TODAY NEWS (ENGLISH)

Being Mr. Big

Financier and Democratic moneyman Steve Rattner seems to have it all. Looks can be deceiving.

By Johnnie L. Roberts | NEWSWEEK

Published Aug 2, 2008

People to the manner born once deemed Manhattan apartment-living déclassé. A century ago, only ostentatious mansions—of Astors and other aristocrats—occupied "Millionaires' Row," the most gilded stretch of that blue-blooded artery, Fifth Avenue. But that all changed in 1912 when a luxurious new 12-story Italian Renaissance building rose near the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And it is here, in the marbled grandeur of a sprawling palazzo, that Wall Street veteran and onetime New York Times reporter Steve Rattner today hosts the beau monde of Manhattan.

The gatherings are like "a grand salon, a throwback to New York of old," says indie-film mogul Harvey Weinstein, who along with billionaire buyout king Henry Kravis, Internet mogul Barry Diller and assorted Democratic presidential hopefuls have gathered at Rattner's home for evenings of high living, highbrow discourse, high finance—and the high art of exercising influence.

From the wallets of donors wined and dined here, Rattner and his wife, Maureen White, have raised millions for the presidential runs of Hillary Clinton, Al Gore and John Kerry (White was formerly national finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee). And it is also in this sumptuous abode that Rattner cultivated lucrative ties to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In January, Rattner's firm, Quadrangle Group, was tapped to manage the mayor's $16 billion-plus fortune, and in July, Quadrangle advised Bloomberg L.P., the financial-media empire he controls, on its repurchase of a $4.5 billion stake held by Merrill Lynch. "Steve Rattner has the ability to do almost anything," Bloomberg says.