Greg Lippmann Net Worth | Biography

Publish date: 2024-05-05

Greg Lippmann Net Worth – $100 million

What is Greg Lippmann’s net worth? Who is Greg Lippmann’s wife?

Introduction

Greg Lippmann is an icon in the world of Wall Street.

A hedge fund manager and finance whizz kid, Greg Lippmann was even a key character in Michael Lewis’s 2010 bestselling book, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine.

Never read the book?

Maybe you saw the movie—it was one of the biggest blockbusters of 2015, and starred Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt.

Ryan Gosling portrayed Greg Lippmann in the movie that went on to gross $133 million.

His character might be described by some movie fans as “morally questionable” or the “quintessential Loud-mouthed Wall Street bro.”

Maybe he’s the guy that talks about how much money he makes—but how much money does he actually make?

And what else do we know about him?

Read on to find out.

The Origin Story

Greg Lippmann attends the 2022 Forbes Iconoclast Summit at New York Historical Society – @Getty

Greg Holden Lippman was born on January 30, 1969, in Scarsdale, New York.

He is the son of Thomas J. Lippman—the retired owner of the DBL Operating Corporation—and Susan Lippman—part of the management team at Purchase College, one of the top 10 colleges in the United States.

Greg is a true blue New Yorker—both Thomas and Susan are from Scarsdale.

Despite his mom’s links to Purchase College, Lippmann enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 80’s—he graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a minor in English in 1991.

From there, he was ready to break into the world of finance—something he’d been passionate about since his teen years.

Wife

When Greg Lippmann was 33 years old, he married long-time girlfriend and renowned doctor, Kimberly Lee Duckworth. Duckworth is the daughter of Stephen Duckworth and Ingrid D. Bellemere, and the pair tied the knot on December 14, 2002, in a ceremony officiated by Rabbi Stephen Klein.

Greg Lippmann and Dahlia Lippmann attend DiMenna Children’s History Museum Family Benefit Party – @Getty

The Journey to Wall Street

Greg hit the ground running fresh out of college by joining Credit Suisse in 1991.

He worked his way up to Director and Head of ABS/MBS Subordinate and CDO trading.

Next it was on to financial giant, Deutsche Bank.

He would progress from his role as a trader of non-investment grade ABS and RMBS securities to Global Head of ABS and CDO trading in 2003.

He added non-agency MBS to his resume in 2008.

His career was progressing at a stellar rate—and Lippmann was ready to make one of his biggest moves so far.

The Big Short

In early 2006, Lippmann had a theory.

He began advising clients and colleagues that it was time to short the subprime mortgage market.

Lippmann was one of the high-profile bond traders who was able to read the writing on the wall of the subprime mortgage lending market and capitalize on it.

He made a major profit on the subprime mortgage lending market and collateralized debt obligations—also known as CDOs.

In the early 2000’s, millions of people were sold mortgages on homes they could not realistically afford.

Investors bought up the CDOs built on these mortgages, and when people failed to pay back their loans it triggered the biggest economic crash since the Great Depression.

It left a few savvy investors—those who purchased insurance policies, like Greg Lippmann—very, very rich.

And millions of Americans jobless.

The move made Deutsche Bank almost $2 billion, and inspired Michael Lewis to pen The Big Short.

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, is Michael Lewis’s non-fiction book.

Released on March 15, 2010, it spent 28 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list, and inspired the 2015 blockbuster classic.

READ MORE: Annette Kowalski Net Worth

Libre Max

Deutsche Bank’s CDO star teamed up with another Deutsche Bank alum—Fred Brettschneider—at a new hedge fund in 2007.

Libre Max—which Lippmann and Brettschneider said loosely translates to “free with no restrictions”—was one of the most hyped hedge funds of the year, but some investors were curious as to whether Lippmann could achieve the same level of success that he’d enjoyed at Deutsche Bank.

They needn’t have worried—Libre Max Capital was listed as one of 2011’s hedge fund rising stars, and was holding upwards of $650 million in assets by 2012.

In May 2016, Lippmann expanded into the lucrative world of wedding loans when he teamed up with Promise Financial.