The Billionaires Are at It AgainRonald Lauder has another quibble with term limits, and Tom Golisano says he’ll finance an ad campaign against extending them.
Chris Smith: A Bloomberg Oligarchy?Our columnist wonders at the forces that made Bloomberg feel that skirting the rules for a third term was necessary: namely, his cadre of mogul friends.
The ‘Journal’ Blows the Lauder Clan’s Mild Awkwardness Wide OpenToday, The Wall Street Journal digs into the dirt surrounding the Lauder family, one of New York’s most influential business and social clans. Okay, so they don’t get into that much dirt, but, for the Journal, it feels positively juicy. According to the blaring headline, tensions are “Roiling” the Lauder dynasty! See, the Estée Lauder Companies are going to have a permanent non-Lauder CEO for the first time ever this year. And even though we’ve known that for months, Rupert Murdoch the Journal editors felt that readers deserved a look into the personal lives of Estée’s heirs. What do we learn? Well
• Former CEO and current chairman Leonard Lauder hasn’t done the best job of ceding power to his son, William, who is the current CEO (he has a bigger office! And he writes notes!).
• Leonard’s brother, Ronald, has borrowed a lot against his company’s shares and recently unloaded $100 million of them (but he’s still confident in the company!).
• Ronald loves art!
gossipmonger
The Battle for CongressCosmetics heir Ronald Lauder wants to overthrow booze heir Edgar Bronfman as World Jewish Congress chief. Two openly gay members of the state Assembly refuse to sponsor a gay-marriage bill out of fear of alienating Speaker Sheldon Silver. Senator Chuck Schumer spent a year writing his book, and used Al Gore as a consultant. Victoria Beckham won’t convert to Scientology, because it’s too expensive. Lindsay, Paris, and Britney were all no-shows at Scott Storch’s birthday party last month, but Derek Jeter and Ludacris were there.
cultural capital
Steinhardt, Lauder — But Not Picasso — Help Set Art Record
Some masterpieces were missing from the record-setting Christie’s Impressionist auction last night, but a slew of boldfaced names showed up to bid, undaunted.
The night ended with $491 million in sales, making it the biggest art auction ever, and paddles were waving right out of the gate. Florida Marlins owner Jeffrey Lauria outbid several opponents for lot No. 5, a Piet Mondrian study for “Broadway Boogie Woogie” that went for $3.3 million. Michael Steinhardt, seated with his wife, Judy, outbid powerhouse art dealer Jeffrey Deitch for another Mondrian study just a minute later, paying $2.1 million. And that was just the beginning.
