Perenchio

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5) A. Jerrold Perenchio (down arrow)

Age: 67

Residence: Beverly Hills

Source of Wealth: Entertainment, media

Net Worth: $1.9 billion

Last Year’s Rank: 4

Background: This son of a winemaker teamed with Norman Lear in the mid-’70s to head distribution for Lear’s Tandem Productions. Became multi-millionaire when he and Lear sold Tandem to Coca-Cola for $485 million. With the help of Venezuela’s Venevision and Mexico’s Televisa, he bought Univision Communications Inc. from Hallmark for $500 million. Univision is the largest Spanish-language broadcasting company in the U.S. (includes KMEX-TV Channel 34 in Los Angeles). Network reaches more than 95 percent of the nation’s 25 million Latinos. Owns land in Malibu, with offices in Century City.

Money Track: Sold more than $750 million worth of Univision stock (about 20.4 million shares) at the beginning of 1998, reducing his holdings from 40 percent to 20 percent. Still holds about 78.5 percent of voting power. Wall Street has taken notice of Univision’s recent success. Stock was trading around $36 a year ago and is now at $55, pushing the value of Perenchio’s holdings to about $1.1 billion.

Buzz: Publicity shy, he rarely talks to the press. Has become a financial force in California politics. Contributed $3.1 million to statewide campaigns in 1998, including $1.5 million in an unsuccessful effort to defeat Prop. 227, the measure to end bilingual education. Lifelong Republican, though he gave $10,000 to President Clinton’s legal defense fund. Played both sides in the gubernatorial race, giving $200,000 to Republican Dan Lungren and $225,000 to Democrat Gray Davis.

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