Friday, May 17, 2013

Who knew? Oprah Winfrey, worth about $2.8 billion, is $200 million poorer than Seinfeld actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus



Dreyfus, though quite well off from her stint on Seinfeld, is also an heiress of one of the five richest extended families in France. Yeah, Dreyfus of the shipping/investment/oil & gas dynasties. That Dreyfus. From Wikipedia:
The company was founded in 1851, in Alsace, by Leopold Louis-Dreyfus, who developed a fortune while still teenager, through cross-border cereal trading. He rapidly diversified across shipping, weapons manufacturing, agriculture, oil and banking, thus establishing one of the wealthiest dynasties in Europe. His descendents still own the company to this day. By the early 20th century, the Louis-Dreyfus family were described as one of the "five great fortunes of France". However, as a Jewish family, during the Second World War, many of their assets were confiscated by the Vichy government and some members of the family fled to America.
     Leopold Louis-Dreyfus's great-grandson, Gérard Louis-Dreyfus was chairman of Louis Dreyfus Energy Services, a subsidiary of the group involved in crude-oil trading, gas investments and infrastructure. Gérard is also the father of American actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Another branch of the dynasty, based in Paris, was headed, until his death in 2009, by Robert Louis-Dreyfus (who was also the CEO of Adidas). It is currently overseen by Margarita Louis-Dreyfus. A third-branch of the family is headed by Philippe Louis-Dreyfus (born 1945), concerned primarily with offshore industrial activities, and freight-shipping operations.

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