Dirk Edward Ziff

Dirk Edward Ziff
Born1965 (age 59–60)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materColumbia University (BA)
Harvard University (MBA)
OccupationInvestor
Known forInheritance, Investments
SpouseNatasha Bacigalupo
Children2
Parent(s)William Bernard Ziff Jr.
Barbara Ingrid Beitz
RelativesDaniel M. Ziff
Robert D. Ziff

Dirk Edward Ziff (born 1965) is an American billionaire businessman, the eldest son of publishing magnate William Bernard Ziff Jr. and grandson of William Bernard Ziff Sr. He and his two brothers inherited the family fortune in 1994.

Early life and education

Dirk Ziff was born in 1965. His mother was Barbara Ingrid Beitz, an ethnic German whose parents were awarded the "Righteous among the Nations" honorific by the State of Israel for providing refuge and risking their lives to save Jews during World War II.[1] His father was the Jewish American media magnate William Ziff Jr. (d. 2006), who had built the Ziff-Davis magazine empire founded by William Bernard Ziff Sr. that included titles such as Popular Aviation, PC Magazine, and Car and Driver.[2]

In 1981, Ziff graduated from the Trinity School in New York City where his father served as trustee.[3] He later earned a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in 1988 and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University.[2][4]

Career

Ziff and his brothers Daniel and Robert inherited the family fortune in 1994 after their father sold 95% of the business to Forstmann Little for $1.4 billion and retired. William Ziff Jr. had originally wanted to pass the company on to his sons but they were not interested.[5] Instead, they formed New York City-based Ziff Brothers Investments, investing their inheritances broadly across equities, debt, real estate, commodities, private equity and hedge funds. They also provided seed money to fund manager Daniel Och in exchange for a 10% stake in Och-Ziff Capital Management which went public in 2007.[6] The brothers dissolved Ziff Brothers Investments in 2014 and now invest independently.[6]

In 2006, he served as a founding board member of the Robin Hood Foundation.[7] In 2013, the Association of Surfing Professionals (since renamed the World Surf League) was acquired by ZoSea, an investment vehicle owned by Ziff along with Paul Speaker and Terry Hardy.[8][9]

Personal life

Ziff is married to the former Forbes magazine reporter Natasha Bacigalupo.[10] The couple lives in North Palm Beach, Florida[6] and vacations at their Martha's Vineyard home. They have two children.

In 2017, Ziff resigned from the board of The Weinstein Company along with fellow board members Marc Lasry and Tim Sarnoff, after allegations of sexual assault were disclosed.[11]

In 2021, Ziff sold his family estate in Manalapan for $94 million. It had initially been listed for $200 million in 2015. It was bought by Jim Clark, who then sold it to Larry Ellison for $173 million in 2022.[12][13]

References

  1. ^ Yad Vashem: The Righteous Among the Nations: Berthold and Elsa Beitz Archived 2013-03-08 at the Wayback Machine retrieved April 1, 2012
  2. ^ a b New York Times: "For Ziffs, Sale Is a Family Affair" by Geraldine Fabrikant June 11, 1994
  3. ^ New York Times: "Paid Notice: Deaths ZIFF, WILLIAM" September 13, 2006
  4. ^ "Center for Climate and Life to Receive $2 Million from Ziff Family". giving.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2021-09-02.
  5. ^ Carmody, Deirdre (1994-10-28). "Forstmann To Acquire Ziff-Davis". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-10-07.
  6. ^ a b c "Forbes Profile: Dirk Ziff" October 2017
  7. ^ Serwer, Andy (September 8, 2006). "The legend of Robin Hood - How the leaders of the hedge fund world have banded together to fight poverty - taking gobs of money from the rich, applying strict financial metrics in giving it away, and making philanthropy cool among the business elite". CNN Money.
  8. ^ "ASP World Surfing Tour taken over by US media company Zo-Sea for 2014 season". ABC News AU. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  9. ^ ASP Announces World Surf League: Letter from CEO, 12 September 2014 Archived 5 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 28 November 2014)
  10. ^ New York Observer: "Sagaponack Saga: Guilt by Association; Studio 54, Where Are You?" By Frank DiGiacomo February 22, 2009
  11. ^ Chokshi, Niraj; Twohey, Megan (October 6, 2017). "Company Scrambles as Weinstein Takes Leave and a Third of the Board Resigns". The New York Times. Meanwhile, three members of the board — Dirk Ziff, a billionaire investor; Marc Lasry, owner of the Milwaukee Bucks and chief executive of Avenue Capital Group, an investment firm; and Tim Sarnoff, president of production services and deputy chief executive of Technicolor — have resigned, according to a board member and a company executive.
  12. ^ "Ziff Family Sells South Florida Estate Once Asking $200M". 9 March 2021.
  13. ^ "Billionaire Larry Ellison buys $173 million estate, Florida's largest residential sale ever". USA Today.