Saul Steinberg was a billionaire corporate raider who was most noted for "green mailing" Walt Disney Productions for $40 Million in an attempted takeover in 1984. (New York Magazine, 19 June 2000)

Steinberg finished a degree from Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania within two years, graduating at age 18, and has not only been a major benefactor of the school, but was also the head of the board of Wharton for over 15 years.

He acquired a controlling stake in the Reliance Group in 1968, via a leveraged buyout. He later became the company's CEO. It filed for bankruptcy in 2001, a year after Steinberg was forced to sell his art collection and sell his duplex apartment at 740 Park Avenue in Manhattan for $37m to Stephen A. Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group (New York Magazine, 19 June 2000).

Together with Henry Silverman, Steinberg was responsible for the creation of Spanish-language media company Univision.

His daughter-in-law is CNBC host Maria Bartiromo, married to son Jonathan Steinberg.

Further reading

• Insurance Journal: Reliance Files For Bankruptcy
• " Forbes Face: Saul Steinberg"

References

Gross, Michael. 740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building, New York: Broadway Books, 2005.