Billionaire

George Joseph must think that the old saw defining insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result doesn't apply to him - or at least that it's amenable to tweaking. Joseph, the billionaire nonagenarian founder and still kingpin of the insurance company Mercury General Group, is represented on November's statewide ballot as the promoter and virtually sole bankroller of Proposition 33. This initiative would allow auto insurers to offer discounts to drivers who have maintained coverage without a break, which is known as "persistency.

Rick Caruso, the billionaire mall developer viewed by some as the last hope for a political heavyweight with an outsider's bite to enter the Los Angeles mayoral race, said Thursday he is staying out of the contest. It marks the second time in four years that the 53-year-old builder of The Grove and other landmark commercial centers has hinted strongly at a run and then bowed out. In 2009, he also sent strong signals that he might mount a campaign against Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Los Angeles billionaire and healthcare entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong has partnered with insurer Blue Shield of California to accelerate medical breakthroughs to doctors in an effort to improve patient care and reduce costs. Soon-Shiong, a former UCLA surgeon and drug company executive, announced the agreement between his company NantHealth and Blue Shield, a nonprofit insurer with 3.3 million customers in California. They will partner with St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica to create a "continuous learning center" to work on spreading personalized medicine and best practices to more healthcare providers.

Now that healthcare has been overhauled, it's time to give medical care a major reboot, according to Los Angeles's wealthiest man. Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a physician-entrepreneur and chairman of the California company NantHealth, unveiled a pilot program that he says will do just that, transforming the way medicine is practiced and medical care is delivered across the nation. Among the collaborative effort's key goals: to make deadly cancers a condition that patients can survive and manage for years after diagnosis.

Who's the most influential billionaire business figure in national politics? If you answered one of the Koch brothers (Charles or David) or George Soros, you're wearing your partisan blinders. The former are known for their devotion to conservative causes, the latter to liberal. In either case, you're wrong. The most influential billionaire in America is Peter G. Peterson. The son of Greek immigrants, Peterson, 86, served as Commerce secretary under President Nixon, then became chairman and chief executive of Lehman Bros.

Los Angeles billionaire and healthcare entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong reached an agreement with insurer Blue Shield of California aimed at accelerating medical breakthroughs to doctors and patients to improve care and reduce costs. Soon-Shiong, a former UCLA surgeon and drug-company executive, announced the deal Tuesday between his NantHealth company and Blue Shield, a nonprofit insurer with 3.3 million customers in California. They will partner with St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica to create a "continuous learning center" to work on spreading personalized medicine and best practices to more healthcare providers.

Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates' initiative to get billionaires to pledge at least half their wealth to charity signed on 11 new families with a variety of causes and interests. They causes they support include medical research, science museums, "Canadianism" and the legalization of marijuana. The list of billionaires joining the Giving Pledge initiative includes Intel Corp. co-founder Gordon Moore and his wife, Betty; Progressive Corp. Chairman Peter B. Lewis; and Netflix Inc. Chief Executive Reed Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin; according to a statement Tuesday from the campaign.

The whispers started right away: Was Patrick Soon- Shiong , a Los Angeles billionaire-doctor-philanthropist-businessman, on the shortlist of potential buyers for entertainment giant AEG ? Soon after the company put itself on the block Tuesday, Soon- Shiong representative Chuck Kenworthy confirmed that the mogul “is keenly aware that AEG is in play” and is “interested.” Here, a look into the life of the founder of Abraxis BioScience Inc. who, as of Wednesday, was the 47th- richest person in America and the wealthiest in Los Angeles . Soon- Shiong was raised in apartheid Sou th Africa by his Chinese immigrant parents; his father fled China during World War II and practiced traditional Asian medicine.

In case you were wondering, it's a swell time to be a billionaire. But it kind of stinks to be a mere millionaire. Market researcher Wealth-X says the number of people with at least $30 million in ready cash climbed to 187,380 last year but their total wealth fell 1.8% to $25.8 trillion, which is nevertheless still more than the combined economies of America and China. Taking the biggest hit were those with fortunes ranging from $200 million to $499 million. Their ranks fell by about 10% and the size of their wads dropped 11.4%.