kraftwerk, a new clean energy fund that invests in particular in “clean tech” businesses, companies that use technology to improve energy efficiency.
Fun Fact: According to Glenn Beck, he is public enemy #1.
Quote: "I think we are now in a period of great confusion because when financial markets were globalized then that globalization was connected with deregulation and that spread like wildfire like a virus because once the major countries were liberalized then capital would go to the countries where it was not regulated and not taxed. And as a result the other countries had to follow suit. But that was a false idea that markets correct their own excesses and you can really allow markets to operate without regulation." - Soros, April 2011
Ray Dalio
CEO, Bridgewater
Why he's on the list: Ray Dalio manages the biggest hedge fund in the world, with $86 billion under management. Behind John Paulson, Dalio brought home the most money in 2010 because of he generated such great returns. Bridgewater put up its best numbers in its 36-year history.
Fun Fact: Dalio practices Transcendental Meditation and he has built into everyday office life at Bridgewater.
Quote: "The first stock I bought was a company called Northeast Airlines and the only reason I bought it was that it was the only company I heard of that was trading for less than $5 per share, so I could buy more shares, which I figured was a good thing. It went up a lot. It was about to go broke but another company acquired it, so it tripled." -Dalio on the first stock he every bought when he was 12 years old.
Over the past month, we've conducted a survey to find out the true ranking of the top 50 schools. Harvard Business School ranked No. 1, for the second year running.
When other publications develop business school rankings, they analyze factors like class size, facilities and the celebrity of professors.
When it comes to assessing the value of a business school, however, there's only one factor that really matters: How much a school will help your future career.
That means looking at not only the skills and knowledge you acquire from the school's curriculum, but two other factors:
The network of contacts you build while you're there, and
The brand value of a school and its degree.
These two factors will help your career way more than any accounting course or case study, and they're the real asset you're buying when you spend up-to $100,000 and two years on an MBA program.
Our readers confirm that a network of contacts acquired at the school is important. When asked the most valuable assets a business school provides, 35% named the network of contacts; 32% said the skills and knowledge acquired in courses; and 31% said the brand value of a school and its degree.
Unlike the other business-school ranking lists, which often trigger bewilderment among those who actually work in business, our rankings probably won't surprise you (because it reflects reality). Our list is also global. The business world has gone global, and we know too many wildly successful executives educated at INSEAD, LSE and other schools located outside the U.S. to confine our rankings to the U.S.A.
After releasing the 2011 Digital 100 list in late September, we received a lot of feedback.
As usual, we have now revised the list based on this feedback, and added 15 more worthy startups.
Here's the updated list...
Welcome to the Digital 100: The World's Most Valuable Internet Startups!
In this year's list, we've looked at and evaluated more than 300 startups and ranked the top 100.
So what are the 100 most valuable digital startups in the world?
Facebook tops our list again, with a valuation of $80 billion, up radically from $25 billion last year and $6.5 billion the year prior. Facebook continues to grow at a tremendous clip and now has more than 750 million users worldwide. The company reportedly earned $500 million on $1.6 billion in revenue during the first half of 2011 and is on track to do more than $4 billion of revenue for the year.
Rounding out the top five: Zynga, the social game developer; Groupon, the daily deals site; 360Buy, the Amazon of China, and Twitter, the massive microblogging network.
We've been valuing and ranking the world's most valuable digital startups for the last 4 years. We started with 25 companies, and this list soon expanded into the SAI 50+. Now it's the Digital 100.
This year, we've expanded our search and analysis yet again. We found a ton more companies that are earning a lot of money and / or growing their businesses rapidly. The result is this year’s new and improved "Digital 100" — 100 of the world's most valuable private digital startups.
Notable companies not included on last year’s list include Airbnb, the apartment rental service, and Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds, and dozens of others.
What's New
It's been a crazy year for technology companies. Many of the top companies from last year's list have gone public, like LinkedIn and Pandora. Many others, like Groupon and Zynga, have filed to go public. A lot of young companies are receiving wild valuations. Some of last year's leaders have stumbled and fallen.
Methodology
We used the same valuation methodology as have the last three years, which you can read about in detail here. Obviously, our valuations are only as good as the information we have, so please feel free to comment in the post or send an email to zlichaa@businessinsider.com.
We want to thank the hundreds of readers, companies, investors, and executives who have taken time over the past few months to submit nominations and share information with us. We thank our colleague Zach Lichaa for performing most of the background research. In addition, we thank our generous sponsors Buddy Media and NYSE for making the project possible. The valuations were estimated by Henry Blodget, Alyson Shontell, and Nicholas Carlson. Sharespost also aided some of the valuations. For a complete Sharespost index, click here.
Related
Want to know what it's like working for one of the world's most awesome startups?Employees tell all.
Investors: Earlier this year, Facebook closed a $1.5 billion round of funding that valued the company at more than $50 billion from Goldman Sachs, some of Goldman's international clients, and Digital Sky Technologies. Before that, the company had raised more than $400 million in funding since 2008. Microsoft ($246 million), Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing ($60 million), Greylock Partners and Meritech Capital Partners ($25M), Accel Partners ($12.8 million), PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel ($500,000), European Founders Fund ($15 million), Digital Sky Technologies ($200 million) and TriplePoint Capital ($100 million).
Analysis: Even though revenue numbers leaked earlier this year were lower than expected, Facebook is still growing very rapidly. An anonymous source told Reuters that Facebook earned $500 million on $1.6 billion in revenue during the first half of 2011. That's about twice as much as it earned and booked during the first half of 2010.
Shares are trading as high as $80 billion on Sharespost, at approximately the same level where they've been trading for the past 6 months. This is about ~60X this year's projected earnings and 20X revenue. These are high multiples, and for this valuation to be sustained, the company will have to continue to grow extremely rapidly.
The company is on track to generate about $1.5 billion of revenue this year (extrapolating from its S-1 filing), from a combination of ads and virtual goods. This is up from $597 million last year. The company's operating profit on this revenue is still low--about 10% of revenue--but this margin will presumably expand as the company gains scale. We use a multiple of 7X revenue and arrive at a valuation of about $11 billion.
Investors: $1.14 billion in total venture capital raised. Angel round ($1 million): Eric Lefkofsky, Brad Keywell. Series A ($6.8 million): New Enterprise Associates. Series B ($30 million): Accel Partners, New Enterprise Associates. Series C ($135 million): Digital Sky Technologies, Battery Ventures, Accel Partners, and New Enterprise Associates. Series D ( $950 million): Digital Sky Technologies, Morgan Stanley Venture Partners, Fidelity Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Maverick Capital, Silver Lake Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures. Unattributed ($16.2 million): Peter Barris, Ted Leonsis
Analysis: Groupon began the year strong when it turned down a $6 billion buyout offer from Google in December. Since then its road to an IPO has been bumpy. The SEC was investigating the company after a detailed memo about its business was leaked to the press during the "quiet period," but now the IPO roadshow is said to be back on.
Groupon has invented a new form of marketing that has become as much a part of everyday advertising and commerce as classified ads used to be. Groupon has been so wildly successful that, in the space of a year, more than 100 Groupon clones have sprung up to capitalize on the "daily deal" concept. In recent months, however, many concerns about the Daily Deal model have arisen, and some are speculating that Groupon's years of rocketship growth will soon be behind it.
Given the company’s market lead and continued user growth, we give Groupon a 3-4X multiple on revenue for a valuation of $10 billion. Shares have sold at a valuation as high as $14.9 billion on Sharespost.
New York City had a break out year in 2011, riding a wave of tech enthusiasm to heights it's never seen before.
Right now, New York, or as it's often called, Silicon Alley, is home to one company with a billion dollar valuation — Gilt Groupe — and 28 others with valuations of $100 million or over.
Despite a weakening stock market, and deep fundamental problems with the economy, this time next year we expect more billion dollar companies in New York.
But, before we get ahead of ourselves, let's take some time to look back at the fantastic year that was.
We've created the Silicon Alley 100 to celebrate people doing the coolest things in New York in 2011. We don't have it ranked, because it's a list of great stuff across the board. The slides are in random order. But, if you're on here, and you want to tell friends you're ranked number one, we won't dispute it.
A number of Business Insider's investors appear on this list: Kevin Ryan (also our Chairman), RRE, Ken Lerer, Scott Kurnit and Roger Ehrenberg. Many companies on the list share investors with Business Insider.
Feedback
Disagree with our picks? Let us know what you think in the comments section below, or on Twitter: #sa100
We would like to thank the many readers who took the time to send us nominations. We would also like to thank intern Zachary Lichaa for his extensive work on this list. Also involved in the selection or creation of the Silicon Alley 100: Jay Yarow, Nicholas Carlson, Alyson Shontell, Noah Davis, and Henry Blodget.
100. Rachel Sklar
Founder, Change the Ratio
Sklar is one of the most-connected people in the New York tech scene. She is everywhere, from advising startups including Hashable, SBNation, and Siftee to serving as Mediaite's editor-at-large and frequent television presence. Sklar founded Change the Ratio, an effort to increase the number of women in the tech world.
99. Erick Schonfeld
Editor-In-Chief, TechCrunch
Michael Arrington's dramatic ouster from the company he founded left Schonfeld officially in charge.
The question for 2012: Can Schonfeld and the current crew keep the TechCrunch voice as sharp and potent as always?
98. Roger Ehrenberg
Founder, IA Ventures
Ehrenberg spent two decades toiling in the M&A, derivatives, and trading space before he decided to turn his investment acumen toward startups. Companies in his portfolio include BankSimple, Yipit, My City Way, and Business Insider.
IA Ventures closed a $50 million round in December 2010 to help out more early stage date-driven startups.
To make this a quasi-scientific affair, we asked our readers to nominate and rate a bunch of CEOs on "sexiness," a subjective assessment that encompasses many attributes including style, looks, power, money, leadership, creativity and charm.
Hundreds of readers weighed in (61% of respondents were male and 65% of were 20 to 40 years old).
The final list is a mix of men and women who'd look good running any company.
The Harvard Business School drop out founded Yelp in 2004 with the help of Russel Simmons, a former colleague at PayPal. Even though he didn't finish his MBA, Stoppelman does have a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois.
Ratings from a Business Insider survey.
Andrea Jung
CEO of Avon
65% rating
In addition to being fluent in Mandarin, Jung was awarded the 2010 Clinton Global Citizen Award, which recognizes executives working to solve global problems. Avon works to combat violence against women, breast cancer and to improve the environment.
Our list focuses on the one thing that matters: how much a college will help you have a successful career. A good college should (1) teach students to be independent thinkers who know how to express themselves; (2) grant an impressive degree; and (3) connect students to an influential alumni network.
We asked our readers -- a diverse group that represents your future peers, colleagues and recruiters -- to rate colleges based on these criteria.
Our readers say the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the best school in the country. They responded with an overwhelming endorsement of the Ivy League and a few select universities -- MIT, Stanford, the California Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago.
We also asked readers to comment on the value of college these days: 80% said it was worth it.
This question generated hundreds of comments on both sides:
"Unless you are one hell of an entrepreneur, you're getting nowhere in this country without a college degree. The piece of paper is absurdly overpriced (except maybe in state at University of Florida) but it is a necessary evil."
"Absolutely [worth it]. As it currently stands, the present value of future benefits vastly outweighs the current costs of attending college."
"At this point, I think it still is, but I don't know how much longer that will last. If you get a marketable degree in science, engineering, or tech it is still worth it. But for most of the others, the bachelor's at this point gives you a chance at landing a crappy job over the non-educated, rather than getting a good job like it used to. Whether that is worth it depends on how much debt you went into in the process."
"As far as life experiences are concerned, those 4+ years are a very concentrated dose of trial, tribulation, self-reflection, and group and individual development. Not to mention a potentially life-changing education."
IPOs finally returned to tech as Zynga and LinkedIn found their ways to public markets.
The greatest innovator and CEO of his generation left us.
Now, after months of research, debates, and more research, we're happy to present the latest installment of the Silicon Valley 100, a compilation of the people who did the coolest things in Silicon Valley this year.
A big shout out to everyone named in the list; you earned it. We apologize if we missed anyone, we're not all-knowing.
AOL's Palo Alto office is a long way from the company's east coast bases in New York and Dulles, Virginia. And yet, Shellen and a crew of reinvigorated engineers did good work in 2011. The highlight: a re-done AIM.
#99 Michael Morell and Ali Behnam
Managing Partners, Riviera Partners
There's a talent war on in Silicon Valley, and these guys are the big guns. They recruit for Twitter, LinkedIn, Groupon, Zappos, Box.net, and other hot Bay Area companies.
Mary Meeker, one of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers' most prized partners, joined a lot of high-profile boards last year—including SoundCloud, as part of its $50 million round.
She's one of the most knowledgeable tech gurus in the valley—so be sure to see her knock-out presentation on the state of the web from the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco last year.
The global economy has been taking a beating, but that doesn't mean Russian oligarchs, Saudi princes and the rest of the .001% have stopped spending absurd amounts of money on strange, extravagant, and ridiculously cool items.
In the second annual version of The Life 50, many of the most extreme purchases were made in auction houses. Others were simply tremendous displays of wealth by the world's richest people.
From real estate to cars, jewels to live animals, here are the 50 most ridiculous purchases people made in the past 12 months, from lowest to highest price paid.
The hot dog, from a vendor named "Hot Dog Mike," was made with a quarter-pound of premium beef and topped with lobster tail, saffron aioli, and gold flakes.
Four of the hot dogs were sold in May. The proceeds were donated to The One Inc., a non-profit organization focusing on assisting the needs of the homeless in central Arkansas.
A thrift store buy turned out to be a Picasso worth $7,000
Picking the right business school is more important than ever.
The right school gives you an advantage in a tough market. The wrong school could be a critical waste of time and money.
Our survey has determined that the best program out there is Stanford Business School.
Harvard, which held the top spot for the past two years, came in a close second, with Wharton in third.
Our results are based on an extensive survey of the people who matter most to your future: real professionals. Over one thousand of our readers responded, of which 87 percent had attended business school and 71 percent had hiring experience.
Many respondents said a network of contacts was the most important thing you get out of business school (43 percent); while others named the skills & knowledge acquired in courses (34 percent) or the brand value associated with a school (23 percent).
Besides the usual top American contenders, more international schools ranked in the top 10 category this year, with London Business School coming in at #5 and INSEAD ranking at #10. Respondents also suggested that we include other international schools next year, like Cambridge (Judge Business School), the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University, the Indian Institute of Management, the Indian School of Business and The University of Hong Kong (HKU).
A degree from a top business school can mean a higher salary and a dream job. But where you get your MBA from matters. And when you’re about to drop, say, $200,000 on a MBA—especially in this economy—you want to be sure that you’re spending your hard-earned money in the right place.
So, what is the best business school in the world? And which school is most likely to land you the job you want?
Unfortunately, these rankings are missing the point. When these publications develop their rankings, they analyze curriculum, programs, faculty commentary, facilities and other info.
But all of these schools have comparable high-quality curricula, intelligent professors, and impressive facilities. When it comes to assessing the value of a business school, there's only one thing that really matters: The amount the school will help your future career.
Over the past month, we've conducted a survey to find out the true ranking of the top 50 business schools in the world.
Our survey looked at the value of the school's brand and the network of contacts you build while you're there.
We also looked at reputation and how other people perceive the quality of the school. We measured the "wow" factor of each school and the impact its name has on potential employers.
They're only 17 or 18 years old, but most of them have already accomplished more than many of us do in our entire lives.
This list includes kids who are graduating from high schools around the country and heading down some amazing paths; some to top-tier schools like Harvard and MIT, some to tech start-ups, and others to incredible futures in the arts.
There's a young scientist who's well on her way to curing cancer, a blogger who's unnerving Apple by finding out its secrets, and a ballerina who's determined to break down race barriers in the arts, just to name a few.
These kids will change the world--some of them already have. They're listed here in alphabetical order.
David Boone overcame homelessness and got a full scholarship to Harvard
High School: MC2STEM High School, Cleveland, OH
Why He's Impressive: Boone overcame difficult obstacles--he found himself homeless after gang members burned down his home for not joining their gang--to become a remarkable scholar who will attend Harvard.
"Being homeless was a very challenging time in my life, but was probably the most productive as well," Boone wrote to us in an email. "During this time I was able to make some observations about myself, learn some life lessons, strengthen my faith and grow into adulthood."
Boone recounted the first night he spent outside, when none of his friends or family members answered his phone calls while looking for a place to stay. He said that he felt afraid and alone, but it was his faith in God that got him through that difficult night--which was not his last night outside.
During this time, he devoted himself to his studies. He spent hours studying in school and in an extracurricular program to which he credits much of his success: Minds Matter, whose mission is to help high-achieving high school students from low income families achieve college and academic success.
"Minds Matter has been excellent," Boone said. "I mean this with all the sincerity possible; I would not be going to Harvard if it weren't for MM. Minds Matter for me has fostered an environment that was not only comfortable, but productive in the sense that when I did something well, they didn't spend an eternity celebrating it because the people there truly believed that I could do better. I gained so much confidence in my academic capabilities. MM helped me to keep strong when I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders and my mentors in particular, gave me something to believe in."
With the help of his teachers at school, his mentors at Minds Matter and his family members, David worked diligently and was accepted to Harvard University. He received a full scholarship to college from the Gates Millennium Scholarship and the Ron Brown Scholarship. He admits that when he found out that he received the scholarships he did an "embarrassing dance" because he was so elated.
Boone is looking forward to the challenge that studying at Harvard will present.
"I plan to study engineering in college because engineering is a field where there is always a new challenge and there is no ultimate accomplishment because you are trained to constantly improve," Boone said. "I believe that engineers are the key to solving the worlds most pressing issues, both technological and social. The way that engineers think leaves the door open to immeasurable possibilities and that is very important to the progression of society."
"I truly believe that I can change the world and I will not consider myself a success until I do," Boone added.
Plans for Next Year: Boone is planning to attend Harvard in the fall--on a full Gates Millenial Scholarship. He plans to major in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Shree Bose created a drug that may help cure cancer
High School: Fort Worth Country Day, Fort Worth, TX
Why She's Impressive: Bose has a large circle of friends, and there's one in particular who you may have heard of: President Obama. The Commander in Chief has twice publicly recognized her achievements in cancer research and spoken with her in the Oval Office.
If that isn't enough, Bose recently gave a TED Talk about her work with the cancer drug Cisplatin, which also won her first prize at the Google Science Fair and recognition as one of Glamour magazine's Young Amazing Women of the Year.
After watching her grandfather struggle with liver cancer, Bose was determined to help out in any way she could. As a high school student though, her scientific options were limited. She reached out to various hospitals and research facilities, but doctors turned down her requests because they felt she was too inexperienced medically.
The North Texas Science Health Center had no such reservations. Instead, they esteemed her determination and chose to mentor her. The results were exceptional.
Bose chose to study the protein AMP kinase and its reaction with the chemotherapy drug cisplatin. She noticed that when she inhibited this protein, cisplatin was allowed to begin destroying cancer cells once again.
"My project not only contributes to the understanding of cancer drug resistance in knowing that AMPK is involved, but also proposes a newer, more effective, treatment regime for patients who have become resistant to cisplatin," Bose said. "For the over 240,000 patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer, this research will hopefully be able to reduce the recurrence rates in patients treated with particular chemotherapy drugs in the future."
Bose's accomplishments aren't limited to the lab, though. She was also captain of her swim team and editor-in-chief of her school paper.
Plans for Next Year: Bose is currently interning at The National Institute of Health and she'll be attending Harvard in the fall. She plans to study molecular biology and go to medical school. Eventually, she would like to be a physician.
Sitan Chen won third prize in the Siemens Competition for his math project on grid graphs
High School: Northview High School, Duluth, GA
Why He's Impressive: Chen won third prize--$40,000--in the 2011 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology for his research that could advance how computers multi-task data. His project is called On the Rank Number of Grid Graphs.
"I studied grid graphs, a special class of graphs closely linked to circuit design, and found formulas for the previously unknown rank numbers of grid graphs," Chen wrote to us. "These results shed light not just on how to design smaller, more cost-effective circuits, but also on how to optimize searching for data corruptions in computers, assembling complex products like automobiles in factories, and solving problems like climate analysis, medical imaging, and oil exploration using parallel computing."
He's also a talented pianist and violinist, who has played at Carnegie Hall 6 times. Chen said that he sees music as "a form of problem solving."
"It's a chance to tackle challenges related to technique, structure, and interpretation using creativity and intellectual rigor, and at the same time, it's a way to communicate what words cannot," he said.
Plans for Next Year: Chen plans to attend Harvard in the fall, where he will study mathematics and economics.
Some of the best engineering schools in the world serve as feeder programs for the best technology companies out there, like Facebook, Google, and Apple.
So, which school is most likely to land you the job you want?
Over the past few weeks, we've conducted a survey to find out the true ranking of the top 50 schools. The top school in the world, from our survey, is the California Institute of Technology.
All these schools have comparable high-quality academics, smart professors, and great campuses. But when it comes to figuring out the value of an engineering school, there's only one thing that really matters: The amount the school will help your future career.
Of our 723 respondents to the survey, nearly all (91%) said they had a computer science, engineering or equivalent degree.
The two most important things that went into choosing an engineering school were the skills and knowledge they acquired in school (73.9%) and the brand value of the school (18.8%).
The majority of the respondents (66.8%) studied and applied the C, C++ or C# programming languages, with Java following as a close second (40.8%).
Most engineers who responded were either research scientists (10.8%), mobile developers (8.9%) or mechanical engineers (13.3%).
Here's the methodology:
Our initial list was compiled by canvassing engineers, industry professionals and entrepreneurs who work at some of the most popular technology companies.
We asked respondents to grade schools on a 1 (not valuable) to 5 (most valuable) scale. The score is the average of all responses across those scales.
Each survey included grades for at least 10 schools. Respondents could also write in responses to the survey for schools that were not included. Some write-ins with overwhelming response were included in the rankings.
We parsed LinkedIn to find the top employers for each school, and they are in order of greatest number of graduates employed per school.
50. San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University scored a 2.03 out of 5 on Business Insider's rating.
From 57-acre Hampton estates to Georgian mansions in the middle of Manhattan, bankers and hedge funders have locked down some of the most valuable real estate in America.
And don't think the recession is slowing them down.
Purchases in the past year include investor Eddie Lampert's $40 million Florida mansion; hedge funder John Paulson's $49 million Aspen home; Oaktree Capital co-founder Robert Bass's $42 million Fifth Ave apartment, and his business partner Howard Marks' $52.5 million adjoining duplexes on Park Ave.
We've tracked down the most expensive banker and hedge fund homes. To estimate value, we looked at recent sale records and local tax records and assessment values, and we spoke to local realtors and experts at Zillow and Blockshopper.
In February 2012, The Wall Street Journal reported that Asness and his wife were planning to expand their home and build a 25,900-square-foot, Colonial-style home with an indoor swimming pool and tennis court in Greenwich, according to permits and other town records.
Based on his taxes, the property is valued at about $6 million, based on Greenwich assessment records, but after construction is completed the value could be much higher.
To evaluate the homes, we looked at recent sale records and local tax records and assessment values, and we spoke to local realtors and experts at Zillow and Blockshopper.
#24 Jamie Dimon's Westchester retreat
Estimated value: $17 million
Title: Chairman, President, and CEO of JP Morgan Chase
Jamie Dimon's 34-acre country estate in Westchester's elite hamlet of Bedford, New York, is the ideal country retreat. Nestled in a wooded area, his 1930s mansion has 10 bedrooms, seven full bathrooms, and three half bathrooms.
Dimon purchased the mansion for $17 million in 2007. While home values in Westchester have generally gone down since the recession, a local broker who specializes in homes in Bedford told us that since this is such a special and unique property, the value of the home would likely hold.
To evaluate the homes, we looked at recent sale records and local tax records and assessment values, and we spoke to local realtors and experts at Zillow and Blockshopper.
#23 Steve Cohen's sprawling Greenwich estate
Estimated value: $17.85 million [based on Greenwich assessor records]
Title: Hedge fund manager and founder of SAC Capital Advisors
The home has a basketball court, an indoor pool, a 6,734-square-foot ice rink (plus a Zamboni machine two smooth it out), formal gardens, a tennis court, and a two-hole golf course.
To evaluate the homes, we looked at recent sale records and local tax records and assessment values, and we spoke to local realtors and experts at Zillow and Blockshopper.
Advertising is all about creating hot work, and often that work is created by hot people. It's also a business in which image counts, and agencies attract and recruit more good-looking talent than, say, the legal or accounting professions.
It's also August, the hottest time of the year. So Business Insider Advertising has compiled this list of the 50 sexiest people in advertising: The Hot List 2012.
We used a complex social media algorithm to rank our executives. (We'd love to tell you how it works, but it's proprietary, of course). The variables within it are weighted for age, reputation, and power, in addition to looks.
After all, it's easy to be hot when you're a 22-year-old intern. But if you're still turning heads when you're a middle-aged CEO, that's a much more impressive achievement. So our list is comprised of both up-and-comers and established silver foxes.
After scouring agency databases, award panels, and various social media outlets (there are some surprisingly provocative Twitter thumbnails out there), we narrowed down our list to 50 admen and women. (One caveat: Although we have met many of these people in person, the judging was done from an even playing field—photographs. We're aware that some of our nominations probably present better in 2D than 3D.)
Talent is sexy.
50. William Kapfer, Walton Isaacson
Kapfer does niche marketing strategy for the LGBT, African American, and Hispanic communities for Walton Isaacson.
Teo is an "expert in creating a collaborative culture, leading by empowering teams, and instilling a multi-discipline approach to problem-solving."
48.. Amir Farhang, Executive Creative Director, Nara
Farhang's bio lists his notable campaigns as Axe Gamekillers, Sony Rocket Project, Burger King "Stuff of Legends" and Adidas' Basketball is a Brotherhood.
In an oversaturated market where countless lawyers are unemployed or underemployed, choosing the right law school can make the difference between the job you want and no job at all.
Remember, tuition can be as high as $165,000 for the three-year degree and when you factor in cost of living, that number shoots up to almost $250,000. Plus, the bad schools can be just as expensive as the good ones.
We would like to invite lawyers, students and anyone with insight into the industry to take our survey to determine the best law schools for getting a competitive job.
Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.
When we compiled our list of the most important people in mobile advertising — the Mobile Power List 2012 — it contained one depressing anomaly: They were all men.
While there are plenty of influential women in the business, most of them have CEOs above them who are male. When women are CEOs, it tends to be at smaller companies they founded themselves.
So we set out to find and rank the most powerful women in the mobile ad business.
First, we asked our readers to submit nominations. To ensure the nominations weren't self-serving, we also asked you to submit two nominations from other companies, rivals or colleagues.
This is not a complete list of every influential woman in mobile advertising, obviously. We chose the women with larger client bases, greater revenues (or spending) further reach, larger staffs and more innovative ideas than their peers. There are plenty of women who could have been named to the list, but because they work for companies where there is a peer company that employs an even more powerful woman, we didn't include them here. We also discriminated against companies that aren't specific about their revenues, employee headcounts and user reach.
The result is a list that counts not just the most important women in the business, but the women who are also the most prominent for their company type. (For further detail, we discuss the methodology behind the rankings at the end of the list.)
21. Jennifer Lum, president/cofounder at Adelphic Mobile
Adelphic Mobile only launched this year but Lum makes it onto the list because of her resume and connections: She was vp/advertising operations at Quattro Wireless, the company that was acquired by Apple and turned into iAd.
She's been in mobile advertising since 2005, and mentors and invests in other small mobile companies.
We're curious to see how successful Lum and Adelphic's "predictive data platform" will be.
20. Anna Bager, vp/general manager at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence
As the mobile chief at lobby group IAB, Swedish-born Bager knows everyone in the business and gets to hear their gripes and needs firsthand. She leads IAB's mobile operations and brought in the industry's first ever lobbyist in Washington devoted solely to mobile advertising, Sarah Hudgins.
She was formerly head of business intelligence at Ericsson and has been an analyst or consultant in telecoms since 1999 at IDC and Ovum.
Her colleagues told us:
"She has had a profound impact on bringing mobile marketing and advertising into the mainstream of marketing thought and practice."
"She has created a mini-IAB [for mobile] within the IAB."
19. Kathy Leake, president/co-founder of LocalResponse
Leake co-founded LocalResponse with Nihal Mehta, the investor best known for his early funding of AdMob. She makes the list because of LocalResponse's ingenious but simple offering: It's a mobile retargeting agency that serves location-based ads based on the content of your social media actions. If you tweet that you're hungry, you might next see a local pizza joint ad, for instance.
LocalReponse claims to serve 7 billion impressions per month for clients such as Coca-Cola, General Motors, and Walgreens.
What her colleagues and competitors told us:
"Prior to founding LR, Kathy was Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at social targeting company Media6Degrees. She pretty much rocked it, taking Media6 to $20M in revenue and $100M valuation in two years. "
Food is an integral part of traveling, offering a window into the culture and an opportunity to break bread with in-the-know locals.
Sometimes, the best dining experiences are right inside your hotel. Whether you're looking for a high-end sophisticated dining and lodging experience or a hip and trendy eatery-hotel, we've found the best hotels for foodies in America. Not only is their food first-rate, but their restaurants are a visual treat as well.
The culinary experiences at these design-conscious hotels are so amazing that you may never want to check out.
The Breslin at The Ace Hotel, New York
The stylish Ace Hotel is a hipster enclave in New York City with a hip urban aesthetic.
There are cool murals and artworks in the lobby, where there's often a DJ spinning while trendy people sip on custom cocktails. Interesting lighting fixtures, furnishings, and objects from different eras appear throughout the hotel--a testament to the hotel's history (it was originally built in 1904 as the Breslin Hotel).
Home to The Breslin Bar & Dining Room, a hip gastropub; The John Dory Oyster Bar, a renowned seafood restaurant; the No. 7 Sub Shop, serving heady sandwiches; and a branch of Portland's Stumptown Coffee, the hotel is a foodie's dream.
But it's The Breslin that's got everyone in New York buzzing. Owned by April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman (of Spotted Pig fame), The Breslin is a New York hotspot. People clamor to get in the doors to taste the meat-centric menu. Try the lamb burger with feta, their signature dish.
Cafe Boulud at The Surrey, New York
All of the kitchens in The Surrey, an Upper East Side boutique hotel, are overseen by renowned French chef Daniel Boulud. The hotel, a member of the prestigious Relais & Chateaux group, epitomizes Upper East Side chic, with its sleek palate of muted grays and whites and its stellar service.
A meal at Cafe Boulud alone makes it worth staying here; the restaurant has one Michelin star and three stars from the New York Times. Boulud's French-American cuisine is inspired by the seasons. Try the Maine peekytoe crab in a cucumber avocado broth or the pan-seared sea scallops with chorizo, peas, mussels, and octopus in espelette broth.
And if you're feeling anti-social, you can even order directly from Cafe Boulud to your room.
Jean Georges at The Trump Hotel, New York
Located on Manhattan's Central Park South, the Trump International Hotel & Tower, an elegant high-rise hotel that was recently ranked the #5 large city hotel in the U.S. by Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards, is home to what is widely acknowledged as one of the best restaurants in New York City: Jean Georges.
The eponymous restaurant of celebrity chef Jean Georges continually racks up accolades: it has 3 Michelin stars, 4 stars from the New York Times, and the 5 Diamond Award from AAA, among others. The restaurant is sophisticated, with comfortable beige chairs and contemporary lighting fixtures--but the focus stays largely on the food.
The menu changes constantly, but it features delicate and complex dishes, like caramelized foie gras with black olive seasoning and lychee or porcini-crusted arctic char with warm leek vinaigrette. One of the best deals here is the price-fixed $38 lunch menu--a bargain compared to the $168 dinner tasting menu.
If you can't get into Jean Georges, try Nougatine, the hotel's more casual (yet still refined) restaurant, also overseen by Jean Georges.
Those who are seeking a bit more privacy can order Jean George's cuisine right to their rooms 24 hours a day. Alternatively, you could also pick up some fresh ingredients nearby and cook (all 176 guest rooms and suites have fully-equipped kitchens and dining areas). Or the hotel can arrange to have a chef come to your suite and cook a personal gourmet meal.
These celebrities are pursuing their college degrees, juggling class and exams with the responsibilities of public life.
They're musicians, actors, models and athletes who somehow find a way to balance their college careers with their professional ones—an impressive feat for such young people.
They go to school all over America, from New York City's School of Visual Arts to California's University of Southern California.
We've listed them here in alphabetical order. Let us know who we missed!
Elizabeth Beisel
College: University of Florida
Year: Junior
Beisel won a silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley event in the 2012 London Olympics. Even though she is a college student, Beisel is a two-time Olympian: she competed in the 2008 Beiijing Olympics at the age of 15. Beisel is also the 2011 world champion in the 400 IM. She is majoring in communications at the University of Florida.
Miranda Cosgrove
College: University of Southern California
Year: Freshman
This actress and singer-songwriter is best known for her role on Nickelodeon TV's iCarly, but she's also starred in several films, including most notably School of Rock. Cosgrove will start her freshman year at USC in the fall.
Justin Combs
College: University of California Los Angeles
Year: Freshman
The son of Sean "P. Diddy" or "Puff Daddy" Combs, Justin Combs graduated with a 3.75 GPA from New Rochelle Iona Prep, a top private school, and will attend UCLA in the fall—on a $54,000 football scholarship.
The son of a multi-millionaire, Combs faced a lot of criticism for accepting the scholarship, but the 5-foot-9, 170-pound defensive back defended his decision to accept the scholarship, tweeting that he "put that work in" and earned the scholarship.
Chefs know good food. And where they choose to eat in their time off says something about the quality of the restaurant and the food: that it's delicious, excellent and chef-approved.
Newsweek recently came out with their list of the 101 Best Places to Eat Around The World, based on the recommendations of a panel of 53 world-renowned chefs and food experts from all over the globe, including David Burke, David Chang, Anita Lo and Eric Ripert, among others.
This picky group chose the best of the best, recounting the meals and the restaurants that impressed them. We've pulled out the 14 restaurants in America that made this list and listed them here in alphabetical order.
“The best Texas barbecue—a little less than an hour south of Austin. Everyone says brisket is king in Texas, and yes, it is, but in the Hill Country, beef sausage is king!”
“An experience like no other in the world. Beautiful, eccentric, and soulful, in sync with all of the best products of Northern California, and with a modern poetic vibe that only chef Daniel Patterson can speak.”
Top priority on Wall Street is adding quantifiable value to your employer.
