Saul Steinberg (businessman)

{{Short description|American businessman and financier (1939–2012)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Saul Steinberg

| image = Saul-steinburg photo.jpg

| caption =

| birth_name = Saul Phillip Steinberg

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|08|13|mf=y}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2012|12|07|1939|8|13|mf=y}}

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| alma_mater = Wharton School

| occupation = Founder of Leasco
CEO of Reliance Insurance Company

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Barbara Herzog|1957|1974|end=divorced}}
{{marriage|Laura Sconocchia Fisher|1974||end=divorced}}
{{marriage|Gayfryd McNabb MacLean Johnson|1983}}

}}

| children = 6

| relatives = Maria Bartiromo (daughter in-law)
Liz Lange (niece)

}}

Saul Phillip Steinberg (August 13, 1939{{spaced ndash}}December 7, 2012){{Cite news| url=http://bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-07/saul-p-steinberg-former-reliance-group-chairman-dies-at-73.html| publisher=Bloomberg| last=Collins| first=Margaret | title=Saul Steinberg, Corporate Raider, Reliance Chief, Dies at 73| date=December 10, 2012| accessdate=December 23, 2012}} Note that this source, and the majority, spell his middle name Phillip, while others spell it Philip. was an American businessman and financier. He became a millionaire before his 30th birthday and a billionaire before his 40th birthday. He started a computer leasing company (Leasco), which he used in an audacious and successful takeover of the much larger Reliance Insurance Company in 1968. He was best known for his unsuccessful attempts to take over Chemical Bank in 1969 and Walt Disney Productions in 1984.Berkman, Johanna. [http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/3421/index1.html "Fall of the House of Steinberg"], New York, June 19, 2000{{cite web|title=SAUL P. STEINBERG|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=SAUL-STEINBERG&pid=161589514|work=The New York Times|accessdate=December 9, 2012}}

Early life

Steinberg was born to a Jewish familySilbiger, Steve [https://books.google.com/books?id=2CAGE9yJcm8C&dq=steinberg&pg=PA79 The Jewish Phenomenon: Seven Keys to the Enduring Wealth of a People] p. 79 on August 13, 1939, and grew up in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Julius and Anne Cohen Steinberg. He had one brother, Robert Steinberg, and two sisters, Roni Sokoloff and Lynda Jurist.Eaton, Leslie. [https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/09/nyregion/sorry-mother-but-get-line-for-your-money-suit-says-steinberg-sons-failed-repay.html "Sorry, Mother, But Get in Line For Your Money; Suit Says Steinberg Sons Failed to Repay Loans"], The New York Times, September 9, 2000 Steinberg finished a degree from the Wharton School in Philadelphia. He was listed as a member of the class of 1959, but some accounts have said that he graduated in two years at age 18.

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.Welles, Chris [https://books.google.com/books?id=dd0CAAAAMBAJ&dq=leasco%2C+reliance%2C+steinberg&pg=PA30 "Fast Money"] New York Magazine, May 12, 1969, "The Fast Money Explosion", available at Google Books Leasco grew rapidly, and in 1965, it went public.{{cite web|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/RELIANCE-GROUP-HOLDINGS-INC-Company-History.html|title=Reliance Group History|website=FundingUniverse}}

Leasco bid to acquire Reliance Insurance Company, a Philadelphia insurance company ten times the size of Leasco.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} Reliance had been in business 150 years, having been established in 1817 to provide fire insurance. 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|date=October 2022}}

In 1969, Steinberg attempted to take over Chemical Bank, then one of the nation's largest financial institutions.[https://www.forbes.com/2001/06/18/0618steinberg.html Forbes Face: Saul Steinberg] June 18, 2001, Forbes magazine The attempt failed.

Steinberg also successfully took over Pergamon Press from British businessman Robert Maxwell.{{Cite magazine |date=1969-10-24 |title=Entrepreneurs: The Tribulations of Saul |language=en-US |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,901609-1,00.html |access-date=2022-11-05 |issn=0040-781X}} The two initially got along, but the relationship quickly soured, and Steinberg was able to rally British investors to oust Maxwell from his position. However, Maxwell bought Pergamon back with borrowed funds in 1974.{{Cite web |date=2002-08-18 |title=Robert Maxwell: Overview |url=http://www.ketupa.net/maxwell.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020818222600/http://www.ketupa.net/maxwell.htm |archive-date=2002-08-18 |access-date=2022-11-05 }}

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. The company paid out dividends to the shareholders, including the Steinberg family members as major shareholders, and paid Saul Steinberg large sums in compensation.

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.[http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=telemundo Museum of Television] article about Telemundo

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 Leucadia National in 2000 for stock and the assumption of debt.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/27/business/a-struggling-reliance-group-is-sold-and-a-corporate-raider-retires.html?scp=10&sq=saul+P+steinberg&st=nyt|date=May 27, 2000|title=A Struggling Reliance Group Is Sold and a Corporate Raider Retires|work=New York Times|author=Uchitelle, Louis|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120906085118/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/27/business/a-struggling-reliance-group-is-sold-and-a-corporate-raider-retires.html?scp=10&sq=saul+P+steinberg&st=nyt|archive-date=6 September 2012}} However, this transaction fell apart in July 2000.{{Cite web|url=https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2000/07/20/11216.htm|title=Leucadia Backs Out of Reliance Deal|date=July 19, 2000|website=Insurance Journal}}

Reliance filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and entered into a long process of liquidation. Steinberg was forced to sell his extensive art collection along with his 17,000 square-foot, 34-room duplex apartment at 740 Park Avenue in Manhattan, which was bought for "slightly above or below $30 million" in 2000 by Stephen A. Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/business/saul-p-steinberg-1980s-corporate-raider-dies-at-73.html | work=The New York Times | first=Douglas | last=Martin | title=Saul P. Steinberg, Bold Corporate Raider, Dies at 73 | date=December 10, 2012}}

=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.[https://web.archive.org/web/20100313231239/http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/about/board-of-overseers.cfm Wharton website] list of Board of Overseers 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wharton.upenn.edu/philadelphia-campus/|title=Philadelphia Campus}}[https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0107/048.html Forbes article] His Own Man (Jono Steinberg) December 13, 2007 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/faculty/singhj.cfm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091213084653/http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/faculty/singhj.cfm |url-status=dead |title=Wharton faculty page|archivedate=December 13, 2009}}

=Charity and advocacy=

In 2000, Steinberg donated The Death of Adonis (1614) by Peter Paul Rubens to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem."Rubens's Classical Spectacle, Rated R", by Ellen Gamerman, Wall Street Journal, January 7–8, 2012, pg C14

Personal life

Steinberg met his first wife Barbara Herzog in high school; they had three children and divorced in 1974:
Jonathan ("Jono") married CNBC host Maria Bartiromo in 1999.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/13/style/weddings-jonathan-steinberg-maria-bartiromo.html|title=WEDDINGS: Jonathan Steinberg, Maria Bartiromo|date=June 13, 1999|work=New York Times|archive-url=https://archive.today/20171115025633/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/13/style/weddings-jonathan-steinberg-maria-bartiromo.html|archive-date=15 November 2017}} Jono is the CEO of ETF company WisdomTree.{{Cite web|url=http://www.wisdomtree.com/about/mgmt-team.asp|title=Wisdom Tree website}} (Bartiromo later moved to the Fox Business Network.){{cite web|url=http://www.mediaite.com/online/maria-bartiromo-reportedly-leaving-cnbc-for-fox-business-network/ |title=Maria Bartiromo Reportedly Leaving CNBC for Fox Business Network|date=November 18, 2013|work=mediaite.com|accessdate=January 14, 2016}}
Laura married Loews Hotels executive Jonathan Tisch in 1988;{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/03/style/jonathan-tisch-executive-to-marry-laura-steinberg.html|title=Jonathan Tisch, Executive, to Marry Laura Steinberg|work=New York Times|date=May 3, 1987}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/19/nyregion/candlelight-wedding-joins-2-billionaire-families.html|title=Candlelight Wedding Joins 2 Billionaire Families|author=GEORGIA DULLEA|date=April 19, 1988|work=The New York Times}} they later divorced. In 2001, she married Stafford Broumand, a plastic surgeon.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/14/style/weddings-laura-tisch-stafford-broumand.html|title=Weddings; Laura Tisch, Stafford Broumand|work=The New York Times|date=October 14, 2001}}
Nicholas owns comic-book stores in Philadelphia.
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.
In 1983, Steinberg married Canadian-born, Gayfryd (McNabb MacLean Johnson) Steinberg, a twice divorced Louisiana businesswoman who once ran her own steel-pipe business.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20117575,00.html|title=Marriage with a Midas Touch|date=May 7, 1990|magazine=People|author=Elizabeth Sporkin|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090602161650/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20117575,00.html|archive-date=June 2, 2009}}The Fortune Hunters: Dazzling Women and the Men They Married by Charlotte Hays, pg 37; available on Google Books Gayfryd also converted to Judaism before their marriage. Steinberg adopted Gayfryd's son, Rayne, from a previous marriage and they also had a daughter, Holden together.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} Gayfryd is a trustee of the New York Public Library.{{cite web|url=http://www.nypl.org/pr/annualrpt.cfm |title=2008 Annual Report|page=58|website=NY Public Library}}

In 1989, Steinberg hosted an opulent 50th birthday party for himself that included live models depicting his favorite Renaissance paintings.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_51/b4208099557684.htm|title=A Century of Executive Excess|date=December 9, 2010|magazine=Bloomberg Business Week|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130118202809/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_51/b4208099557684.htm|archive-date=18 January 2013|url-status=dead}}

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. 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.

Steinberg had a stroke in 1995.{{Cite web |last=Lopez |first=Linette |title=Legendary Financier Saul Steinberg Has Died |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/financier-saul-steinberg-dies-2012-12 |access-date=2022-03-18 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}}

In 2000 Steinberg sold his apartment at 740 Park Avenue in Manhattan to financier Stephen A. Schwarzman of The Blackstone Group for a reported $37 million.[https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/a-blackstone-executives-other-big-acquisition/ A Blackstone Executive's Other Big Acquisition] New York Times, October 8, 2007 The apartment had once belonged to John D. Rockefeller Jr.

Steinberg died on December 7, 2012 at the age of 73 on the same day as his mother Anne Steinberg.[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-finance-steinberg-death-idUSBRE8B702E20121208?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews Saul Steinberg, early "corporate raider", dies at 73]{{Cite web| url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=ANNE-STEINBERG&pid=161589464| title=Anne Steinberg Obituary| publisher=New York Times/Legacy.com| date=December 9, 2012| accessdate=December 23, 2012}}