Steve Feinberg - Biography

Stephen A. Feinberg (born March 29, 1960) is an American businessman active in the field of private equity. He is the founder and head of Cerberus Capital Management.

Early life

Feinberg was born in the Bronx, NY. At eight his family moved to Spring Valley, New York, a relatively poor suburb of New York City. His father was a steel salesman.

He attended Princeton University in New Jersey, graduating with a degree in politics in 1982. While there, he captained the tennis team and joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps.

Professional career

After graduating from college, Feinberg worked as a trader at Drexel Burnham and Gruntal & Co.

In 1992 Feinberg teamed up with William L. Richter to found Cerberus Capital Management with just $10 million under management. Feinberg has been at the helm of the firm since its founding. Later alliances with J. Ezra Merkin were important for raising capital. Subsequent hirings of former politicians and lobbyists John Snow, Dan Quayle and others have served as door-openers in Washington and abroad.

The 2007 Cerberus purchase of Chrysler Corp. from Germany's Daimler Benz became a major and, as of 2009, unsuccessful initiative by Feinberg into a higher-profile investment. Feinberg and others at the firm explicitly presented the investment as patriotic, but many critics ultimately questioned that characterization, especially after Chrysler had to seek and take federal aid. (Chrysler now, with federal help, has been sold to Fiat.) As of 2009, Cerberus was facing major calls from its investors for redemptions, and had written down its investment in Chrysler to 19 cents on the dollar. Had there not been the federal bailout, the investment could have been worth nothing.

Personal

Feinberg has been noted to be a very private person. Despite his considerable personal wealth (Feinberg reportedly made $50 million in 2004), his lifestyle is notably less extravagant than his peers in private equity. He lives on Manhattan's Upper East Side with his wife Gisela and their three daughters.

His hobbies include game hunting, chess, skiing, and riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Steve and Gisela Feinberg are prolific donors to the Republican Party and related organizations. Former Republican Vice President of the United States Dan Quayle works for Cerberus as Chairman of Global Investments, and former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was a client.

• Chrysler's Hidden Coffers, New York Times, 15 December 2008
• Chrysler’s Friends in High Places, New York Times, 12/5/08
• The Most Dangerous Deal in America, Portfolio.com, Sept 07
• What's Bigger Than Cisco, Coke, Or McDonald's? Steve Feinberg's Cerberus, a vast hedge fund that's snapping up companies -- lots of them, BusinessWeek, 10/3/05
• Biographical infobox, BusinessWeek, 10/3/05
• A recluse lifts the Veil a Little, New York Times, 4/15/08