San Francisco Chronicle (CA) - May 2, 2006
Author: James Sterngold, Chronicle Staff Writer
Billionaires often seem more or less alike, doing what all superrich people do, only more so. Then there's RonBurkle .
Billionaires generally have big houses. 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.
Billionaires often have private jets at their beck and call. Burkle has a Boeing 757 with its own bedroom suite.
And billionaires certainly attract famous friends. One of Burkle ‘s closest pals is former President Bill Clinton, who heads a group of high-flying politicians with whom he is close.
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 is not just quarreling with the New York Post's catty gossip bible, Page Six — a favorite billionaire sport — he is engaged in the Desert Storm of publicity wars with the newspaper, alleging that the paper has acted improperly.
Secret tape
After enduring what he has said was a string of inaccurate items, published over the last year, Burkle said he had had enough. When a Post gossip writer, Jared Paul Stern, said he could help improve the former supermarket tycoon's coverage, Burkle set up a meeting and secretly videotaped Stern — with federal law enforcement officials reportedly monitoring the process — apparently trying to extort $220,000 in return for favorable publicity. At least that's how Burkle describes the encounter, which has sent a titillating rush through gossip pages and newspapers across the country.
But if Burkle and his phalanx of publicists and lawyers thought the “gotcha!” — quickly leaked to newspapers — would quiet the baying hounds, he overestimated his clout, at least in the big leagues of scandal. For a man who says he is just trying to protect his privacy, Burkle has just invited a torrent of even greater scrutiny.
Stern is unbowed; he says the video was a trap and that he was seeking an investment in a clothing company not a bribe. And Stern, who has been suspended by the Post but was recently the guest editor for Gawker, a gossipy Web site, and Page Six have continued to attack Burkle with undisguised glee.
They have insinuated, for instance, that Burkle , who is divorced, and Clinton were first introduced by a “lovely young lady;” that Burkle carefully avoided sitting next to some beautiful models at a Lionel Ritchie concert recently to conceal his womanizing; and that another mansion of his, in La Jolla (San Diego County), is a love nest.
Burkle did not return calls requesting comment. But for many people who have known Burkle for years and done business with him, this unseemly spectacle is an inexplicable paradox. Several described him as a surprisingly low-key, civic-minded businessman who got ahead by treating his workers well.
“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. “I have done a lot of things with him and he never looked for publicity. Never. You'd never suspect he's a billionaire.”
Indeed, Burkle has marched with the United Farm Workers and has long been a friend to the unions, which have given him many awards. 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. The bid was backed by the union representing workers at many of those papers.
Newspaper bid
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.
Burkle is rarely seen wearing anything other than blue jeans and black shirts, and, according to friends, can put greater effort into avoiding publicity than courting it.
Nonetheless, Burkle enjoys the wealth he has accumulated as one of California's most successful entrepreneurs, particularly as a single man often seen in the company of celebrities, models like Gisele Bundchen and other attractive young women.
He has also gained some notoriety because of the litigation in his messy divorce from his former wife, Janet. It was extensively covered in the Los Angeles Business Journal before the records were sealed.
Among the disclosures were that he reportedly had a private investigator follow and harass his ex-wife and her personal-trainer boyfriend — allegations Burkle has denied — and that he won a lawsuit filed by his 30-year-old daughter, Carrie, who claimed he owed her money taken from an investment fund.
Burkle has given millions of dollars to politicians and carefully cultivated close relationships with leaders up and down the state, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
On April 21, he held a fundraiser at Green Acres for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. Clinton's husband, meanwhile, sits on the board of Burkle ‘s investment company, the Yucaipa Cos., and reportedly shares in the profits of successful investments.
Burkle is also close with Bay Area power brokers, like former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and former state Sen. John Burton. “All I know him to be is a very decent guy,” said Burton, who described Burkle as unassuming and earnest in his efforts to use his wealth to help working-class people. “He remembers where he came from.”
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.
Linda Griego, a former Los Angeles deputy mayor, ran Rebuild LA, the organization that sought to rehabilitate the devastated inner city after the Rodney King riots in 1992. Burkle joined the board at her request and was enormously helpful, she said, making but one demand in return.
“He said, ‘I'll do anything I can to help, but I don't want any publicity,’ “ Griego recalled.
In the spotlight
With the Page Six imbroglio, that image of a powerful man with a low-key personality has now been turned on its head. The man feted as AFL-CIO humanitarian of the year and the Los Angeles County Boy Scouts Jimmy Stewart person of the year, and who is the namesake of the Burkle Center for International Relations at UCLA — to mention but a few of his honors — is known on Gawker’s salacious Web site and on Page Six as the “greasy grocer,” “babe-loving billionaire,” “paunchy merchant prince” and, perhaps most hurtful of all, “evil rich guy.”
The claims have generally focused on his alleged womanizing and his supposed hypocrisy in claiming he hates publicity.
The one instance many cite when Burkle appears to have tried to throw his weight around — though he has denied it — is a bill in the state Legislature criticized by many legal and First Amendment rights groups that would make it easier to seal the records in divorce cases. Critics of Burkle point out that the records in his divorce have been temporarily sealed at his request until the legal issues are resolved and appeals concluded.
Burkle also reportedly sought a pardon from Clinton in 2000 for a close friend, former junk bond king Michael Milken. The effort failed.
Burkle was raised in Claremont, a quiet town in suburban San Bernardino County. His father was an executive at the Stater Bros. supermarket chain and Burkle , armed with nothing more than a high school diploma, started at the stores as a bag boy, said Frank Quintero, Burkle ‘s political adviser and the son of a Glendale City Council member.
Burkle worked his way up through the ranks until, as a senior executive, he tried to lead a leveraged buyout of the chain. He failed and was fired in 1986.
But, Quintero said, he won the support of the group that had offered financing for the attempted buyout, including Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, and other financiers in the company's circle. Burkle eventually became a close friend and affiliate of Milken and with his help assembled a California supermarket empire.
He eventually sold the chains, including Alpha Beta, Ralphs and Food 4 Less, to Kroger for nearly $13 billion in 1999. Previously, he bought Chicago's Dominick's chain and sold it to Safeway for $1.2 billion, earning himself and his investors enormous returns.
But he has had poor investments, too. He reportedly lost money in online ventures with former Hollywood super-agent Michael Ovitz. Several online companies went nowhere — including search engine Scour.Net, CheckOut.com, which sold entertainment, and GameSpy Industries Inc. for online gamers. Burkle and Ovitz also failed in a high-profile campaign to win a professional football franchise for Los Angeles. Burkle operates his businesses through a series of private investment funds under his main vehicle, the Yucaipa Cos. He owns interests in two supermarket chains, Wild Oats, based in Colorado, and Pathmark, concentrated on the East Coast. He is also a part owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team and a major investor in rap mogul Sean Combs’ Sean John clothing company. His investment company recently acquired Garrard, the famous British jewelry company.
And despite his penchant for privacy and modesty, some of his activities seem to offer social prominence. A board member of the Getty Trust and other museums, he's a major collector of everything from old Masters to post-Impressionist works.
Even some of his friends look at the contrast between such ostentatious displays of wealth and the more down-to-earth image Burkle tries to cultivate and scratch their heads.
“We went to his house once when we were negotiating a labor contract and I couldn't believe what an affluent person he is,” said Icaza, the union leader. “But he never acted like he was one of those billionaires you read about. I don't understand all this stuff you hear now. “ -———————————————————————
RonBurkle
Age: 53
Born: Claremont, San Bernardino County
Business triumphs: Sold Alpha Beta, Ralphs and Food 4 Less chains to Kroger for nearly $13 billion in 1999. Sold Dominick's to Safeway for $1.2 billion. Current investor in P. Diddy’s Sean John clothing line and part-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Business failures: Backed several dot-bombs including the Scour.Net search engine and the CheckOut.com entertainment site. Also failed to win a professional football franchise to replace the Rams.
Stephen Bing, left, with Ron Burkle and Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton, with his arm around a 19-year-old NYUer named Rachel, photographed on Ron Burkle's private plane.
Green Acres, the lavish former Harold Lloyd estate now owned by supermarket mogul Ron Burkle.
Clinton already has visited twice in preparation for her March 24 gala, which will be at the Beverly Hills home of Ron Burkle. Tickets are $4,600 for a VIP reception and dinner, and $2,300 just for the dinner. (The campaign is raising money both for the primary and the general election). The chairs of Clinton's event are Burkle, Cheryl and Haim Saban, Steve Bing, Debra and Sim Farar and Daphna and Richard Ziman. Co-chairs are Susan and Scott Corwin, Kimberly Marteau and John Emerson, Carol Hamilton and David Khon, Norman Hsu, Noah Mamet, Lisa and Brad Mindlin, Jane and Marc Nathanson, Eric Smidt and Laura and Casey Wasserman.
The host committee includes Eileen Austen, Jacqueline and Clarence Avant, Irv Bauman, Carol and Frank Biondi, Katie Buckland, Michel Chagouri, Lissa and Adam Chesnoff, Laura Chick, Bruce Cohen, Aileen Adams and Geoff Cowan, Gray and Sharon Davis, Alex De Ocampo, Tal Finney, Leah and Sam Fischer, Earl Gales, Chad Griffin, Laura Hartigan, Yashar Hedayat, Amy and Andy Heyward, Ruth Hunter and Sean Daniel, Marta Kauffman, Skip Keesal, Michael Kives, Toni Holt and Robert Kramer, Jennifer Long, Paul Marciano, Leah Mendelsohn, Tom O'Gara, Debra Olson, Richard Park, Kelly and Jamie Patricof, Rashel Pouri, Teddie and Michael Ray, Lynda and Stewart Resnick, Aviva and Dan Rosenthal, Lila Sadafi, Diane Lander Simon, Ari Swiller, Beverly Thomas, Sherri and Stanley Toy, William Wardlaw, Brian Weinstein and Denita and Anthony Willoughby. (March 14, 2007)
Burkle's La Jolla pleasure dome