4 American billionaires with outstanding art collections

The so-called billionaires’ tax, which the Associated Press estimated would affect less than 1,000 people, requires investors with more than $1 billion in assets to pay taxes on gains in stocks and other assets even before the holdings are sold.

The tax ultimately wasn’t included in the Build Back Better Act passed in November 2021. But suggestions from several representatives in Congress to raise taxes through other moves — including increasing the corporate tax rate, rolling back tax cuts from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act or increasing the capital gains tax — are raising red flags for the richest Americans.

It may be affecting where they’re putting their money.

Between the looming possibility of higher taxes and pervasive predictions of a stock market downturn instigated by inflation and interest rates, some investors are turning to alternatives to help hedge their investments.

Here are a few examples of investors and business owners in the U.S. putting their money into contemporary fine art.

1. David Geffen: $2.3 billion

David Geffen’s prowess spans art genres: The native New Yorker made his riches co-founding Asylum Records, Geffen Records and DreamWorks.

And he owns the largest art collection of any American (second-largest in the world), according to The Collector.

Geffen’s an avid collector of post-war American art in particular.

2. Edythe and Eli Broad: $2.2 billion

Along with her husband Eli, art collector and philanthropist Edythe “Edye” Broad has collected about 2,000 pieces of art, according to the LA Times . Edye is an art lover, supporting arts initiatives through The Broad Foundations and opening The Broad art museum in 2015 to offer free admission to folks in Los Angeles to its collection of contemporary art.

3. Steven Cohen: $1 billion

Steven Cohen is a legendary hedge-fund manager who only started seriously investing in contemporary art about 20 years ago.

He’s famous for buying art by the biggest-name artists, including Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.

4. J. Tomilson Hill: Unknown

J. Tomilson Hill’s art collection is one of the top in the world, reports CNBC.

Though the billionaire hedge fund manager doesn’t believe in buying art with the expectation of a return, he nonetheless had a keen eye for artworks that have appreciated over time.

Hill’s top secret for buying great art? Buy what you love.

Invest in fine art — without spending billions

Fine art collecting used to be a pastime reserved for the ultra-rich. That’s not true anymore.

Yes, individual works of art are still selling for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars on the market. But you don’t have to fork over that much to get in on this asset class.