Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

The Huffington Post has an "exclusive" interview with Patrick Liotard-Vogt, the 25-year-old heir/spoiled brat from Switzerland who just bought the also-ran social network ASmallWorld from Harvey Weinstein. Curiously, the interview was conducted by Sabine Heller, who actually works for ASmallWorld, a fact she doesn't bother to mention. But that only makes it all the more amusing when Liotard-Vogt uses the discussion to mock the movie mogul who has fallen on hard times:

Heller: How did you and Harvey Weinstein first meet?

Liotard-Vogt: We met at the AMFAR benefit in Cannes last year. I walked up to him and said, "Hey, I want to buy your shares in ASMALLWORLD" to which he responded, "you need to show up with a lot of money, which I don't think you have." I laughed and said, "I think I have ten times more than you do."

Patrick Liotard-Vogt, New Kid On The Block [HuffPo]

It looks like someone's Christmas vacation just got a whole lot more exciting:

The Blackstone private equity empire is buying 10 US theme parks, including SeaWorld tourist attractions in Florida and California, for $2.7bn from brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev in a deal building the buyout group into one of the world's top investors in amusement destinations. Blackstone, run by the Wall Street billionaire Stephen Schwarzman, already owns Merlin Entertainment, which runs Madame Tussauds, Legoland and the London Eye.

Blackstone buys into the world of American theme parks [Guardian]

Is real estate mogul Kent Swig headed down the same path as Hassan Nemazee, the banker who stands accused of providing banks with false information to obtain nearly $300 million in loans? The Real Deal reported on Monday that Swig, who is facing a series of lawsuits over several real estate deals that have gone bust, may be forced to file for personal bankruptcy if a $28 million judgment against him is enforced.More

Weinstein Under Pressure? | Is Harvey Weinstein looking to unload his stake in the failed social network ASmallWorld to raise some much-needed cash? Guest of a Guest received a tip to that effect today, and Gawker reports that a conversation did take place, but no deal was reached: "They were approached by an interested party and were willing to hear what they had to say." Needless to say, feel free to reach out to Harvey if you have any interest in taking over the long-since-faded site. [Gawker, GoaG]

Rupert Murdoch is currently using his 183-foot sailboat. Or at least he was a few weeks ago when the Rosehearty was spotted in Auke Bay, Alaska and the "rumor on the dock" was that mogul's special on-board guest was none other Mel Gibson. But if you're planning ahead, you may want to take note that you can now rent Murdoch's "aluminum masterpiece" by the week. It's not cheap—it will run you €220,000, or $310,000, a week. Then again, no one ever said a "stunning interior by famous French designer Christian Liagre" came cheap, and you can bring nine friends with you, so maybe you can split up the costs? While you try and make the numbers work, you can take the grand tour of Murdoch's floating palace after the jump.More

Steve Bing Knows No Bounds | It was super-sketchy Hollywood producer Steve Bing who provided the jet that Bill Clinton used so he could go on his rescue mission to North Korea. If only Bing's Boeing could talk. Not only has the plane reportedly served as the setting for various escapades over the years involving lots of babes and other nefarious creatures like Ron Burkle, it may have also been the mode of transportation for a "secret research trip" to Cuba last week, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Sadly, the paper couldn't pin down Bing's involvement in the voyage to a second rogue nation in less than two weeks: "A receptionist at his Shangri-La Entertainment production company Wednesday denied ever hearing of Bing." Well played, young lady, well played. [THR, ABC News]

Aby Under Pressure | Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs, the real estate tycoons behind RFR Holdings and the owners of Lever House and the Seagram building, had been planning to build a Shangri-La hotel on Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street. That was before all the economic messiness, of course, and last month the project was dealt a death blow when several banks foreclosed on the property. Now the already bad situation is getting worse. More

It's that time of year again, time for the Allen & Co's annual media industry confab in Sun Valley, Idaho. Occasionally described as a "summer camp for billionaires," the Herb Allen-hosted event is expected to atrract more than 250 media chiefs, tech moguls, financiers, Hollywood agents, and politicians, as well as the odd sports star or two. (LeBron James will be putting in an appearance this year.) Mostly, however, it will be populated by the sort of people who make it a point to show up every year, people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Barry Diller, Sumner Redstone, and Rupert Murdoch, all of whom will undoubtedly be photographed over the coming days taking part in one of the many leisure activities arranged for attendees, like rafting, yoga, chess, bridge (a particular fave of Buffett and Gates), and biking (see Diller, left). More

Were you aware there are two groups of real estate moguls with the last name Trump running around town and they're not even related? The Real Deal has the story on the "other Trumps"—Eddie Trump and his brother Jules—who not only have "no financial, philosophical or even familial ties to Donald Trump," they actually kind of despise one another, too. "The difference with Eddie and Jules is that they build their own buildings," explains an employee of the lesser-known Trumps who goes on to describe Donald as a "peddler." "They don't take a label and stick it on somebody else's product. Donald Trump isn't that involved in his projects. He comes down, makes three appearances, gets his commission and goes away." Eddie and Donald do seem to both enjoy posing with B-listy celebrities like Hayden Panettiere and CariDee English—and they both appear to be rather fond of lavender clothing—so if you inadvertently figured they were related, well, you're forgiven. [The Real Deal]