Michael Nierenberg

Michael Nierenberg burst onto the scene in mid-2025, when Rithm Capital emerged as the lead bidder for Paramount Group. The deal meant the firm took on a publicly traded REIT with 13 million square feet of office in New York City and San Francisco. 

Nierenberg was not a known entity to NYC real estate insiders, but his company was among the industry’s most dominant players in mortgage servicing. 

Under Nierenberg, the firm rebranded from New Residential to Rithm Capital in 2022 and aggressively expanded into new lines of business. A string of acquisitions, including a $17 billion deal for asset manager Sculptor Capital Management and Crestline, brought Rithm to over $100 billion in investible assets. 

Rithm’s acquisition of Paramount Group, a troubled office firm with lengthy corporate governance concerns, was a surprise. Rithm was not a large commercial real estate operator.

But Nierenberg knows real estate and a good deal. 

He started his career at Lehman Brothers, working as a bond trader before eventually leading Merrill Lynch’s mortgage and commercial real estate securitized products. With Paramount, Nierenberg saw a dislocation in the market. The value of Paramount assets, mostly low-end Class A buildings in Manhattan and San Francisco, was much more than the public markets showed. Given the steady trajectory of the office market, his bet could prove to be his best yet.