Who

Si Newhouse is the chairman of Advance Publications, the media conglomerate that controls Condé Nast, the publisher of more than two dozen magazines including Vogue, Vanity Fair and the New Yorker.

Backstory

It was Si's father, Samuel Irving Newhouse (né Solomon Neuhaus), who founded the family media empire that Si now oversees with his brother, Donald. The child of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Sam Newhouse dropped out of school at 13 and was still a teenager when he was handed the management of the ailing Bayonne Times. He turned the paper around, went on to buy the Fitchburg News when he was 25, and acquired dozens of papers over the next two decades, building one of the largest newspaper conglomerates in the country. In 1959, he diversified into magazines when he spent $5 million to buy Condé Nast, a purchase largely inspired by his fashion-obsessed wife, Mitzi. (As the story goes, she asked her husband to buy her a copy of Vogue, he ended up buying the whole company.) It was shortly after the acquisition of Condé Nast that Sam and Mitzi's son, Samuel Jr. (or Si), immersed himself in the family business.

Raised with his brother Donald at 730 Park and Greenlands, the family's country estate in New Jersey, and educated at Horace Mann and Syracuse, Si didn't seem especially interested in joining his father during his younger years. He came round, though, and learned the business under his father's watchful eye, ultimately assuming control along with his brother following Sam's death in 1979. Today Si and Donald oversee one of the largest privately-held companies in the U.S. with annual revenues of more than $7 billion and more than 20,000 employees. Si looks after Condé Nast, the company's portfolio of magazines, while Donald tends to Advance's newspaper assets.

Keeping score

Newhouse is worth some $8 billion according to Forbes.

Of note

Much has changed since Si took the helm of the company nearly three decades ago. During the 1980s and '90s, he expanded significantly, acquiring magazines like the New Yorker, Details, GQ, Wired, and those under Fairchild Publications; he's also launched new publications, like Lucky (one of the most successful new magazine launches), Teen Vogue, and, most recently, Portfolio. (Of course, he's closed down a handful of underperformers as well, like Cargo, Jane, and House & Garden.)

But Si also expanded the Newhouse empire beyond print, selling off the company's interest in Random House and moving into cable television with investments in the Discovery and Learning channels, as well as a stake in the seventh-largest cable system in the U.S. Much of Newhouse's strategic thinking remain wrapped in mystery: He's never disclosed much about the company's inner workings and he remains one of the most secretive moguls in the media business, shunning the press much the same way his father did a generation ago. Rarely seen at public events, Si prefers to have his flashier, more glamorous deputies soak up the spotlight and serve as the public faces of his media empire.

But his low profile doesn't mean he's hands off. A micro-manager of legendary proportions, he keeps tight control over Condé Nast and oversees all that goes on at 4 Times Square. He personally picks editors-in-chief and publishers, he reviews many of the magazines before they go to press (and often fires off scathing comments to editors about stories he doesn't like), and he's never hesitated to cut people loose when their titles falter. (His dismissals are notoriously abrupt: Vogue's Grace Mirabella found out that Anna Wintour had replacing her when her husband heard the news on TV.) Newhouse's eye for talent may very well go down as his greatest legacy: Over three decades, the mercurial chief has recruited countless stars —such as Tina Brown, Graydon Carter, James Truman, and Anna Wintour—and has managed them with skill, keeping them content with the sort of perks (five-bedroom apartments, six-figure clothing allowances) Condé is famous for.

On the job

Si remains a mystery to all but the handful of senior executives who deal with him personally, including CEO Chuck Townsend (who replaced Steve Florio), editorial director Tom Wallace, and the various editors-in-chief and publishers, some of whom are expected to meet with Si shortly after he arrives at the office at the crack of dawn. He's carefully cultivated his enigmatic persona over the years: The seating chart at his Christmas luncheon is a way he can dole out favor, which invariably prompts Kremlinology-like speculation about who's on the rise and who's on the out. For most employees, though, the chairman of the company is an occasional sight at the glitzed-up Condé Nast cafeteria, where there's an unmarked table reserved for him at all times (and where, per his instructions, no garlic is served).

Now that he's in his 80s, Si's presence at the company is slowly receding, particularly as the next generation of Newhouses takes on an increasing amount of responsibility. Si's nephew, Steve Newhouse, is chairman of Advance.net, the company's web arm, and is widely expected to take over after his uncle and father step down. But more than a dozen other family members work at the company, including Donald and Si's first cousin Jonathan Newhouse, who runs Condé Nast International and is a major power broker.

Soundbite

"He is, among other things, shy, short, insecure, awkward, inarticulate, rude, cruel—and, in his way, brilliant," a reporter once said.

Personal

Si is married to his second wife, Victoria Newhouse, who was known as Victoria Carrington Benedict de Ramel prior to their marriage. (She was previously married to a French count.) Si was married to his first wife Jane Franke for eight years, a marriage that produced three kids: S.I. Newhouse III (the father of S.I. Newhouse IV, who appeared in Jamie Johnson's documentary Born Rich); Wynn, who almost lost his arm in an accident at one of his father's publishing plants and now lives in Boston; and his youngest, Pamela Newhouse.

Habitat

Si and Victoria have an apartment at the UN Plaza and homes in Bellport and Palm Beach, all three of which are decorated with Newhouse's vast collection of art including works by Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Jasper Johns.