Lehman Brothers CEO Richard S. Fuld Jr. is one of Ketchum's biggest property owners.
More than anyone else, Fuld, 62, has become the focus of public anger over excessive executive pay. During his 15-year tenure as Lehman Brothers' CEO, which included 14 years as chairman of the board, Fuld pocketed $466 million in salary and stock options, according to Forbes.
Much of Fuld's stock has turned to ashes along with his company, which declared bankruptcy on Sept. 15. However, while Lehman Brothers was flying high, Fuld put a chunk of change into Blaine County real estate. According to records at the county assessor's office, Fuld owns 17 parcels of local property, totaling more than 97 acres and assessed at almost $27 million.
Fourteen of those parcels are in Ketchum, two are at the Valley Club north of Hailey and one is a vacation cabin on the shore of Pettit Lake at the base of the Sawtooth Mountains.
Fuld's Ketchum parcels are clustered around Meadow Circle in southern Ketchum, at the site of the former KOA. The principal property there is a home on five acres assessed at almost $5.8 million. The area is accessed by a bridge across the Big Wood River on a private road.
Fuld's cabin at Pettit Lake is on land leased from the Sawtooth National Recreation Area.
"It's one of our typical recreational residences," said Stacey Clark, SNRA special uses coordinator.
According to Bloomberg, Fuld, a resident of Greenwich, Conn., last year bought a four-bedroom apartment on Park Avenue in New York City for $21 million. In 2004, he bought a 3.3-acre estate on Jupiter Island in Florida for $13.75 million.
Bloomberg reported that last week, Fuld sold 2.88 million shares of Lehman Brothers stock for between 16 cents and 30 cents per share. Once worth $247 million, the stock brought Fuld less than $500,000.
Earlier this year, Fuld was awarded $22 million in retirement pay, Forbes reported.
Following approval by a federal district judge on Saturday, Lehman Brothers' investment banking operations in North America were acquired by London-based Barclays Bank for $1.75 billion, saving 10,000 jobs. However, according to the Wall Street Journal, Lehman Brothers' 24,000 employees have recorded more than $10 billion in paper losses on stock they hold in the company.
Fuld sits on the boards of several non-profit organizations. One is an anti-poverty organization in New York City called the Robin Hood Foundation.
