HE’S the university dropout who forged a $1.7billion business empire and is renowned as a ruthless leader, feared by boardroom executives.
Nelson Peltz, 83, has such a fortune he’s gives actress daughter Nicola a whopping $1million a month allowance and thinks nothing of chartering a $12.2million-a-week superyacht for getaways.
Much of his business success can be traced back to a temp job he took six decades earlier after quitting education because he was “too immature” and “didn’t get to class much” while studying in Pennsylvania.
While working at his family’s frozen food firm, he recalls complaining about “all the mistakes they were making”, only for his father to respond: “If you don’t like it, why don’t you change it?”
Peltz did just that. It took the firm from being worth $2.5million to $150million, which enabled him to amass enormous wealth as a Wall Street hedgefund investor.
He’s since been involved with Heinz, US fast food chain Wendy’s, Disney and Modelez International, which owns big brands like Oreo, Cadbury, Ritz and Belvita.
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Peltz describes himself as a “highly engaged shareowner” and his reputation clearly carries a heft of weight – even though some are critical of his approach.
Just four years ago, he joined troubled London firm Unilever and immediately their share price shot up by six per cent.
To some he’s known for having a Midas touch. But others consider him a “disruptive” wrecking ball and some claim his business involvements have a mixed record, added to a string of lawsuits and a reputation so toxic that he has few friends.
So who is the man behind the billionaire dynasty that Brooklyn Beckham appears to have sided with in his bitter family feud – and this week admitted to giving his son-in-law advice in navigating difficult situations?
After dropped out of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1962 and building up his family’s small frozen food business into the largest in the Northeast, Peltz moved on to bigger things.
He assembled the biggest packaging company in the world, Triangle Industries, which was sold in 1989, netting him $840million (£610million).
Around this point, Peltz – from Brooklyn, New York – started to make serious money.
He worked with junk bond king Michael Milken in the “greed is good”’ Wall Street era of the 1980s.
Milken went to jail in 1991, serving 22 months for securities fraud and tax felonies.
Another early associate was corporate raider Victor Posner, who later pleaded no contest to tax evasion and fraud.
While both associates’ legal troubles were entirely unrelated to Peltz, it’s believed that for all his success, those early alliances may have tainted his reputation.
Frankly, it’s surprising it took this long for Nicola to assert herself and for Brooklyn to cut ties decisively with his parents
A Peltz source
Even before then, he was reportedly snubbed by one of Manhattan’s most exclusive addresses.
Peltz was turned down by the co-op board when he tried to buy an apartment at the famously snobbish 740 Park Avenue in Manhattan, and not because he couldn’t pay in cash.
The building, on the Upper East Side, is a residential haven for the corporate elite who, insiders say, repeatedly reject him.
Peltz’s reputation as a “corporate troublemaker” also cost him his long-time relationship with his Manhattan law firm.
In 2019, the firm cut ties with him, even though he had been one of its biggest clients for decades.
Disney row
And in 2023, after Peltz bought roughly $1 billion (£700,000) in Disney shares and threatened a proxy contest for a board seat if Disney rebuffed his proposals, Disney attacked Peltz.
They said he did “not understand Disney’s businesses and lacks the skills and experience to assist the board in delivering shareholder value in a rapidly shifting media ecosystem”.
Peltz argued Disney had been too slow to adapt to industry changes, that it joined streaming later than it should have and bungled the succession plan for CEO Bob Iger’s depature.
In return, they felt his board petition was “more about vanity” than the company and pointed to his record of “attacking companies to the ultimate detriment”.
They felt allowing him and a pal on the board would be “disruptive” and “value destructive”, and that he wanted to join for bragging rights rather than him having “a belief in Disney”.
And in the past his personal connections have raised eyebrows.
Peltz was in a consortium of investors with Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein who were looking to buy New York Magazine in 2003.
It is not suggested that he was aware of their dark activities.
$372m mansion
Peltz’s fortune has afforded him and his family of 10 children – eight of whom were from his second wife, Claudia Heffner – a life few could only dream of.
Alongside chartering $12.2million superyachts, the brood are known to fly on two private Gulfstream jets, which can cost as much as $18,000-per-flight-hour, and a helicopter.
In 2016, Peltz forked out $800,000 on a Bar Mitzvah celebration for his twin sons and will have contributed a large sum, alongside the Beckhams, to Nicola and Brooklyn’s $3.5million nuptials.
They own two sprawling mansions – the first a luxurious 130-acre estate in Bedford, New York, worth £3million, which boasts 27 rooms, a lake, waterfall and an indoor ice hockey rink. It is known as ‘High Winds’.
The other is a $372million mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, on “Billionaire’s Beach”, which is where Brooklyn and Nicola’s secret second wedding took place in August last year.
However, the family’s lavish lifestyle has led to falling outs with his neighbours. Those near his 13-acre Sunshine State home were furious after he built an unauthorised padel court.
The Peltzs were fined thousands of dollars for doing so after complaints that the project was noisy and disruptive.
It came after he was sued by an entire town for using his garden as a helipad, so he could commute via a chopper to Manhattan.
A court ruled against him and he was forced to abide by it despite being “disappointed” after a “long and torturous” five-year battle.
There have been other questions about how the Peltzs treated staff working at their homes.
In 2017 a lawsuit was brought by a bodyguard who claimed he was dismissed after suffering a medical emergency.
It was claimed Juan Gonzalez, 66, was treated worse than a “stray mongrel” after being cruelly fired for taking a single sick day after a year-and-a-half of employment. The case was later settled.
In 2023, court documents from a separate lawsuit involving Nicola’s wedding planners revealed how fraught working with the family could be, with the planners allegedly branding Peltz a “billionaire bully”.
He had sued them for not returning a $159,000 deposit – despite him firing them six days into the job. The two planners were hired just six weeks before the wedding date. The case was settled out of court.
Brooklyn ‘test’
It’s certainly indicative of a combative streak and some allege that has fuelled the feud with Sir David and Victoria Beckham.
Pals of Nicola – who, it emerged last month, is said to get a $1million-a-month allowance – insist she has simply learned from her father how to stand firm.
One said: “Nicola and her family are incredibly impressed with Brooklyn’s courage in standing up for her.
“This was a huge test – and he passed.”
Another added: “Frankly, it’s surprising it took this long for Nicola to assert herself and for Brooklyn to cut ties decisively with his parents.”