David Rubenstein is the son of a mailman and a stay-at-home mom. This is not something that happens very often, but it is something that he has done. Rubenstein has a net worth of $4 billion thanks to a long and successful career in alternative asset management and private equity. This means that he is now in the top 1% of the American population. He hasn’t forgotten where he came from, though, and he wants to pay back his good luck.
To do this, David Rubenstein has given a lot of money to education and health projects. He has also led what is called “patriotic philanthropy,” which has helped fix up several national monuments all over the United States. All of these things have earned him a lot of praise, and he has held top jobs at places like the Smithsonian Institute, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the Council on Foreign Relations.
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David Rubenstein Originally Trained as a Lawyer and Spent Several Years in Private and Public Practice
David Rubenstein may be a millionaire today, but his family’s roots are solidly in the workforce. David was born in 1941 in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of a UPS mailman and a high school dropout mother. The family didn’t have much in the way of worldly goods, but what they did have in love was more than enough. Because of this, young David was able to complete high school on schedule and earn his diploma. Afterward, he went to college at Duke and then law school at the University of Chicago, earning his law degree in 1973.
After graduating from law school, David Rubenstein moved to New York and joined Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison, a prominent New York legal firm. Before accepting a post as chief lawyer for then-Senator Birch Bayh on the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments, he worked for them for two years before deciding to enter public service.
Thanks to Sam Zell for joining me on @BloombergTV‘s Wealth with David Rubenstein. Here’s a snippet from our chat and a Bloomberg article. Sam’s advice to the Fed: “Raise interest rates significantly…as big as 75 basis points.” https://t.co/oq42YUN02g
— David M. Rubenstein (@DM_Rubenstein) July 12, 2022
In a year, Rubenstein was able to make an impression on the Democratic Party’s leadership. He ended up working on Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign and was later named the vice president’s domestic policy assistant when Carter won the election.
He Co-Founded A Private Equity Firm in 1987
Carter’s presidency ended in 1981, but David Rubenstein remained on the administration’s staff until then. After a period of unemployment, he returned to private practice. He, on the other hand, found it boring and set out in search of fresh experiences. Rubenstein was doing this when he came upon William Simon’s tremendous leverage buyout of Gibson Greeting Cards.
In 1982, Simon purchased the greeting card firm for $79 million with $1 million in cash and a loan. Following his turnaround of the business, he sold it in 1984 for $220 million, making a tidy profit for himself. As a result of Rubenstein’s interest, he began researching leveraged buyouts.
A private equity firm offered him the opportunity to become a legal consultant. In 1987, he co-founded Carlyle Group with William E. Conway Jr. and Daniel A. D’Aniello, a private equity firm that never materialized.
The Carlyle Group is The Second-Largest Private Equity Firm by Capital in the World
For their first investments and expenses, Rubenstein’s co-CEOs gathered $5 million from their investors in 1987. It wasn’t long before they were generating tens of millions of dollars for a variety of projects. To this day, The Carlyle Group has become the world’s leading alternative asset manager and leveraged buyout firm. Assets under control amount to $246 billion, and they employ 1,800 people in 31 offices on six continents.
The acquisition of China Pacific Insurance Company is among the firm’s noteworthy achievements. For two years, Rubenstein and his Carlyle Group plowed $800 million into China Pacific, which was on its verge of collapse, to secure a 17 percent ownership. It was also decided to change its product mix and implement performance-based incentives in the company’s management. By 2011, when the Carlyle Group’s 17 percent ownership in the company was sold off, its value had risen to almost $4.8 billion as a result of these initiatives.
In addition to DuPont Auto (purchased for $1.35 billion and sold for $5.8 billion, generating a profit of $4.5 billion) and Beats Electronics (spent $514 million and made $1.05 billion), the private equity firm made important deals in other areas. These deals now account for David Rubenstein’s wealth. Having invested in other people’s money, he receives a share of the earnings. He also has his investments as well.
David Rubenstein Has Several Books and TV Shows to His Credit
Rubenstein’s ventures into the media sector have made him a more well-known public figure over time. That path began about 2010 when he was elected president of the Washington Economic Club.
Most of the members of the group were not talented speakers, and Rubenstein found this out when he was asked to give a lecture. To keep things interesting, he decided to do interviews with them instead. Rubenstein’s interviews made the club more popular, and a Bloomberg executive saw one of them. They were able to get in touch with him and thus created a television show.
Bloomberg TV and PBS are now airing The David Rubenstein Show: Peer to Peer Conversation. Rubenstein has interviewed notables such as Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Oprah throughout the years, and the show is also webcast online.
PBS has given David Rubenstein a new show because of his success. The show, titled History with David Rubenstein, premiered in July 2020 and gives viewers an inside look at the development of the United States of America.
The author of at least two books, David Rubenstein is also a well-known face on the small screen. How to Lead (2019) and The American Story: An Interview with Master Historians (2020). This one involves historical experts, while the other features conversations with thought leaders from a variety of subjects.
The Lawyer-Turned-Business Magnate Has Committed Millions of Dollars to Education and Patriotic Philanthropy
In case you wondered what David Rubenstein spends his $4 billion net fortune on, then the answer is philanthropy. The businessman believes that it was good fortune that helped him rise beyond a blue-collar background and he is committed to helping others too. One of how he is accomplishing this is by aiding educational institutions. Rubenstein has donated tens of millions of dollars to the likes of Harvard University, John Hopkins University, University of Chicago, and Duke University.
These monies have been utilized to upgrade facilities. They have also been employed to give fellowships, internships, as well as scholarships to students of different backgrounds. In the domain of health, Rubenstein has contributed millions of dollars to establish a pancreatic cancer research center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He has also financed a center that is focused on recovering functional hearing loss at the John Hopkins School of Medicine.
The patriotic philanthropy movement is a subset of David Rubenstein’s work in philanthropy outside of health and education. Americans must learn about their country’s past, and the leveraged buyout kingpin is doing his part to protect the country’s historical landmarks.
Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument have received tens of millions of dollars in renovations from him. Additionally, he founded the repair of the residences of former American presidents such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
The Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Bill of Rights, the 13th Amendment, and the Bay Psalm Book have all been purchased by David Rubenstein as part of his patriotic philanthropy.
To ensure that the general public can have access to Rubenstein’s works, he has donated them to various government agencies. So that more people can learn about American history, become more informed members of the community and contribute to the betterment of our democracy, he accomplishes this
Key Facts
- David Rubenstein ranks amongst the 1000 richest persons in the world with a net worth of $4 billion.
- The son of a UPS mailman and a homemaker mother, he initially practiced as a lawyer for several years.
- He later gained interest in leveraged buyouts and set up a private equity firm, The Carlyle Group, in 1987 with two partners.
- The Carlyle Group is now a world leader in leveraged buyouts with over $246 billion worth of assets under management.
- Rubenstein has held top positions at distinguished institutions such as the Smithsonian Institute and The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.
- He has also hosted some TV shows and penned several books.
- The leveraged buyout legend has used his fortune to support education and health initiatives.
- He also believes in promoting American history and has funneled millions to his patriotic philanthropy.
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