The billionaire investor has a knack for buying failed companies in distressed industries (steel, coal and, more recently, banking), restructuring and reviving them. Called “the King of Bankruptcy” by Fortune Magazine, Ross has been involved in the restructuring of over $200 billion of defaulted companies’ assets around the world. In the 1970’s, Ross began his career as primary bankruptcy advisor at the New York office of Rothschild, Inc. Here he started a $200 million private equity fund to invest in distressed assets. In 2000, Ross opened his own private equity firm, WL Ross and Co., to restructure the steel industry. Organizing the International Steel Group, (ISG) in 2002, and becoming the Board’s Chairmen, Ross worked with the company to acquire troubled companies, like Bethlehem, making ISG become the largest integrated steel company in North America. The graduate of Yale University and Harvard University then worked with his company to acquire textile companies, such as Burlington Industries and created the International Textile Group. Ross serves on the Executive Committee of the New York City Partnership and of the Japan Society and is a member of the Chairman’s Circle of the U.S.-India Business Council. He is a member of the Business Roundtable and is a Board member of the Yale University School of Management, which has presented him with its Legend of Leadership Award. He is also a member of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation. China Institute recently presented him with its 2007 Blue Cloud Award.
Delving more into the financial realm in recent years, his WL Ross & Co. recently joined the Carlyle Group and others in a bid for EBS, the state-run Irish building society, on the bet that Ireland’s economy is near bottom and ready for a turnaround. On the local front, Ross also made news as one of the investors circling Stuyvesant Town after its current owners defaulted.