Ronald Perelman Quotes
102 Ronald Perelman Quotes
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[On his father in 2011] He was my father and my best friend and my employer. And then when I moved that got a little bit strained. After that we got back into the rhythm of it.
Ronald Perelman
[More on his father] We talk a couple times a day. He yells at me a couple times a day, but we’ve got a fabulous relationship.
Ronald Perelman
[‘If I went to God and asked for a son, I couldn’t have got a better one.’ – Raymond Perelman] Aw, that’s very sweet. You can print that.
Ronald Perelman
[On offering $10 million for a house when the previous highest offer had been $9 million. Then being told the $10 million offer was too low.] But he said ‘If you really want to do a deal, I’ll tell you what we can trade at today.’ [In less than an hour a price of $12 million was agreed and the deal was done.]
Ronald Perelman
[In 1993] We got lumped in with the whole Drexel crowd, but we were always different.
Ronald Perelman
[In 1993] From the time I was 16, I have always loved business, and I worked in a family firm and did exactly the same thing that I do today – purchase and manage companies. We did not buy companies to flip them. We did not buy companies to push them off the cliff. And we did not buy securities to take a position and engage in greenmail. We’re managers, not financial manipulators.
Ronald Perelman
[In 1993 on the only areas he won’t do deals in being High tech, fashion, retailing and real estate.] Those things I don’t understand.
Ronald Perelman
[On buying First Gibraltar Bank a small chain of troubled Texas savings-and-loans at federal auction in 1988 at the height of the Savings and Loan crisis and selling it in February 1993 making a profit of over $1 billion.] I knew instinctively when I looked at the bank transaction that this is a deal we’re goinna do. We did our due diligence over a three-week period thereafter, but it was a no-brainer. To the extent that you were convinced the government wasn’t going to renege on its guarantees, you were buying a calculable annuity – you could literally take a pencil and paper and calculate how much you were going to make every month and every year.
Ronald Perelman
[On there being lots of post-deal controversy over the terms he purchased First Gibraltar Bank for] We never expected that, but then I always underestimate the reaction. It’s like going to an auction at Sotheby’s, and they put a piece of sculpture on the block and you raise your hand and say, ‘I’ll take it.’ All of a sudden, everybody’s going wild that you paid too little for it. I mean [the government] decided to sell it; I raised my hand and I bought it. I was the high bidder.
Ronald Perelman
[On his decision to sell the First Gibraltar Bank in February 1993 as soon as the government paid off its guarantees.] Then we had to be a real bank, and it became clear to me that this is not a business we should be in.
Ronald Perelman
[On the City Co-op at 820 Fifth Avenue rebuffing Perelman when he tried to buy an apartment there that had been on the market for $13 million.] What should have been a simple, simple thing became this monumental process… a process that was devastating to my ego. And I relized that it was mostly my fault.
Ronald Perelman
[In 1993] I basically took the position that I was going to do whatever I had to do to be a good corporate citizen, but that I was not going to go out of my way to be part of the social mainstream in New York. Not because I didn’t approve of it, but because it simply didn’t excite me.
Ronald Perelman
[On perceptions about him not being involved in the social mainstream] There was the misconception that he thinks he’s too good for us, he’s too lazy, he’s too this, or he’s too that. So all these people who should’ve known who I was not only didn’t know me but had these strange views of me either from the press or from other people. When it came down to someone having to say [for the co-op board approval], ‘I had lunch with Perelman recently, and he’s fine.’ The response instead was ‘Who’s he? He made some money? A lot of people made some money.’ My two biggest failures have been in dealing with the press and in dealing with the social community. I am now paying a bit more attention.
Ronald Perelman
Throughout the whole Revlon deal, I was made to look like this horrible guy, and that sort of became the law of the land. It wasn’t right, but I didn’t bother trying to change it.
Ronald Perelman
[In 1993 on moving to New York in 1978.] I knew that I’d be looking at a very long time as No. 2. I was getting bored with Philadelphia, and I was ready for something new.
Ronald Perelman
I have the most fun at what I do, and the work gives me the ability to do almost anything I want to. If I’m in Europe and I want to have dinner with, maybe, the president of France, I can do that. I can also be almost any place I want to be.
Ronald Perelman
Run this down the hall. I said run!
Ronald Perelman
Who’s that beautiful girl?
Ronald Perelman
[On Michel Bergerac in 1988] Sure, I went in to sell him. I told him he’d get everything he’s entitled to.
Ronald Perelman
[On being told ‘Listen, I see a very serious problem in Marvel (Comics). Nobody’s going to tell you, but I’m going to tell you. I see a bankruptcy here.’ – Ike Perlmutter] So tell me, Ike. What do you think is going wrong? [‘Ronald, you have to start doing things – doing things to take advantage of the Marvel characters. You have to make movies and do all kinds of things so people are going to talk about Marvel.’ – Ike Perlmutter]
Ronald Perelman
[On one story in 1994] Completely false.
Ronald Perelman
[In 2006 on company changes at Panavision] I’m thrilled with the changes.
Ronald Perelman
[In February 2008 on donating $50m to the New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center] This gives us an opportunity to help healthcare for women.
Ronald Perelman
[In 2008 on Revlon sales benefiting at the expense of other brands from a slowing economic environment] I think we’ve been seeing some of that already. The higher priced brands, the department store brands, I think are going to be under much more pressure… Today the products that we offer both in packaging and in imagery and in product efficacy, are parallel with the department store brands at much lower prices. So hopefully we are the beneficiary of an unfortunately difficult time coming upon us.
Ronald Perelman
[In February 2008 on there not being as many deals being done now generally in the business environment and the ability to do so.] I think that ability is going to be curtailed for some time now. I don’t think we’ve got the credit markets available to do large financial transactions, even small financial transactions today. So I think dealmaking as we’ve known it for the last dozen years is going to be put on the shelf for a while. I think you’re going to see synergistic deals, corporate deals being done, where there’s real value added, where there’s real product extension, where there’s real revenue growth. Those kinds of deals traditionally are smaller, add more value in the EBITDA creation to the acquirer and will be more easily financed. The more megadeals I think are done for a long, long time.
Ronald Perelman
[In February 2008] I think the banks are chock-a-block with assets that they would like to get off their balance sheets before they become lenders in the marketplace again.
Ronald Perelman
[In February 2008] I think there are going to be lots of opportunities in the near term, but I think the trick is going to be getting those opportunities financed.
Ronald Perelman
[On the economy in February 2008] In my entire career I have not seen the convergence of negative issues like we see now… There’s a blockage in the financial services market. There’s no lending being done, either to the consumer or to corporate. And I think it’s going to be a while before that gets fixed and I think there’s some more surprises on the horizon other than the subprime issue.
Ronald Perelman
[In February 2008 on the future surprises coming up] I think there’re solvable, but not in the near term.
Ronald Perelman
[On philanthropy in 2011] We primarily focus on health, education and the arts, as I believe these are the three main areas of societal needs.
Ronald Perelman
I… tend to like projects that no one else may be willing to fund because they are not high profile or there may not be a clear path to success. An example of this was the funding of one research doctor, Dennis Slamon, whose work led to the discovery of Herceptin, one of the few drugs to have cured certain breast cancers.
Ronald Perelman
[In 2011] Education is the cornerstone of what makes this country great…
Ronald Perelman
I am a very visual person and art in all forms has always been a passion of mine. I believe everyone should have access to the arts, great museums, and great concert halls.
Ronald Perelman
[In 2011] Because of our ownership of Revlon for the past 25 years, we have been particularly focused on women’s health issues. Twenty years ago, we formed the Revlon/UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Program. This program has been a tremendous success in developing treatments that have saved many women’s lives.
The Perelman Heart Institute at New York-Presbyterian Hospital has a particular focus on women’s heart health, as heart disease is the number one cause of death among women.
Ronald Perelman
I don’t think you can truly measure, in an analytical way, the impact of a gift. You just have to make sure you choose institutions and people you believe in and have faith that they will do the most with your donation.
Ronald Perelman
I… have found that people with the passion to help and inspire others do just that.
My parents are generous philanthropists and set an example for me and our family.
Ronald Perelman
[In 2011 on what he hopes his philanthropy could achieve.] I know this might sound trite, but all I hope for is that I leave the world a better place for my children.
Ronald Perelman
I have great admiration for Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and what they have done, not only in their generosity to causes around the world, but in opening a dialogue about philanthropy through their ‘Giving Pledge’ initiative. I was one of the first to sign on and I feel it has gotten people, not only large scale philanthropists, but even folks who can only give a few dollars to a cause, engaged in helping others.
Ronald Perelman
I also admire Sandy Weill and Michael Bloomberg - they are two good friends and great leaders in the world of philanthropy
Ronald Perelman
Would I like to control things to get what I want all the time? Absolutely. Is it possible? Absolutely not. The reality is that I surround myself with very smart, very strong people - including my ex-wives. So the likelihood of controlling these people is not a real possibility.
Ronald Perelman
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