Ron Burkle

Ronald Wayne Burkle (born November 12, 1952) is an American business magnate. A major political fundraiser, he is listed on the Forbes 400, with an estimated net worth of $3.5 billion in 2008.^[1]

Burkle's investments and transactions include:

• Sold Dominick's chain to Safeway in 1998 for over $200 million in profits;
• Owns 20.7% stake in Americold Realty Trust;
• Leveraged buyouts of Jurgensen's, Fred Meyer, Food 4 Less, and Ralphs supermarket chains, and sold to Kroger for $13.5 billion;
• Signed Fleming as sole food supplier to Kmart;
• Majority stake in Pathmark grocery stores;
• Cyrk, the former Beanie Baby promotion agency;
• Merged Alliance Entertainment with Source Interlink;
• Invested $100 million in Sean Combs's (P. Diddy) Sean John clothing line;
• Purchased Enthusiast Media publications and assets of Primedia for $1.2 billion;
• Burkle's investment firm, Yucaipa Cos., owns 18.7% of the common stock of Barnes & Noble^[15]; In early 2010 he sought to raise his stake to 37% without triggering the shareholders rights plan;^[16][17][18] Chairman Len Riggio, with 27.8% ownership of the bookseller's common stock, is Barnes & Noble's largest shareholder;^[19]
• Donated $750 million to the Renner Burkle Fund;
• Owns 6% stake in American Apparel, Inc.^[20]