Michael Novogratz

Raised in Alexandria, Virginia, Novogratz is the third of seven children[2] of West Point football lineman and 1958 Knute Rockne Award (best lineman) winner Robert, Sr.[3] He attended Fort Hunt High School.[4] Novogratz was state of Virginia high school wrestling runner-up before serving as Princeton Wrestling captain.[3] Novogratz was first team All-Ivy League in both 1986 (150-pound (68.0 kg)) and 1987 (158-pound (71.7 kg)).[5] He qualified for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) wrestling championships in both 1986 and 1987 (both at 150-pound (68.0 kg)).[6] Novogratz earned his A.B. in economics at Princeton.[7] At the 1987 NCAA wrestling championships, he made it to the round of 16 in the winners bracket and was eliminated from the consolation bracket in the round of 12.[8]

After a stint in the New Jersey National Guard that included service as a helicopter pilot, Novogratz began his career with Goldman Sachs in 1989.[3][9] On April 1, 1989,[10] he joined the firm as a short-term bond (money market) salesman.[3] Novogratz lived in Asia from 1992 to 1999.[11] He took a salesman position for Goldman in Tokyo in 1992,[10] and eventually Jon Corzine sent him to Hong Kong to run a trading desk for the firm.[3][10] He was elected partner at Goldman in 1998.[7] Among the positions that he held at Goldman were president of Goldman Sachs Latin America and the head of fixed income, currencies and commodities risk in Asia.[12] Novogratz claims his departure from Goldman, a year after the firm went public, was due to the consequences of "partying like a rockstar".[2]

In March 2002,[11] Novogratz joined Fortress Investments in time to join Wesley Edens, Robert Kauffman, Randal Nardone and Peter Briger, Jr. in taking the company public through its February 9, 2007, initial public offering.[13][3] During the IPO, the company sold an 8% share to the public for $600 million.[9] Before assuming his roles at Fortress as principal and director of Fortress Credit Corporation in 2006, he served as Co-Chief Information Officer of Macro Funds at Fortress Investment Group LLC.[11] Although the Fortress' domain included both hedge funds and private-equity investments, Novogratz and his fellow Princetonian Briger ran the hedge funds.[13] Although the stock price had risen to $35 at its IPO, by December 3, 2008, it dipped to as low as $1.87 after withdrawals from Novogratz' Drawbridge Global Macro fund were shut off.[13] Fortress folded after Novogratz and his colleagues lost hundreds of millions betting on the Swiss franc and Brazilian assets.[2]

In 2006, he bought Robert De Niro's $12.25 million duplex in Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood.[3] When he moved into De Niro's former residence, Mickey Rourke moved into Novogratz' former Meatpacking district residence.[1] He and his wife Dora "Sukey" Caceres have four children.[1][9] They also own a home in Amagansett, outside New York City.[9]

He has been a booster for the U.S. National Wrestling Team and an official spokesman for USA Wrestling.[3][22] He was named the 2010 USA Wrestling Man of the Year and an Outstanding American by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2007.[23] When the International Olympic Committee cut Olympic Wrestling from the 2020 Summer Games, he campaigned for the sport's return.[22]