The $40M buyer: They’re often not bold-faced names, but understated millionaires in obscure fields

From the January issue: Forget fame and glamour: The buyers of Manhattan’s most costly real estate are often not the boldfaced names that appear in the gossip pages.

Those spending $40 million or more on a home are seldom bankers, starlets, tech billionaires or Russian oligarchs and their children, brokers say. Instead, these big spenders often tend to have roots in the working classes, making their fortunes from manufacturing, inventions and sales. [more]