Who

The reclusive Feinberg is the founder of Cerberus Capital Management, the hedge fund and private equity firm with $28 billion under management. He's best known for engineering the 2007 takeover of Chrysler.

Backstory

Raised in Spring Valley, NY—his dad was a steel salesman, his mother died when he was a sophomore at Princeton—Feinberg joined the ROTC and played on the tennis team before landing at Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1982. Feinberg worked at Mike Milken's bond house during its heyday; when the firm crumbled amid scandal, he moved to Gruntal & Co. where he worked on the same floor with fellow future billionaire Steve Cohen. In 1992, at the age of 32, Feinberg founded Cerberus with Bill Richter, starting off with a modest $10 million under management. During its first decade in business, the firm kept a fairly low profile as it focused on snapping up distressed debt in troubled companies. Cerberus later turned to taking majority control in struggling companies that could be restructured and rehabilitated. It's since become one of the most active and aggressive players on the takeover scene, with more than $28 billion under management, a long list of high-profile investors (Michael Steinhardt and Michael Dell), and dozens of high-powered execs and political power brokers on the company payroll. Feinberg pulled off his most high-profile (and riskiest) deal in May 2007 when Cerberus acquired a majority stake in Chrysler.

Of note

Named after the fearsome three-headed dog in Greek mythology who guarded the entrance to Hades, Cerberus has at least as many heads, acting like a hedge fund, private equity shop, and investment bank rolled into one. The firm has gobbled up stakes in an array of businesses in recent years, from grocery-store chains (Albertsons) to car rental agencies (Alamo, National) to fast food (Burger King) to airlines (Air Canada); with more than 50 companies in the Cerberus portfolio—with combined revenue of more than $120 billion—it is now one of the most formidable private equity firms around.

But while Feinberg has had his share of failures (Anchor Glass, Mervyn's) and occasionally loses out on deals (as was the case with Refco which was snapped up by Man Financial), Feinberg's riskiest gambles took place just before the credit meltdown when Cerberus, like so many of its rivals, set out on a buying spree. After snapping up a majority stake in General Motors's financing division, GMAC, in 2006, Cerberus purchased Chrysler from Daimler-Chrysler for $7.4 billion, unwinding the 1998 takeover of the American automaker by Daimler-Benz. Within months of closing the deal, the transaction had already been chalked up by analysts as a costly mistake; and despite Feinberg's efforts to right the ship, Chrysler remains on the brink of bankruptcy. Unfortunately for Feinberg, this wasn't a deal he could undo, a path he pursued in late 2007 when Cerberus headed to court to reverse the firm's $4 billion acquisition of United Rentals.

Keeping score

It's estimated that Feinberg took home $500 to $600 million in 2005. He's believed to be worth in excess of $1 billion.

Campaign trail

Feinberg has very close ties to the Republican machine—former veep Dan Quayle and former Treasury Secretary John Snow both serve as co-chairmen of the firm, and Donald Rumsfeld is an investor in Cerberus. A major GOP political donor, Feinberg has directed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates and causes over the past few years.

In person

Despite his wealth and influence, the mustachioed Feinberg actively shuns the spotlight. He's rarely seen in person and unlike industry peers like Steve Schwarzman or Henry Kravis, Feinberg doesn't spend money very publicly. Although he owns a pricey townhouse on the Upper East Side (see below), he doesn't keep any fancy cars (he owns a Ford F-150 and Chevy Suburban) and Cerberus's offices are legendarily modest. ("The overall effect is that of a ministry of finance in a former Soviet satellite state," a reporter once wrote.) Even Feinberg's extracurricular activities run blue collar: He's an avid hunter and mounts the game on the walls of his home.

Personal

Feinberg and his wife, Gisela, have three daughters; their eldest, Lindsey, is a college student. Feinberg and family divide their time between a townhouse on East 67th Street, which he purchased for $19.75 million in 2003, and a 2,500-square-foot home in Stamford that he purchased in 1991 for around $500,000. The townhouse, which previously served as the Egyptian mission to the U.N., features a movie theater, sauna, and roof garden. He sold his previous apartment, a co-op on East 79th Street, for $9.1 million.

True story

At Princeton, Feinberg's senior thesis argued that drugs and prostitution should be legalized. As part of his research, he interviewed policemen, prostitutes, and pimps in New York City. He's since said that he took the position—one he didn't agree with—to impress a liberal professor.

For the record

Naming your fund after a vicious dog doesn't generate the most positive associations. In 2007 a Cerberus exec admitted as much to the Times, explaining that Feinberg and Richter had just thought the name sounded "pretty cool."