Net Worth:

$2 billion -50%

Last Year:

$4 billion*

Residence:

West Los Angeles

Source of Wealth:

Oil, real estate,

entertainment

The Money:

Questions raised since eldest daughter Patricia Davis Raynes filed suit against the family estate in late 2005 have led media outlets with sources familiar with Marvin Davis’ complex financial arrangements to lower the family’s wealth to below $1 billion. Until more facts are made public, the Business Journal is adjusting the family’s net worth to $2 billion. Distribution of the estate is also unclear. The 2006 estimate was further reduced by $2 billion to reflect liquidation of oil and real estate holdings in recent years holdings far less valuable than Davis himself indicated they were worth a few years before his death in 2004.

Buzz:

Marvin Davis sold much of the family’s oil contracts and leases before his death. Last year, the remaining operations, Davis Petroleum Corp. and its subsidiaries, filed for Chapter 11 and were sold for $150 million. After paying off creditors, the family reportedly only netted $31.5 million from the deal. Son Gregg still has an 8.8 percent stake in Davis Petroleum, where he continues to serve as chief executive. Daughter Patricia’s suit against the petroleum company, her mother and siblings, claimed her father stole hundreds of millions of dollars from a trust fund given to her by her grandfather. That litigation continues. The Davis family made its fortune nearly 50 years ago, drilling for oil in Colorado. In the 1980s and 1990s Davis leveraged his wildcat earnings into control of extensive entertainment and real estate properties in California and the Colorado Rockies. At one time he controlled 20th Century Fox studios, Pebble Beach golf resort and resort owner Aspen Ski Co., all sold years ago. Son Jon Davis is head of Davis Entertainment Co. and Davis Entertainment Television. Has produced nearly 80 feature films and TV movies, ranging from the 1980s Predator series to the 2007 Eddie Murphy comedy “Norbit.” Family long active in charitable causes. After daughter Dana was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes in 1977, Barbara Davis founded two diabetes charities. She also founded the Nancy Davis Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis after daughter Nancy was diagnosed with the disease. Barbara continues to chair the Carousel of Hope, which had been one of Hollywood’s most glittering galas when the family still resided at the historic Knoll estate in Beverly Hills. Barbara sold the mansion after husband’s death and has new Westside home.

*recalculated, see copy above