Dating & Relationship status

In 2018, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

Through Berggruen Holdings, Berggruen was a primary investor and developer in Newark, New Jersey’s Teachers Village. He was also honored by his alma mater, NYU Stern, at the 2016 Haskins Giving Society Award Dinner for his commitment to business and public service.

In September 2015, Berggruen announced the launch of the Berggruen Institute’s Philosophy and Culture Center. The Center includes a fellowship program between Chinese and American universities, an ideas contest, and an annual $1 million philosophy prize to be awarded by an international jury.

Berggruen is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Director on the Board of the Pacific Council on International Policy, a member of Foro Iberoamericano, a member of the Helena Group, and a member of the Commission on Global Ethics and Citizenship. In 2013 he was appointed by Harvard’s Center for European Studies as its first non-resident Senior Fellow, and was named a member of the Brookings International Advisory Council and the NYU President’s Global Council. In 2014 he was named a member of the Leadership Council at Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership, a member of Harvard University’s Global Advisory Council, as well as a trustee of the Asia Society. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum.

Berggruen is a co-author (with Nathan Gardels) of a book on political governance: Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century: A Middle Way Between West and East, written with Nathan Gardels (Polity, 2012). The Financial Times named it as one of their “Best Books of 2012”.

In 2010, Berggruen founded the Berggruen Institute, a self-styled “think and action tank.” Through the institute, he has launched several government reform projects including the 21st Century Council which is focused on global governance challenges, the Council for the Future of Europe, to support work on European integration and the Think Long Committee for California, a bipartisan effort focused on reforming California’s system of governance. In 2015, Berggruen announced the launch of the Berggruen Philosophy and Culture Center.

In New York, based on a trust fund worth about $250,000, Berggruen began buying real estate before moving on to stocks, bonds and a portfolio of private equity and venture funds as well as hedge funds. He founded Berggruen Holdings, Inc. in 1984 to act as investment adviser to a Berggruen family trust. In 1988, he and Julio Mario Santo Domingo, Jr. co-founded Alpha Investment Management, a hedge fund that was reportedly sold to Safra Bank in 2004.

Berggruen grew up in Paris, the son of art collector Heinz Berggruen, and actress Bettina Moissi. His father was of German-Jewish descent and his mother a Catholic of German and Italian/Albanian descent. Berggruen attended the École alsacienne in Paris and Le Rosey in Switzerland, before completing a baccalauréat in Paris as a candidat libre in 1978. He worked as a trainee at London Merchant Securities in London, known today as LMS Capital Plc. He subsequently obtained a Bachelor of Science in Finance and International Business from New York University in 1981. He later worked for the investment company Bass Brothers Enterprises, in its real estate group. Between 1983 and 1987, Berggruen was a Principal at Jacobson and Co.

Nicolas Berggruen (/ˈ b ɜːr ɡ r uː n , b ɜːr ˈ ɡ r uː ən / ; born 10 August 1961) is a billionaire investor and philanthropist. A dual American and German citizen, he is the founder and president of Berggruen Holdings, a private investment company and the Berggruen Institute, a think tank that works on addressing governance issues as well as the cultures and philosophies behind political systems. Through the Berggruen Institute he is also a co-founder, with The Washington Post, of the WorldPost, a media publication dedicated to global issues.