For the latest issue of Vanity Fair, reporter Bethany McLean got personal with one of our favorite hedge fund couples, Phil and Lisa Maria Falcone. If you’ve been keeping up with the travails of the Harbinger Capital founder and his wife, you know that despite living in a 25,725-square foot mansion on 5th Avenue (which was renovated to include a bar inside Lisa’s closet), a few billion or so in the bank, unparalleled eyes for fashion and Manhattan’s premier singing and dancing pig who can also play the piano, the last couple years have not been the easiest for the Falcones. Everywhere they turn they feel like people are beating up on them, taking shots. To their chagrin and bewilderment, New York “society,” for the most part, doesn’t accept Lisa and many of Phil’s investors, when they’re not being held by a gate, have run for the hills, causing Harbinger’s assets under management to drop from a peak of $26 billion to $7 billion and counting. Things have gotten so bad, in fact that, several months back, Falcone “almost took off the Ganesh charm- the elephant-headed Hindu deity that represents good fortune- that he wears around his neck.” As he told McLean, “I thought, You have got to be kidding. I get very superstitious.”
But he kept it on and why? Because 1) You have not seen the best of Phil Falcone yet:
“You take your lumps and get your bruises. you get knocked down. The key is getting back up,” Falcone says. “I’m already standing. I’m 48. It’s not even the second period of my career, and I’ve had a pretty good first period.”
And 2) Phil’s got a big bet in the works, one that he’s pretty sure will shut everyone up, about everything, if the elephant can pull through for him. You know the one. LIGHTSQUARED. Yeah. Just let it sizzle there, in the air. It’s going to be huge and then all you people are going to be begging to invest with the best.
“I think [the wireless bet] could be bigger than subprime for me,” he says.
You know what else it will rival? Hairbrushes. Continue reading »
In a roughly 45-minute investor call on Wednesday, Falcone was critical of news stories that have characterized the New York hedge fund’s nearly $3 billion investment in an upstart mobile broadband company as a risky gamble, said three people who listened to the morning investor call. Falcone also expressed dismay that some investors had been talking to reporters and he urged his wealthy clients to stop doing so. “He started off by talking about the press, saying they don’t have the facts straight and that he was upset with investors for leaking info,” said a person who listened on the call. This person added that the 48-year-old billionaire hedge fund manager sounded defensive at times and fielded no questions from investors. “The good news,” he said in an email exchange with Reuters, “we actually are making money this month. Yes, we are turning it around.” [Reuters]
Gang. Yesterday afternoon I had to cut out early to see a friend up in Wall Street North. Fine. Except that it resulted in me missing the release of THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD. Naturally, I speak of the latest Lisa Marie Falcone profile. But it’s okay. Like LMF, this thing exists on another plane, in another realm, where time is meaningless. So let’s get to it. First, the accompanying photograph, seen above. Just…take a few minutes with that.
Now, LISA. Did you ever dream there would be more this woman had to share with us, when she’s already shared so much, such as the piano playing pet pig, the bar-in-closets and the outfits? Probably not but Lisa is a gift, clearly heaven sent, that does not stop giving, much like her possessions which she tells BusinessWeek are “…all borrowed stuff. God kind of loans it to us, and somebody takes it afterward.”
In a sense, Lisa is kind of on loan to us from God too. Some people get to spend more time with her than others, like her husband Phil, of course, but also the employees of his hedge fund.
[Mrs.] Falcone is sitting at the head of a conference table, rapping to music by Swizz Beatz and waving her tanned arms above her head. Harbinger analysts walking by barely look up at Lisa, 41, who is striking in a low-cut leather dress and a huge diamond cross pendant. They know she’s the boss’s wife. Harbinger’s young, blond British receptionist brings a tray with a mug of green tea for Lisa, who likes to point out that the space is as much hers as her husband’s. “This is our office,” she says. “Eighteen years and no prenup means family office.” She’s meeting with the two employees of her fledgling company, Everest Entertainment. Just outside the room, her husband, Philip Falcone, is running his $9 billion fund but that doesn’t hold her back. She produced the song and sings along as it blasts from iPod speakers on the table: “Come on bitches, get your hands in the air, ugly bitches too, we don’t care!”
Continue reading »
This is just a bit of housekeeping but in response to Fixed Income’s query as to why Phil Falcone’s wife was dressed, in FI’s words, in a “slutty school girl outfit with heels and socks” at the opening of the High Line* a couple weeks back, the Harbinger founder’s wife had this to say, via the Times:
If she wears Fogal ankle socks with her Hermès high heels — as she did to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s news conference at the opening of the High Line earlier this month — it’s because she is busy with her 4-year-old twin girls, she said, and lacks time for a pedicure.
Happy? Hopefully you’ll now get off the woman’s ass. (Sadly Lisa “Dime Piece” Falcone proffered no explanation for the outfit at left, though, really, is one necessary?)
*The couple generously donated $10 million to the project.
Photo credit: NYM
