36 Facts About Nicolas Berggruen

Nicolas Berggruen is a US-based billionaire investor and philanthropist.

Nicolas Berggruen is the founder and president of Berggruen Holdings, a private investment company and the co-founder and chairman of the Berggruen Institute, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank that works to address global governance issues.

In 2014, through the Institute, Berggruen launched Noema Magazine, formerly the WorldPost, a digital and print publication dedicated to exploring global issues.

Nicolas Berggruen is the son of art collector and dealer Heinz Berggruen and actress Bettina Moissi.

Nicolas Berggruen's father comes from a German Jewish family, and his mother was a Catholic Albanian and German, the daughter of actors Aleksander Moisiu and Herta Hambach.

Heinz Nicolas Berggruen was considered one of the world's greatest art collectors, having donated and sold works by Picasso, Klee, and Matisse to the Nicolas Berggruen Museum in Berlin, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and the National Gallery in London.

Nicolas Berggruen's mother played the female lead in the 1948 German Holocaust film Long Is the Road.

Nicolas Berggruen has two older half-siblings from his father's first marriage: John, an art dealer, and Helen, an artist.

At 16, Nicolas Berggruen passed his state exams in Paris before completing a baccalaureat in Paris as a candidat libre.

In 1978, Nicolas Berggruen moved to London, where he became fluent in English and trained Max Rayne at London Merchant Securities.

At age 17, Nicolas Berggruen moved to New York to attend New York University, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in Finance and International Business in 1981.

Between 1983 and 1987, Nicolas Berggruen was a Principal at Jacobson and Co.

Nicolas Berggruen moved back to New York and started investing in real estate and public stocks using his trust fund worth about $250,000.

Nicolas Berggruen later expanded to private equity, venture capital, and hedge funds.

In 2005, for the symbolic fee of 1 euro, Nicolas Berggruen bought the insolvent German retailer Karstadt, investing over 65 million euros and saving over 25,000 jobs.

In 2009, with his second fund, Liberty Acquisitions, Nicolas Berggruen bought Pearl Insurance, and in 2010, he bought a majority stake in the Spanish media group, Prisa, for a reported US$900 million.

In Tel Aviv, Nicolas Berggruen worked with architect Richard Meier to design a luxury-apartment complex on Rothschild Boulevard.

In 2012, through Nicolas Berggruen Holdings, Nicolas Berggruen was a primary investor and developer in Newark, New Jersey's Teachers Village.

In 2013, Nicolas Berggruen Holdings invested in the East Africa Exchange, a privately funded regional, agricultural commodities exchange in East Africa.

In 2010, Nicolas founded the Berggruen Institute, an independent think tank aiming to reshape political and social institutions on governance, economic systems, globalization, geopolitics, and technology.

Nicolas Berggruen launched the Institute after a series of organized discussions in California aimed at addressing the state's expanding debt.

In 2015, Nicolas Berggruen announced the launch of the Nicolas Berggruen Philosophy and Culture Center.

Nicolas Berggruen's father was an influential art dealer and collector who left a legacy of donations to various museums.

Nicolas Berggruen's youngest brother, Olivier Berggruen, is an art historian and curator.

An avid collector in the early 1980s and 1990s, while living in NYC, Nicolas Berggruen began collecting Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Nicolas Berggruen is the head of the Board of the Nicolas Berggruen Museum in Berlin.

Nicolas Berggruen is a member of the Los Angeles County Museum, the International Councils of the Tate Gallery in London, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York as well as a member of the Beyeler Foundation, the International Council of the Serpentine Gallery, and Sotheby's International Advisory Board.

Nicolas Berggruen is an International Ambassador of The Feuerle Collection, based in Berlin.

In cooperation with LACMA, Nicolas Berggruen has been making acquisitions intended for the museum.

In 2021, Nicolas Berggruen signed a preliminary agreement to purchase the Casa dei Tre Oci on the Giudecca island in Venice, with plans to use the space to host symposia, workshops and exhibitions in partnership with major museums.

Nicolas Berggruen is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Director on the Board of the Pacific Council on International Policy, a member of Foro Iberoamericano, a member of the Helena Group, and a member of the Commission on Global Ethics and Citizenship.

Nicolas Berggruen was named a member of the Brookings Institution's International Advisory Council and the NYU President's Global Council.

Nicolas Berggruen is a member of the World Economic Forum.

Nicolas Berggruen was honored by his alma mater, NYU Stern, at the 2016 Haskins Giving Society Award Dinner for his commitment to business and public service.

Nicolas Berggruen retained his Gulfstream IV private jet, noting that it is too "practical" to dispense with.

From 2012, Nicolas Berggruen purchased several apartments in the Sierra Towers, where he lived for several years.