L.A. 50 richest: Sumner Redstone tops the list of wealthiest Angelenos. Many billionaires increased their worth, but there were some losses, too.

EVERYTHING with the rich seems to be magnified: The houses are bigger, the art collections more impressive, the swings in portfolio values more pronounced.

So it comes as little surprise that in a year of resurgent stock prices and escalating real estate, L.A.'s richest of the rich would find their fortunes rise in concert.

Pushing everyone down a peg was Sumner Redstone, chairman and chief executive of Viacom Inc., who made Los Angeles his home last year after marrying former schoolteacher Paula Fortunato. The couple took up residence in a $14 million Beverly Hills estate, bought from Sylvester Stallone.

With Redstone in the neighborhood, at $8.9 billion, the 117.6 percent gain in Kirk Kerkorian's net worth was not enough to vault him back into the No. 1 position he held on the 2002 list.

After falling by more than 38 percent with the decline in the value of his Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. stock, the rebound of those shares helped send Kerkorian's net worth to $7.4 billion.

Helped by a one-time, $8 per-share dividend paid by the Los Angeles-based movie studio--netting him $1.2 billion tax-free thanks to new federal rules--the value of holdings also increased as MGM shares climbed 75 percent in the last 12 months and MGM Mirage, in which he has a 56.8 percent stake, rose 60 percent.

Joining Redstone among the ranks of L.A.'s new billionaires are Patrick Soon-Shiong, founder of biotech firm American BioScience ($1.4 billion), and Roland Arnall, founder of sub-prime lender Ameriquest Mortgage ($1.2 billion).

There are 28 billionaires who now call the area home, up from 23 a year ago. Three who were on last year's list as mere mega-millionaires have reached the billion-dollar class.

That includes Roy E. Disney ($1.02 billion). His campaign against Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner (No. 48) made headlines, but Disney stock rose enough over the last 12 months to push the nephew of Walt Disney up from $850 million in 2003.

For George Joseph, founder of insurance firm Mercury General Corp., a 9 percent rise in the company's stock made his 35 percent stake worth $1 billion. Alec Gores, the buyer of undervalued technology assets whose net worth was estimated last year at $775 million, saw that estimate reach $1.2 billion through sales and the turnaround of some operations.

Not all of the increases were just the result of Wall Street.

Investor Marvin Davis ($6.03 billion) realized gains thanks to substantial new oil finds, increasing the value of his petroleum assets to perhaps $1.6 billion.

Entrepreneur John Anderson ($1.3 billion) went on a real estate buying spree, purchasing a 122,000-square-foot shopping center in Woodland Hills and collecting more Westwood Village retail properties.

The last member of the list, Merv Griffin ($500 million) added to his net worth by selling the Beverly Hilton Hotel for $130 million.

Of the 46 who returned, only 11 saw their net worth decline. Another sign of rebound was the higher bar to join the club. Last year's floor was set at $400 million to accommodate a stock market still in decline. That floor was raised by $100 million.

Not every investment rose in value.

Investor Michael Milken saw his net worth fall to $850 million after taking a hit on LeapFrog Enterprises Inc. The stock, which had traded as high as $47.30 per share in the last 12 months, has dropped to about $20.

Legal woes also took their toll. Developer Alan Casden ($652 million) settled a battle with Apartment Investment & Management Co., the real estate investment trust that bought his apartment portfolio for $1.5 billion in 2001, for $83 million, including $48 million in out of pocket costs. Gary Winnick, former chairman of telecommunications firm Global Crossing Ltd., paid $55 million of a $325 million settlement of roughly 70 lawsuits brought by former Global Crossing employees and investors against executives.

Some saw their net worth decline because they just wrote more checks.

The net worth of philanthropist Eli Broad, number one last year, fell to $5.26 billion, diminished in part by gifts totaling $409 million. That included a $100 million pledge toward the development of the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute, a joint venture of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that will find medical applications from human genome research.

Television producer Marcy Carsey, a partner at Carsey-Werner-Mandabach, contributed $1 million to groups focused on defeating President Bush. She also made a $2.5 million leadership gift to the University of California, Santa Barbara, for the new Center for Film, Television and New Media.

Entertainment industry wealth had a mixed year.

David Geffen, who co-founded DreamWorks SKG with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg in 1994, had a tough year as DreamWorks' box office receipts were halved, to $238 million in 2003. Even so, the rest of Geffen's portfolio improved, giving him a $100 million gain over last year. Spielberg saw a $200 million gain. Katzenberg, whose wealth is dominated by his interest in DreamWorks, saw a $50 million decline.

And A. Jerrold Perenchio, who runs Univision Communications Inc., got a boost in part from his 10 percent stake in the Spanish-language broadcaster.

Rising Tide
L.A.'s richest became even richer in the
last year, as the stock and real estate
markets rebounded.

By Industry

Entertainment/Media        11
Investments                10
Real Estate/Hospitality     9
Technology/Telecom          7
Inheritance                 4
Retail/Consumer             3
Biotechnology               2
Financial Services          2
Insurance                   2

More Billionaires

1999                       18
2000                       18
2001                       24
2002                       25
2003                       22
2004                       28

Rich Get Richer

Net Worth Increased           35
Average Rate of Increase   18.5%
Net Worth Decreased           11
Average Rate of Decrease    8.9%
New to List                    4

Overall Net Worth of 50
Richest 2004                $82.2 billion

Overall Net Worth of 50
Richest 2003                  $59 billion

Biggest Winners

Kirk Kerkorian         117.6%
Alec Gores              54.8
Aubrey Chernick         50.1

Biggest Losers
David Gold & Family     25.3%
Ronald Tutor            21.5 *
Stewart Resnick         19.2

* Offlist