Here’s a fun fact: New York City has more billionaires than any other city on the planet.
Last month, Forbes reported that 79 billionaires call the Big Apple home, besting Hong Kong, which has 68 members of the 10-digit-net-worth club, followed by Moscow with 60, Beijing with 51 and London with 48.
New York’s billionaires are worth a combined $364.6 billion, according to the magazine.
While many of NYC’s billionaires made their fortunes in finance and media, 11 of them built — or inherited — real estate empires, including Stephen Ross, Richard LeFrak, Donald Trump, Jerry Speyer, Leonard Stern, Sheldon Solow, John Catsimatidis, Jeff Sutton, Mortimer Zuckerman, David Walentas, Alexander Rovt and Leon Charney (who died last month). While their commercial holdings are well documented, their personal residences are less so.
This month, The Real Deal searched news reports and property records to map out where in Manhattan these billionaires rest their heads. While many of their homes were not publicly listed, below is a look at some of the most notable names and addresses we found.
17 East 79th Street
#1 Michael Bloomberg
Net worth: $40 billion
17 East 79th Street
Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg — founder of the Bloomberg media empire — made headlines in 2002 when he rebuffed the chance to live at Gracie Mansion in favor of his Beaux-Arts townhouse on 79th Street. He reportedly paid $3.5 million for the five-story limestone mansion in 1986 and over the years has quietly bought out neighboring units at 19 East 79th to expand his 12,500-square-foot abode. The mega-townhouse is one of more than a dozen homes Bloomberg reportedly owns around the world.
#2 David Koch
Net worth: $39.6 billion
740 Park Avenue
David Koch — one half of the Koch brothers, the politically conservative pair that have bankrolled conservative politicians and causes nationwide — reportedly shelled out $18 million in 2004 for an 18-room duplex at 740 Park, the exclusive building that Ronald Lauder, Stephen Schwarzman and other business magnates call home. The pad, formerly owned by the Japanese government, underwent a two-year renovation by edgy architect Peter Marino before Koch moved in with his family.
One Madison Avenue
#3 Rupert Murdoch
Net worth: $10.6 billion
One Madison Avenue; 278 West 11th Street
In February 2014, after splitting up with his now-ex-wife Wendy Deng (and their penthouse at 834 Fifth), the News Corp. mogul shelled out $57.3 million for two units at One Madison: a three-bedroom condo on the 57th floor intended as guest quarters and a 6,800-square-foot triplex penthouse. Murdoch was reportedly living in the three-bedroom unit while the penthouse was under construction. But in April, he put the penthouse back on the market for $72 million. Murdoch also paid $25 million in 2014 for a Greek Revival townhouse on West 11th Street that he temporarily had on the market, asking $29 million, though it’s unclear if he or anyone else was living there.
#4 Stephen Schwarzman
Net worth: $9.5 billion
740 Park Avenue
The chairman and CEO of private equity giant Blackstone Group snagged a triplex at this storied Upper East Side co-op in 2001, paying $30 million for an apartment spanning the 15th through 17th floors. While his daughter, Elizabeth “Zibby” Right and her husband threw down $35 million on a penthouse at 775 Park last year, Schwarzman has been sitting tight for a while.
40 West 10th Street
#5 Sean Parker
Net worth: $2.4 billion
40 West 10th Street
The Napster co-founder and former Facebook president plunked down $20 million in 2011 on a converted carriage house in Greenwich Village known as Bacchus House. In 2014, neighbors complained when Parker brought in construction crews to dig up part of the street to deliver faster Internet service to the house, which also has an indoor pool. Parker bought the home from Italian liquor heir Enrico Cinzano, who owned it for two decades.
#6 Leon Black
Net worth: $4.5 billion
19 East 70th Street
The founder of Apollo Global Management and his Broadway producer wife, Debra, paid a massive $50.3 million in 2014 for their townhouse, the home of art gallery Knoedler & Company. British developer Christian Candy paid $35 million for it in 2013, before selling it to the Blacks.
2 Sutton Square
#7 Margaretta Taylor
Net worth: $6.4 billion
2 Sutton Square
The philanthropist and Cox Communications heir paid nearly $10 million in 2001 for this five-story townhouse on Sutton Square, a cul-de-sac at the end of East 58th Street. Previously owned by Hit Factory owner Edward Germano, the 6,500-square-foot house came with a personal movie theater, recording studio, library and rooftop terrace with views of the East River.
#8 Henry Kravis
Net worth: $4.2 billion
625 Park Avenue
The co-founder of private equity powerhouse KKR & Co. reportedly snagged the penthouse at 625 Park Avenue in 1994 for a cool $15 million from Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, the twin sister of the Shah of Iran. The 1931, 28-unit building is also home to billionaire Ira Rennert, who made his fortune by using junk bonds to buy bankrupt companies.
1040 Fifth Avenue
#9 Glenn Dubin
Net worth: $2 billion
1040 Fifth Avenue
Highbridge Capital Management’s managing partner paid $32 million in 2006 for the 5,300-square-foot apartment at 1040 Fifth that once belonged to former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The seller, billionaire David Koch, previously paid $9.5 million for the 15th-floor unit, which features a library, conservatory, three fireplaces and two terraces.
#10 Peter Peterson
Net worth: $1.6 billion
810 Fifth Avenue
The Blackstone co-founder and former Secretary of Commerce dropped a hefty $37.8 million in 2007 for the 5,000-square-foot penthouse at 810 Fifth Avenue. The seller? Music executive David Geffen, who paid $31.5 million in 2006 for the co-op, which was originally part of a triplex owned by former U.S. Vice President (and N.Y. Governor) Nelson Rockefeller.
176 East 72nd Street
#11 Jerry Speyer
Net worth: $4 billion
176 East 72nd Street
The Tishman Speyer co-founder spent an estimated $10 million to build this 7,900-square-foot limestone mansion. Speyer reportedly paid $3 million in 1997 for adjoining Victorian brownstones at 174 and 176 East 72nd, which he later demolished to make way for the three-story house, which includes five fireplaces, a basement swimming pool and two gardens.
#12 Israel Englander
Net worth: $5 billion
740 Park Avenue
The founder of the hedge fund Millenium Management paid $71.3 million for an 18-room duplex at 740 Park in 2014 — the priciest ever co-op deal in New York at the time. Englander, who already owned an apartment on the 14th floor in the building, picked up the duplex, which is on the 12th and 13th floors, from the government of France.
150 Central Park South
#13 Julian Robertson Jr.
Net worth: $3.6 billion
150 Central Park South
The hedge funder and founder of Tiger Management Corp. picked up the 27th-floor at the Hampshire House for $3.9 million in 1994, following the death of the prior owner, opera singer and philanthropist Alice Tully, who cobbled together the full-floor spread between 1959 and 1968. Still, Robertston went to great lengths to ensure he wasn’t considered a full-time city resident in the eyes of the IRS. In 2010, he managed to save $27 million in city income taxes after proving he spent more than half of 2000 outside NYC.
#14 John Paulson
Net worth: $9.7 billion
9 East 86th Street
The hedge funder behind Paulson & Co. got quite the deal on a 28,000-square-foot townhouse at 9 East 86th Street, which he bought for $14.7 million in 2004, according to property records. According to news reports, the property was listed for $27 million just a few years earlier. The six-story neo-Georgian house, sold by the Town Club, the venerable Manhattan social institution, has a swimming pool and two elevators.
740 Park Avenue
#15 Howard Marks
Net worth: $1.9 billion
740 Park Avenue
The co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management and his wife, Nancy, paid a whopping $52.5 million in 2012 for a massive 30-room co-op at the posh building. The priciest co-op sale at the time, the spread is comprised of side-by-side duplex apartments on the 12th and 13th floors, with six terraces and seven fireplaces.
#16 Adam Neumann
Net worth: $1.5 billion
41 West 11th Street
The WeWork co-founder may preach communal working, but for his living quarters he’s all about a single-family setup. Neumann and his wife, actress and filmmaker Rebekah Paltrow Neumann, snagged a $10.5 million Greenwich Village townhouse in 2013. Earlier this year, the Neumanns also picked up a 60-acre farm in Westchester’s Pound Ridge.