David Mark Rubenstein is a financier and philanthropist best known as co-founder and co-chief executive officer of The Carlyle Group, a global private equity investment company based in Washington D.C. He is also currently serving as chairman of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and more.
He also hosts a talk series on the Bloomberg network titled “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations” during which he travels the country and hosts extended, in depth conversations with the most influential people in business, touching on both the professional and personal.
The series just kicked off its second season this week featuring none other than Oprah Winfrey as Rubenstein’s guest. During the 45-minute chat, the fellow billionaires (according to Forbes, Rubenstein has a net worth of $2.5 billion, and Winfrey has a net worth of $2.9 billion) discussed a variety of topics, starting from Winfrey’s “modest” upbringing, how she got her start in broadcasting, the firing that led to the beginning of what could become “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” to the path she took that made it the most influential talk-show of our time for 25 seasons, what she believes made it as successful as it was, why she decided to end it, Phil Donahue’s influence, transitioning to acting, auditioning and being cast in “The Color Purple,” and also launching her OWN television network as well as its evolution, being in her 60s, life lessons learned, wisdom to share from those lessons learned, what she wants her legacy to be, how long she plans to continue working as hard as she does before potentially retiring from it all (hint: she says she’s “not done until her last breath”), whether she would consider running for president (she wouldn’t), her surprise at the election of Donald Trump, her new partnership with Weight Watchers, her philanthropy, the South African school for girls that bears her name, and more.
It’s not often we get to see Oprah Winfrey being interviewed at this level, and for this long, so this was insightful and entertaining to watch; she’s quite forthcoming, and obviously very comfortable and content with where she is in general, so you’ll probably learn a number of things about her that you didn’t know before. You’re welcome to check out the conversation in full below:
