Richard C. Perry

Richard Cayne Perry (born 1954/1955)^[1] is a hedge-fund manager whose firm Perry Capital LLC has invested in several companies and, since 2012, owns a controlling interest in Barneys New York.

Perry's mother, Merel, who, for a time ran a small import business, is sister to former Bear Stearns C.E.O. James Cayne. His father, Arnold, ran several firms; two were a book publisher and a business-machine company, both unsuccessful. When Richard Perry was age 13, his parents divorced.^[1]

He attended the Allen-Stevenson School all-boys' private grade school in Manhattan and then high school at the Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts, graduating in 1973.^[2]

Perry received a B.S. degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1977. While there, he was forced to work due to his father's cutting off funds. Therefore, he became a movie-theater usher at night and was eventually promoted to the chain manager.^[1] His education continued at the New York University Stern School of Business, where he received an M.B.A. degree in 1980.

He worked in the equity-abitrage sector of Goldman Sachs, under Robert Rubin, in New York City and departed to found Perry Capital LLC in 1988. During his time with Rubin, he babysat Rubin's children and was Rubin's teaching assistant at the Stern School.^[3][4]

Perry's first major investment was Florists' Transworld Delivery (FTD), which Perry Capital acquired in 1994 for $130 million. Among his actions was installing Meg Whitman as the C.E.O. In 2004, he sold his stake in the company for $450 million.^[1]

In 2005, he was among the investors providing a loan of $512 million for Malcolm Glazer to purchase British football team Manchester United.^[1]

In May 2012, Perry's firm acquired ownership of Barneys. Perry was the store's biggest credit and in the takeover reduced Barneys's $590 million debt to $50 million. It will have three seats on the seven-member board of directors, including former majority owner Istithmar World, new investor Yucaipa Companies, and Barneys's current C.E.O. Mark Lee.^[5]

Perry is an ardent supporter of Democratic Party-associated causes, institutions, and people, including President Obama. He, with his wife and fashion designer Lisa Perry, resides in a remodeled 17-room townhouse on New York City's Sutton Place. He purchased the property in 2000 for $10.9 million, $4 million below its listed price. The domicile is filled with some of the best examples of Pop art, which have inspired the clothing style of his wife.^[1]

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