Richard Rain Net Worth
Richard Rain Net Worth: Richard Rainwater was an American investor and philanthropist with a net worth of $2.8 billion at the time of his death. During his lifetime, Richard Rainwater has helped create or restore a range of companies, from entertainment (Disney) and healthcare (Columbia/HCA) to energy (Mesa, Ensco) and real estate (Crescent).
Rain is considered by many to be the father of the modern private equity business. Rainwater grew up in a middle-class family. His father worked in the family wholesale business, started by his Lebanese immigrant grandfather, selling combs and other dry goods to retail stores. His mother has worked in menswear for 25 years at JC Penney (JCP). The youngest of two sons—his brother Walter became an engineer—he attended public schools and the University of Texas before accepting a scholarship to attend Stanford Graduate School of Business. Rainwater first became rich working for the Bass family of Fort Worth. In 1970, when Rainwater was only 26 years old, Sid Bass, the eldest of four brothers, hired him to manage the family’s estate. In 16 years, the two men turned Basses’ $50 million oil fortune into about $5 billion, mostly through staggering investments in public companies. Their flagship deal is Disney — perhaps the “best deal ever,” Bonderman said. Their $478 million investment in the troubled company in 1984 turned into billions after they used leverage to install new management. Rainwater has done its due diligence, turning to Star Wars director George Lucas and others for advice on the entertainment business. So when Michael Eisner, the former studio head of Paramount Pictures, called to pitch himself for the top job, he was ready to preach the virtues of picking people on the creative side. Rainwater is always on the lookout for major events — skyrocketing energy prices, a revolution in healthcare reimbursement, a housing bubble, and more. He then looked for a powerful way to capitalize on the upheaval — not just betting on trends, but turbocharging — to charge bets.
In March 2009, Rainwater was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). The disease is rare, affecting about 6 in 100,000 people, usually in their 50s and 60s. Often misdiagnosed as Parkinson’s disease, it wasn’t discovered in the medical literature until 1963. The reasons for this remain unknown, and the effects are devastating. Fighting for his life, Rainwater has funded a remarkable and creative movement to find a cure for his rare pain. Sadly, Richard Rainwater passed away on September 27, 2015.
