#1 – Patrick Soon-Shiong
Net Worth: $6 billion +62%
Last Year: $3.7 billion
Age: 56
Residence: West Los Angeles
Source of Wealth: Pharmaceuticals
The Money:
Savvy South African-born researcher and surgeon sold generic drug maker APP Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $3.7 billion last year ?with his take 80 percent.
The Buzz:
Befitting a year in which fortunes based on real estate and finances were pummeled, L.A.? newest billionaire king is none other than a bespectacled scientist.
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a former UCLA researcher and developer of a cutting-edge cancer drug, vaulted from No. 7 to the top of the Wealthiest Angelenos list ?with a bullet.
The biotech entrepreneur, who holds no fewer than 30 patents, saw his wealth increase by an astounding 62 percent at a time when other billionaires counted themselves lucky to break even.
Soon-Shiong had a huge payday last year when German health care company Fresenius SE handed over $3.7 billion for his generic-drug maker APP Pharmaceuticals ?a once-downtrodden company he bought for just $75 million a decade ago.
? don’t feel any different, except that I have more liquidity to accelerate the things we want to do,?he told the Business Journal a few months back.
That giant cash payout makes up the majority of his fortune today, but generic penicillin is not what has driven the South African native for the past decade. He has largely focused on gaining approval and now expanding markets for the fruit of his long research career: the breast cancer drug Abraxane, a new class of drug based on nanotechnology.
Abraxane, manufactured by his other company, Abraxis BioScience Inc., saw its sales top $300 million last year and is now a certifiable hit. Though the share price of the West L.A. company is a bit off, it accounts for $1.6 billion of his net worth.
But the restless Soon-Shiong is already moving on to new challenges, perhaps reflecting his personal history: He grew up the son of Chinese immigrant parents in apartheid-era South Africa, broke barriers in the country? segregated medical community and moved to the United States to pursue his medical research.
He retired last month as chief executive of Abraxis BioScience, though he continues as chairman and still controls 83 percent of shares. But he? keeping his hand in the laboratory as chief executive of spinoff Abraxis Health, formed in January to develop cutting-edge technologies to fight disease.
He? also racking up frequent-flier miles to the East Coast to help shepherd a public-private initiative to create a national medical information system intended to speed medical breakthroughs and improve patient care.
And as Soon-Shiong approaches 60 he is starting to act like the billionaire he is. Several years ago he began quietly investing in real estate, amassing a considerable portfolio of commercial and residential properties in Southern California and elsewhere. He? also focused on his charitable giving during a tough time.
“I see the tragedy of philanthropists and foundations really having to pull back because of the terrible economic times,?he said. “The fact that we now have the resources makes it not only a privilege, but an obligation to step up.”
Last year, learning that the El Capitan Theater was on the market, Soon-Shiong decided that the iconic Hollywood landmark should be owned by an Angeleno; he scooped up the building for an undisclosed amount.
Soon-Siong and his wife, former film actress Michele Chan, recently founded the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation, which seeks to fund research and erase disparities in access to health care. Even before the foundation opened its doors, the couple pledged more than $55 million to Santa Monica? St. John? Health Center.
Soon-Shiong enjoys stability in his home life. He? known his wife since their college days in South Africa, and for all his wealth the couple and their two teenage children continue to live quietly in the same West L.A. home they?e had for years.
Surprisingly, Soon-Shiong was a major contributor to the success of California’s infrastructure bond sale in March. He bought $1 billion of the $6.54 billion bonds sold.
Not only was it a good investment in turbulent times, it reflected the fact that not only has the doctor made it, he’d found a permanent home.
“I wanted to send a message that I believe in the innovative promise of this state and plan to support it,” he said.
