6 Wealthy Families Who Lost Their Fortunes

3. The Pulitzers

$1.6 billion to $0 (2005)

Joseph Pulitzer was famous newspaper publisher of New York World and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Pulitzer Prize, named after him, was established in 1917. These prizes are given annually for achievements in journalism and photography, together with history, poetry, literature, etc. The Columbia School of Journalism was opened by his inheritance (he left the university $2 million in his testament).

Joseph Pulitzer bought the New York World from above mentioned Jay Gould in 1883 (for $340,000). He was already a wealthy man, but then he started losing money. To increase the newspaper sales, he decided to emphasize different kind of stories, sensational and scandalous. The famous Yellow Kid comic was introduced in 1895. Joseph managed to grow the circulation of his newspapers to 600,000. His biggest rival was William Randolph Hearst and their „circulation war“ was led mainly during the Spanish-American war.

Peter Pulitzer, the grandson of Joseph, had lost his grandfather’s fortune. He was married to Roxanne Pulitzer, but divorced in 1982. Roxanne and her husband Tim Boberg, helped out Peter, after his citrus grove was in danger of foreclosure. The flagship St. Louis Post-Dispatch was sold by his grandchildren. Pulitzer Inc. was sold to Lee Enterprises for $1.6 billion.

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