Ronald Owen Perelman is an American billionaire investor who made his fortune buying beleaguered corporations and re-selling them later for enormous profits. Once the richest man in America, he is now the 26th richest American, with an estimated wealth of USD$11.5 billion. He has invested in grocery, cigar, licorice, makeup, car, photography, television, camping, security, lottery, jewelry, banks, and comic book companies. Throughout Perelman's tenure at the Belmont Iron Works (later renamed Belmont Industries) he assisted his father, Raymond, on many other deals, earning millions of dollars in the process. Their general strategy was one Perelman would follow for the rest of his life: Purchase a company, sell off superfluous divisions to reduce debt and generate profit, bring the company back to its core business, and either sell it or hang onto it for cash flow.
