Net Worth: $6.0 billion

Bearded baron of Chicago real estate now writing headlines. Engineered $8.2 billion leveraged buyout of newspaper giant Tribune Co. in March; beat out billionaires Eli Broad, Ron Burkle, David Geffen (see all). Sold real estate investment trust Equity Office Properties to Stephen Schwarzman’s (see) Blackstone Group for $39 billion cash in February. Parents fled Poland for America weeks before Nazi invasion. With Robert Lurie (d. 1990), built business buying, selling cheap real estate. Still owns large stakes in Equity Residential and Equity Lifestyle REITs. Other investments: low-income housing projects in Egypt, shopping malls in Brazil, office parks in China.