Yet, according to those who know him, Burkle almost never seems to discuss politics or to seek special access or favors from the influential people he works so hard to befriend. Burkle, in the court records, said he had a partnership with Clinton and the California Public Employees Retirement System, which invests in labor-friendly companies. Billionaires often have private jets at their beck and call. In 2011, he purchased[101] the partially restored Ennis House, a Los Angeles landmark designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. When a recent New York Times profile retold the Presidents anecdote about Burkles belovedness in the hood, the snipers at Page Six, Gawker and Slate.com took aim again. Many gossip columnists at Rupert Murdochs New York Post were known to take money from personalities they covered through various side-hustles. Two years later he broke both legs in a poolside accident and had to take time off from his job and leave high school to recuperate. He's also co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Since the mid-2000s, when he divorced his wife, his name would often be cited as a guest at model-filled social events, or alongside celebrities such as Paris Hilton. Burkle has been the chairman of the board for Alliance Entertainment, Dominick's, Fred Meyer, Ralphs, and Food4Less. His family wrote . All my time with my dad revolved around work, he says. This is not true.. Along the way, Mr. Burkle has made an art of keeping his financial, political and personal lives as private as possible. [77], During Bill Clinton's presidency, Burkle was a key fundraiser and they became close friends. Billionaires generally have big houses . As a mogul used to running a grocery retail and investment empire, however, he was driven to try and control the narrative. Also failed to win a professional football franchise to replace the Rams. The famed comedian and his wife, Dolores, built the house in the . My husband is extremely wealthy and powerful. [32][33][34][35][36], He has also invested in technology startup companies through Inevitable Venture, a venture capital fund founded by D.A Wallach and Chris Hollod. Ronald Burkle was born on 12 November 1952, in Pomona, California, to Betty and Joseph Burkle. Hes not involved with the Foggia team. "He travels all over the world, he has a lot of friends, but nobody cares about him," he said. Burkle also has been slapped around by the bitchy media blog Gawker.com53 citings since March. The morning he made his bid, Burkle says, I thought, I started here as a box boy, I just bought the companyAmericas a great place. [11] At age 16, he graduated from high school and entered California State Polytechnic University, Pomona to study dentistry. "People are always trying to project things onto you when you make a lot of money. He said Carrie was reluctant to believe the two were involved. Boeing A few years ago Burkle owned Golden State Foods, a supplier of burgers to [114] Burkles lawyer, Tom Harvey, denied this to Page Six on January 3, 2018, saying: Ron is not involved with Follieri. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, Gov. In 2000 Burkle decided to launch a few private equity funds aimed at big no-auction deals (he has been the sole bidder in 75% of his transactions), and he brandished a well-honed talent for mixing business and politics. Clinton worked the crowd, clamping an arm around actor Michael J. Items about Mr. Burkle's social life and personal comings and goings began appearing on the page without any warning, or so much as a call for comment, the associate said -- and with little resemblance to the truth. Financiers Ron Burkle, Bob Yari, Marc Leder, Marvin Peart, Dan Schryer and East West Bank have partnered with CEO David Glasser and COO David Hutkin to launch of 101 Studios, a new global entertain Times staff writers Ted Rohrlich, John Spano and Andrew Blankstein contributed to this report. It was common for me to spend $15,000 at one time at Barneys, and my average monthly expense for clothing was at least $10,000 (a conservative estimate), she said. A representative for the propertys new owner, the California billionaire Ron Burkle, gives a tour. [42] That same year, Burkle acquired a minority stake in Independent Talent through Yucaipa fund. Burkle is the son of a grocer who began working . Ron Burkle, who has long been obsessed with gaining control over the hidden levers of power and celebrity, is like a boy who can't resist playing with fire. 8 court challenge", "Gore and Investors Buy Cable News Channel", "Current TV Said to Fetch $500 Million From Al Jazeera", "Bill Clinton May Get Payout of $20 Million", "Bill Clinton Leaves Yucaipa Business Partnerships", "Boy Scouts to Honor Ron Burkle with Prestigious Jimmy Stewart 'Good Turn' Award", "Gala AIDS Fund-Raiser Is Sedate but Still Starry", "Los Angeles Urban League's Whitney M. Young, Jr. The effort failed. A board member of the Getty Trust and other museums, he's a major collector of everything from old Masters to post-Impressionist works. Ronald W. Burkle and Janet E. Burkle were married on March 23, 1974. In the mid-1990s Ron Burkle the billionaire currently being sued over a botched Major League Soccer dealwas approached by an upstart investor named Bill Browder, who was trying to raise . They talk weekly, and at Clintons sixtieth birthday party in New York in October, Burkle sat behind his partner as the Rolling Stones prepared to play a private gig at the Beacon Theater. The high court let stand a decision striking down a law passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. At age 5 he was stacking bread and chasing shopping carts in the parking lot. Likewise, the former couple welcomed their third child, Andrew C. Burkle, in 1994. [5], Burkle's net worth was estimated at US$2 billion in February 12, 2018. Burkle started buying Wild Oats stock in February 2005. Rebel Wilson gets engaged to girlfriend Ramona Agruma Wiki. Burkle was raised in Claremont, a quiet town in suburban Los Angeles County. Founded in 1986 by Ron Burkle, the firm has completed mergers and acquisitions valued at more than $40 billion. Its a dance that has left him bruised on more than one occasion. [1] Joseph worked seven days a week, managing a Stater Bros. grocery store in Pomona and investing his savings in apartment buildings. Ron Burkle, a businessman who reportedly owns a private jet nicknamed "Air F-k One" and the "f-k jet," donated $100,000 to McAuliffe's campaign late last year and then another . The self-made billionaires ex-wife accuses him of cheating her out of a fortune and having her and her (ex-con) boyfriend followed. 2006-05-02 04:00:00 PDT Los Angeles -- Billionaires often seem more or less alike, doing what all superrich people do, only more so. Larry got down on one knee. He eventually sold the chains, including Alpha Beta, Ralphs and Food 4 Less, to Kroger for nearly $13 billion in 1999. Several online companies went nowhere -- including search engine Scour.Net, CheckOut.com, which sold entertainment, and GameSpy Industries Inc. for online gamers. The question is how to maximize it and find new methods of distribution. He probably does not have in mind getting the Teamsters to buy a bulk subscription. She has a bachelors degree in the history of science from Harvard University. Dave Benett/Getty Images The deal added yet another significant property to Mr. Burkle's extensive high-end property . Anyone can read what you share. Listed on Forbes magazine's 400 and . [107], Burkle has worked with Novak Djokovic, world No.1 tennis player at the time, on strategic marketing and charitable initiatives. Burkle started with a $200,000 investment in the small Jurgensens chain, which he flipped for a $1.3 million profit two years later. Burkle and Ovitz also failed in a high-profile campaign to win a professional football franchise for Los Angeles. A bitter battle ensued, and Burkle won every round. But for many people who have known Burkle for years and done business with him, this unseemly spectacle is an inexplicable paradox. After a restoration, billionaire supermarket mogul Ron Burkle is listing Bob Hope's longtime Los Angeles home for $29 million.. Andrew Burkle . [105][106], Burkle owns the Mediterranean-styled mansion overlooking the bluffs of Black's Beach on a nearly six-acre plot in the La Jolla Farms neighborhood of San Diego, California. [8] In 2002, Burkle hired Clinton as a senior advisor on two Yucaipa domestic investment funds. I don't understand all this stuff you hear now. [45], Wild Oats Markets was an operator of natural foods stores and farmers' markets in North America. Burkle botched his kill-shot, and didnt come out looking so great himself. According to numerous stories, Janet Steeper's ex-husband charged her with having an illicit relationship with her partner, an ex-con. Still, he says, There is tremendous value in that content. He has also gathered a flock of powerful friends from Hollywood, Wall Street and Washington that numbers former President Bill Clinton in its ranks. At Greenacres alone, we had (at the same time) two Porsches, one Ferrari, two Mercedes, and two hybrid electric-gasoline-powered cars, Janet Burkle contended. She also engaged a preeminent forensic accounting firm, and hired a private investigative firm to conduct an asset search on her behalf. [103], In December 2013, Burkle purchased an Olympic gold medal won by Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Games for $1.4 million[104] and owns William Faulkner's Nobel Prize for Literature. Following the Africa trip, Burkle reportedly returned home via a commercial jet, referring to Epstein as "creepy".[116][117][118]. Lots of unresolved anger. Mr. "Supermarket Billionaire Ron Burkle's Lavish Mediterranean Trophy Estate in La Jolla, California." . In 1998, he launched The Ronald W. Burkle Foundation, which "seeks to . Burkle poses with Princess Beatrice and her mother, Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, at the 2017 launch of The Ned, a hotel in London. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? Two funds claim internal rates of return of 26% and 34% (annualized) since opening in 2002, and a third opened in 2003 has returned 40% a year, Yucaipa reports. Rules Don't Apply is a 2016 American romantic comedy-drama film written, produced and directed by Warren Beatty.It is loosely based on the life of businessman and film producer Howard Hughes.The ensemble cast features Beatty, in his first screen acting role in 15 years, Annette Bening, Matthew Broderick, Lily Collins and Alden Ehrenreich.Set in 1958 Hollywood, the film follows the romantic . Billionaire Son Found Dead In His Apartment. 2006-05-02 04:00:00 PDT Los Angeles-- Billionaires often seem more or less alike, doing what all superrich people do, only more so.Then there's Ron Burkle. Burkle, 53, resides at Green Acres, one of the grandest, most storied super-mansions in Beverly Hills and one of Southern California's best-known party houses. In reality, its roughly 2,700 acres, said Tim Gleason, Mr. Burkles on-staff design curator. Janet Steeper's late son, Andrew Burkle, was found dead in . Meanwhile, industry chatter about a Wasserman transaction spurred . Burkle's portfolio was by then worth some $5 million, and during the next five years, he continued to invest in stocks and oversaw his family's rental properties. He had a highly publicized falling-out with Michael Ovitz, the former Hollywood power broker, several years ago, and came under the news media microscope in late 2000 for soliciting Mr. Clinton about a possible pardon for Michael Milken, the former junk-bond king and convicted felon. Subscribe to Forbes and Save. Follieri is just making this stuff up. When confronted with this, Burkle wont concede the point. At 13 years old, he worked part-time in . I was really bored and realized I like working and doing deals, he says. Then, in 1981, their son, John Burkle, arrived. Clinton writes of noticing that some stores were spared the widespread looting and arson in the riots and that he learned these outlets were owned by Ron Burkle, benefactor of the working poor. John Kasich, who is considering another run for president in 2020, recently met privately with billionaire investor and philanthropist Ron Burkle, who has a . [37] Inevitable Ventures's investment include Picnic Health, 8i, Thrive Market, and Wiser Care. He made at least one deal with the assistance of junk bond financier Michael Milken. On the way, he's tried to keep under the radareven if he does . She previously worked for the Washington Posts Style section, where she juggled writing with acting roles in small theaters and even a couple of TV shows. Mr. Burkle is a supermarket mogul and financier who, unlike some tycoons who court gossip columnists, has always said he prefers to be let alone. [98], Burkle also hosts events for The Rape Foundation at his Greenacres Estate. "[2], Burkle is a prominent Democratic activist and fundraiser. .css-1du65oy{color:#323232;display:block;font-family:NewParis,Georgia,Times,serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0.3125rem;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;-webkit-font-smoothing:auto;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-1du65oy:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-1du65oy{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-1du65oy{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1du65oy{font-size:1.3125rem;line-height:1.2;}}Alex Murdaugh Found Guilty, Damien Hirst Donated More than $10 Million to NHS, How to Help After Earthquake Hits Turkey, Syria, Jeff Bezos Pledges to Donate Most of His Wealth, Mastermind Behind Varsity Blues Gets 3.5 Years. To see his dad, Ron Burkle had to go to the store or help fix up the houses his dad owned. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Ronald Wayne Burkle (born November 12, 1952) is an American businessman. News that the liberal, California billionaire has emerged as a .css-gegin5{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#9a0500;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-gegin5:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}likely buyer for the National Enquirer is the latest startling twist in the long history of that tabloid, which was founded as a muck-raking New York weekly in 1926. "[110][111], In April 2006, Burkle accused New York Post columnist Jared Paul Stern of attempting to extort money from him in exchange for stopping the publication of stories in Page Six, the paper's gossip column, about his private life. [78] Clinton invested in a Yucaipa global fund focused on foreign companies. The daughters declaration was made in support of Janet Burkles 2003 application for a court restraining order, which was denied. But to those who know Burkle, its just also another step in his risky, decades-long tango with the gossip press. [89], Burkle is a trustee of The Scripps Research Institute, The Carter Center,[4][90] the National Urban League,[4][90] Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy[91] and AIDS Project Los Angeles. Current TVnow has 40 million subscribers and a new user-generated content agreement with Show you a videotape of them together?. In the next 17 years Burkle would do 16 deals, totaling almost $15 billion (11 involved grocery chains). Joe moved to San Diego from Oklahoma during World War II and took a job at a Safeway . Ron Burkle's La Jolla, Calif., mansion, which overlooks Black's Beach. They were bros before that word was even in vogue, having met in 1992 . Most recently, Burkle and his Yucaipa Cos. spearheaded a bid for the 12 Knight Ridder papers put up for sale by McClatchy Co. in March. He made pals of young stars, pumping $50 million into the apparel company of rap producer Sean (Diddy) Combs and rehabbing a New York City apartment as a crash pad with the actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who is 22 years his junior. When he was 13, Burkle joined the union local as a box boy. He is the co-founder and managing partner of The Yucaipa Companies, LLC, a private investment firm that specializes in U.S. companies in the distribution, logistics, food, retail, consumer, hospitality, entertainment, sports, and light industrial sectors. He wields tremendous influence, marvels Burkle, who is intent on doing much the same at much smaller companies. The son of California billionaire Ron Burkle was found dead at his home in Beverly Hills, California, the Los Angeles County coroner said Tuesday. You will be charged [109], In December 2020, Burkle, a former family friend of Michael Jackson, purchased Jackson's former Neverland Ranch property for $22 million as a "land banking opportunity. Burkle is also close with Bay Area power brokers, like former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and former state Sen. John Burton. Published Dec. 26, 2020 Updated May 4, 2021. Burkle eventually became a close friend and affiliate of Milken and with his help assembled a California supermarket empire. A billionaire former associate of Michael Jackson has purchased the pop star's former home, Neverland Ranch. In April he raised $1 million hosting a dinner for Hillary Clinton, a likely contender for the White House in 2008; shortly before the election Nancy Pelosi, the next speaker of the house, dropped by his office in Hollywood to say hello. President Clinton is unique, he brands us to people who matter. You may cancel your subscription at anytime by calling Burkle also reportedly sought a pardon from Clinton in 2000 for a close friend, former junk bond king Michael Milken. "He remembers where he came from.". [4][83] He has received numerous honors and awards from labor including the AFL-CIO Murray Green Meany Kirkland Community Service Award[84] and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Man of the Year. He secretly videotaped two private meetings between himself and Stern, with the second meeting orchestrated and monitored by the FBI. [113] In 2018, Follieri, who was deported back to Italy in 2012 after serving .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}4+12 years in prison for the scandal, stated that he and Burkle were once again on good terms and that Burkle was among the group of investors helping him acquire 50 percent in the Foggia Calcio soccer club in Southern Italy. This is such a tragic situation. Best coffee city in the world? [79][80], Burkle's honors and awards include the Los Angeles County, California Boy Scouts Jimmy Stewart "Good Turn" Award,[81] the AIDS Project Los Angeles Commitment to Life Award,[82] and the Los Angeles Urban League Whitney M. Young Award. In 2002, he told the FBI he had been contacted by the disgraced Hollywood private investigator, Anthony Pellicano, who had a reputation for starting the fires he charged clients to put out, with an offer to disappear a problem for $250,000. [12], At age 21, he married Janet Steeper, a Stater Bros. clerk and great-grandniece of the aviation pioneers, the Wright brothers. All of this adds up to a portrait of a very wealthy man who has a track record of engaging, not especially deftly, with the machinery that drives celebrity, power, and even national politics. It has mentioned Burkle 22 times in five years, often unflatteringly. As of Sept. 30, Yucaipa had invested $400 million of Calpers dollars, and the stake was worth $550 million to the pension fund after fees. A state appeals judge declared the law unconstitutional in May of this year, and Burkles file was unsealed once again. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Burkle also has hosted a fundraising cocktail party for Eliot Spitzer, scourge of Wall Street and the newly elected Democratic governor of New York. The application accused her husband of spying on her, their young son and her boyfriend. In the realm of scandals, too, Burkle, who made his billions from California supermarket chains, now appears to be in a league of his own. He also couldnt resist inserting himself into the corresponding milieu on the West Coast. He reportedly lost money in online ventures with former Hollywood super-agent Michael Ovitz. An unfolding federal investigation into possible extortion by a contributor to Page Six, The New York Post's popular and influential gossip page, has thrust Mr. Burkle, and the various gilded worlds he inhabits, into the national spotlight. $ + tax Burkle said her husband owned a private 757 jet and a helicopter. After last week's sale of four of the papers to rival bidder MediaNews Group, Yucaipa reportedly is still interested in pursuing the remaining eight papers on the block, which include the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. [6][7][8], Ron Burkle was born on November 12, 1952, the elder of two sons, to Betty and Joseph Burkle in Pomona, California. He got us in with the Teamsters, and thats important for deal flow going forward.. From 2018 until March, California private equity billionaire Ronald Burkle and his company worked closely with a top stadium designer, HNTB, and a leading stadium construction manager, M.A . PITTSBURGH -- Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle rescued the Pittsburgh Penguins out of bankruptcy more than 20 years ago, a decision that helped turn the team into one of the NHL's marquee franchises. Meanwhile, industry chatter about a Wasserman transaction spurred . In June 2004 California passed a law allowing divorce records to be sealed at the request of either spouse. Ronald W. Burkle and Janet E. Burkle were married on March 23, 1974. Its nearly 100 degrees and bone dry on a June day at Neverland Ranch. Harvey Weinstein gave some reporters book deals through the publishing arm of Miramax; other studio heads offered writers script development deals, and one top editor simply accepted bags of cash. She purchased business suits, gowns, cocktail dresses and garden party outfits. You will be notified in advance of any changes in rate or terms. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. People went around saying I was trying to be a do-gooder, he says. [26], On January 22, 2019, Burkle was announced as the new lead investor of soon-to-be Major League Soccer franchise, the Sacramento Republic FC. As of February 2023, Ron Burkle's net worth is estimated to be roughly $2 Billion. From the mid-1980's to the late 1990's, Yucaipa became Mr. Burkle's platform for assembling supermarket holdings in Southern California and elsewhere that made him one of the biggest grocers in the nation -- with stakes in stores like Food 4 Less, Ralph's, Dominick's and Fred Meyer. . Burkle owns two of entertainer Bob Hope's properties, acquiring his John Lautner-designed Palm Springs home for $13 million in 2016 and Toluca Lake, CA home, originally designed by Richard Finkelhor in the 1930s and expanded in the 1950s by John Elgin Woolf, for $15 million in 2017. [75], In 2004, Burkle helped finance the launch of Al Gore's Current TV,[76] which was sold in January 2013 to Qatar-based cable news channel Al Jazeera. In recent years he has raised $50 million for the Democratic Party; Greenacres, his 50,000-square-foot mansion on eight acres in Beverly Hills, hosts up to 40 political fundraisers in a year. Never. (Gore receives a portion of the profits and is believed to own a minority stake). No wonder, then, that Ron Burkle might be tempted to buy a printing press of his own. By the time Whole Foods Market, a natural-foods grocer, agreed to pay $565 million for Wild Oats, Burkle was the largest shareholder of Wild Oats. It was extensively covered in the Los Angeles Business Journal before the records were sealed. [48][49], In 2019, Burkle sold a 50% stake in the Sydell Group to MGM Resorts International. The associate, who requested anonymity because of the criminal investigation, added that Mr. Burkle enjoyed his relative anonymity. The Burkle fund, however, will have the curious feature that unions and their pension plans will be among the investors in it. Ronald Burkle. [29] However, Burkle never confirmed the news publicly before exiting the Sacramento Republic's ownership group. "He's probably the best employer we ever dealt with," said Ricardo Icaza, president of the Los Angeles local of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, who negotiated a number of labor contracts with Burkle when the billionaire owned supermarket chains like Ralphs and Food 4 Less. He would hint at holding back on deep job cutsthereby ensuring the unions their membership duesand they would offer concessions on work rules. More scorn for Burkle: In the mid-1990s he had contributed money to the campaigns of Governor Gray Davis, San Franciscos former mayor Willie Brown (his former lawyer) and State Treasurer Philip Angelides, and later Brown and Angelides joined the Calpers board. An auction is likelyand he hates auctions. Details of the deal, under which Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle will retain minority interests, were not announced, but Dejan Kovacevic has reported that it is worth $900 million. Burkle, who Forbes estimates is worth $1.5 billion, was a friend of Jackson who helped manage his money in the mid-2000s, according to the Journal. Ronald Wayne Burkle, 54, the California-born son of a grocery store manager, worked for his dad as a box boy, dropped out of college and put in 15 years at his dads store and the company that owned it. [22], Burkle's strong ties to union work also led him to be one of the owners helping Commissioner Gary Bettman negotiate an end to the 201213 NHL lockout. Golden State, one of McDonald's biggest suppliers, operates 11 distribution centers in the United States and abroad and two U.S. processing plants. In a letter to The Times, Burkles attorney, Patricia L. Glaser, disputed the allegations. He is joined by Eli Broad, who made his fortune (larger than Burkles) building homes and selling insurance. [17], Burkle is often seen as a businessman who maintains close relationships with labor unions and works with unions to solve business problems. Burkle worked his way up through the ranks until, as a senior executive, he tried to lead a leveraged buyout of the chain. Instead, on June 8, 2021, the NWSL announced San Diego as the location for an expansion team owned by Burkle, which began play as San Diego Wave FC in the 2022 NWSL season. The division of the Burkles fortune (Ronald Burkles worth has recently been estimated at more than $2 billion) had also been fiercely contested until this week. After working for many years to bring an MLS team to Sacramento, the League continues to believe it can be a great MLS market. Yahoo ", A California Billionaire Who Avoided the Spotlight Suddenly Finds Himself in It, https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/08/nyregion/a-california-billionaire-who-avoided-the-spotlight-suddenly-finds.html. Burkle is co-owner of the NHL team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, along with Mario Lemieux. [108], In December 2018, the Serbian Government opened a consulate in Montana and Burkle was named honorary consul of Serbia in the US. Hes invaluable, Burkle says of his idol. I never played Little League, we never had traditional family vacations. "[78], In 2009, Bill Clinton ended his relationship with Yucaipa due to potential conflicts of interest. Buyer Ron Burkle. But the reporter was too smart to take the proffered gym bag full of greenbacks, and the ensuing scandal coverage (my own rival tabloid was only too happy run it on the front page for weeks) was as messy as it was inconclusive. [102] Burkle owns Greenacres, an estate built for Harold Lloyd. He also ingratiated himself with unions that could be cantankerous and difficult to deal with, including the Teamsters and the United Food workers. He owns interests in two supermarket chains, Wild Oats, based in Colorado, and Pathmark, concentrated on the East Coast. The 720-strong chain is engaged in a fierce courtroom confrontation with Ron Burkle, a private equity tycoon whose Yucaipa investment vehicle has built a 19% stake in B&N and who is challenging a . 633 on Forbes' list of "The Richest People on The Planet 2014. "As the Penguins enter a new chapter, I will continue to be as active and engaged with the team as I always have been and look forward to continuing to build on our success with our incoming .