Nicolas Berggruen
Nicolas Berggruen
Nicolas Berggruenis a philanthropist and investor. A dual American and German citizen, he is the founder and president of Berggruen Holdings, a private investment company and the Berggruen Institute, a think tank that works on addressing governance issues as well as the cultures and philosophies behind political systems. Through the Berggruen Institute he is also a co-founder with the Huffington Post of The WorldPost, a media publication dedicated to global issues...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth10 August 1961
CityParis, France
CountryUnited States of America
I understand the human instinct to want to create a nest and possess things, to show them off, but for me personally, it became less and less interesting.
This is a bit like big-game hunting. You look for companies of a certain size that deserve to be public.
Think of everything in Seattle - Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks. Then you go down to Silicon Valley - Intel, Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter. What does New York produce?
I tend to end relationships, so she can find somebody better than me. Because I want to be fair to people. I cannot devote enough energy and time and devotion to her. I think that is fair, no?
Whatever I own is temporary, since we're only here for a short period of time. It's what we do and produce, it's our actions that will last forever. That's real value.
I was living in Paris, which is a very beautiful, very wonderful place, but a tight place as a city, a tight place culturally. Its people are very brilliant, thoughtful, the place functions, but it's a historical place in some ways, like a big museum.
I am not that attached to material things. And the good thing is I can make choices. I have very few possessions. Luckily, as a man you don't need much... a few papers, a couple of books, and a few shirts, jackets, sweaters. It fits in a little thing, in a paper bag, so it's very easy.
L.A. is very special to me, so far away from my world on the East Coast, Europe, Asia. It's a bit of an island for me - less intense, less busy; because of time difference and location, it has a calming effect. At least it used to be all that.
I don't mind staying in one place for a while - I like to spend a lot of time in Los Angeles. It's a place where nobody goes out, where people will leave you alone. People in Los Angeles love themselves and they love what they do and they leave you alone. If you're isolated, you have a real advantage. You can work.
At the end, the key thing is you've got to live with yourself. That's the real test. Everything else is fleeting.
Everything I do now is about growing the pot to have more to give away,
If you have things and if you are a perfectionist, which I am, you have to really tend to them, and it takes energy away from other things.
California is a place of invention, a place of courage, a place of vision, a place of the future. People who made California what it is were willing to take risks, think outside convention and build.
Possessing things is not that interesting. Living in a grand environment to show myself and others that I have wealth has zero appeal.