Monica Hunter-Hart

How The Blake Lively Saga Led A Billionaire To Shut Down His Foundation Steve Sarowitz built a charitable foundation around the values of Baháʼí. The organization funded hundreds of nonprofits until it suddenly announced its closure in May.

3/ In my latest story for @forbes.com, I dig into the real reasons for Wayfarer’s closure — and the impact it’s having on the foundation’s nonprofit grantees:
www.forbes.com/sites/monica...

2/ At the time, many outlets reported that the shutdown was motivated by financial difficulties. But my reporting indicates otherwise.

1/ Billionaire Steve Sarowitz’s Wayfarer Foundation had been financing 200+ nonprofits with around $100 million until its sudden shutdown in early May.

The closure occurred amid his high-profile legal battle with actress Blake Lively, who’s sued him and his partner Justin Baldoni.

Billionaires And CEOs Are Seeking Personal Security At Record Rates As resentment of the rich and powerful grows, the ultra wealthy are using everything from secret trackers to security squads to protect themselves and their families.

👀 "How The Ultra-Wealthy Are Protecting Themselves Against Arson Attacks, Kidnapping And Worse"

@mhunterhart.bsky.social for @forbes.com

Billionaires And CEOs Are Seeking Personal Security At Record Rates As resentment of the rich and powerful grows, the ultra wealthy are using everything from secret trackers to security squads to protect themselves and their families.

3/ The ultra-wealthy are coping with everything from secret trackers on their kids to sophisticated online threat monitoring to full security squads. I took a look at what they’re doing, and how much it costs, for @forbes.com:

www.forbes.com/sites/monica...

2/ The nation’s wealthiest people and the companies that employ them have sought protective services at increased rates over the past few months, 13 security firms told me. Nine said they’re getting record or near-record numbers of inquiries.

1/ Billionaires are more concerned than ever about their safety.

Resentment toward the rich and powerful was already increasing amid wealth inequality, overseas wars, and hyper-polarized politics. Then came the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting and a string of other incidents.

Fantastic profile by
@mhunterhart.bsky.social of Florida homebuilder Pat Neal and how he's preparing his firm--focused on the middle-class--for higher tariffs and still-high interest rates:

This Florida Homebuilder And Former State Legislator Is Now A Billionaire Pat Neal made a fortune constructing homes for the middle and upper middle class. But now those consumers are pulling back amid the economic turmoil.

3/ Neal has a bold—and risky—plan to survive the economic turmoil. He spoke to @forbes.com about it:
www.forbes.com/sites/monica...

2/ Slowing demand. Record-high supply. Steep interest rates. Tariffs.

Southwest Florida builder Pat Neal admits it’s a “bad combination” that will force him to “make less money over the short term.”

He’s already had to slash the prices of his houses by about 10%.

1/ Many experts believe homebuilders are about to experience their worst year since the Great Recession.

The axe is already coming down hard in Florida.

“Florida’s always been the precursor for what’s going to happen with real estate in this country,” says analyst Jack McCabe.

1/ Today we launched the 2025 @forbes.com
World's Billionaires List, one of the largest investigative business journalism projects with 100+ reporters around the world. We found a record 3,028 billionaires in 78 countries worth a collective $16.1 trillion.

t.co/zRCbJBbHwb

Why Tariffs Could Help This French Logistics Billionaire's Business Eric Hémar built a $1.3 billion fortune through an early bet on contract logistics. Now his company could gain more business from tariffs and economic turmoil.

“The logistics business is like marriage,” says entrepreneur Eric Hémar. Why? That turns out to be a billion-dollar question — which helped Hémar grow his business into France’s leading logistics company:
www.forbes.com/sites/monica...

Inside This Billionaire’s “Fortress” Home That Withstood The L.A. Wildfires Billionaires like Larry Ellison and the Pacers’ Herb Simon lost homes on Malibu’s swank Carbon Beach. Not this U.K. billionaire. Here’s why.

The L.A. wildfires decimated Malibu’s elite Carbon Beach last month.

But one house, aptly nicknamed “The Fortress,” went up against the flames and survived. Here’s why—and what it indicates about how Los Angeles should rebuild:
www.forbes.com/sites/monica...

Jared Kushner’s Mexico Investment On Hold Due To Trump’s Tariff Threats Kushner’s investment in a Mexican infrastructure company has been in the works for 20 months. Now, thanks to Trump's proposed tariffs, he’ll have to wait even longer.

NEW from me and @giacomotognini.bsky.social: Trump’s tariff threats are stalling his son-in-law’s planned investment in Mexico: www.forbes.com/sites/monica...

Meet The Little-Known Billionaire Caught Up In The Baldoni-Lively Scandal Steve Sarowitz bankrolled It Ends with Us. Now he’s embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal involving some of Hollywood's most powerful players.

Here's our look at the low-profile man embroiled in a legal battle with some of Hollywood's most powerful players:
www.forbes.com/sites/monica...

Lively accuses Sarowitz of bankrolling the smear campaign against her. She claims he and his team retaliated when she challenged the hostile work environment on set, including alleged sexual harassment from Baldoni.

Sarowitz speaks publicly about the case for the first time to Forbes.

Forbes has a scoop on the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni scandal today.

Those “It Ends with Us” costars have gotten most of the attention in the escalating dispute, but another defendant in Lively's case—who's preparing to sue her back as soon as today—is the billionaire Steve Sarowitz.

How Daily Border Crossings Helped Turn This Mexican American Into A Billionaire Fernando De Leon is breaking boundaries as an immigrant billionaire—though he feels “prickly” about demographic labels: “The ethos that aligns with me most is ‘Texan.’”

Here’s his story, and my latest for @forbes.com:

www.forbes.com/sites/monica...

De Leon pulled his family out of poverty as a teen. Got to the final round of the National Spelling Bee as an ESL student. Attended Harvard. Built the nearly $3 billion conglomerate Leon Capital Group, which spans 11 industries. His secret? To “focus more on your Matamoros than on your Harvard.”

Decades before becoming a billionaire, Fernando De Leon was a kid living in poverty in Matamoros, Mexico and crossing the border daily to go to school.

The only one of 6 siblings born in the U.S., “I’m what Donald Trump calls an ‘anchor baby,’” he tells Forbes. “But a high tax-paying anchor baby.”

1/3 Over the past 3 years, more than 70 of my colleagues have left @forbes.com. Reporters who mentored me closely—and encouraged me to pursue journalism with conviction & confidence despite a discouraging media landscape—left because management wasn’t willing to pay them what they're worth.