Rick Caruso has amassed a $5.8 billion fortune building open-air malls known for their relentlessly cheerful, Disneyfied aesthetic, with dancing fountains and sightseeing trolleys. He moonlighted in local California politics, emerging as a civic fixer for a series of mayors who turned to him when they had a difficult or distasteful task they needed done. Caruso vied for office himself in 2022, spending $107 million of his personal fortune on a run for LA mayor, casting himself as a centrist Democrat who had a businessman’s knack for problem-solving. He lost soundly and seemed to recede from view, a mogul without a public cause to champion.
The wildfires that ripped through parts Southern California in January have since thrust Caruso back into the spotlight, with the business mogul blaming the area's response to the fires on local leaders, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, the progressive who beat him in the 2022 election.
Caruso discusses his state's path to economic recovery as well as whether he plans to once again seek political office with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily, which was broadcasting live from Bloomberg Screentime in LA.
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