Being Mr. Big

Yet Rattner has his detractors. Even some of his admirers accuse him of being a hypercareerist with the journalistic savvy to promote himself above all else (none would say so on the record, for fear of incurring Rattner's ire). For example, some point accusingly to Rattner's newfound support of Obama—he and White have been trying to bring Hillary holdouts to the fold, and they are looking to raise at least $1 million for him. "I think he and Maureen want to be in a position to have something out of it," says one Clinton fund-raiser on Wall Street. On the other hand, maybe they just want to elect a Democrat. White, through a Quadrangle spokesman, declined to be interviewed.

Rattner's closest associates are downplaying his desire to move to Washington. They insist his priority is transforming the eight-year-old Quadrangle into a Wall Street powerhouse that will survive his eventual departure. "The main event is building the firm," says Peter Ezersky, a cofounder of the firm. Ezersky says there were internal discussions about Rattner's possibly leaving four years ago. "Around this time in the 2004 election, it was a more lively subject," he says. "But Steve is extremely engaged and fulfilled by what he's doing here now."

Among those engagements is Rattner's role as consigliere to New York Times scion Arthur Sulzberger Jr. Like most other newspapers, Rattner's alma mater is seeing its profits plummet as advertisers abandon print publications for the Internet. Rattner is working on ideas to help bolster the Times Co.'s fortunes and periodically briefs the board of directors, say people close to the situation who aren't authorized to speak for him or the Times. And he was pivotal, these sources say, in keeping two unwanted Times investors at bay: a fund managed by Morgan Stanley ultimately sold its stake in the company, and the Times reached a compromise with another dissident investor group by inviting two of its members onto the Times board.

Rattner is also said to be helping Sulzberger come up with a strategy to fend off increased competition from The Wall Street Journal, which mogul Rupert Murdoch has been fashioning into more of a general-interest paper. Ever since Murdoch's takeover of Journal parent Dow Jones, rumors have swirled that the Times will become the next family controlled newspaper to be sold. Bloomberg is often cited as a potential white knight (he has repeatedly denied it), and as an adviser to both him and Sulzberger, Rattner would seem to be in a unique position to broker any deal. But Bloomberg and Sulzberger say that isn't about to happen. "Because he's a friend of both of us, he couldn't represent either," Bloomberg says. (An interesting aside in all of this intrigue: Murdoch, among others, apparently indicated an interest in possibly acquiring, on friendly terms, the 20 percent stake in Bloomberg L.P. held by Merrill Lynch. One person involved in the dealings speculates the mogul's goal might have been to leverage the holding to combine Bloomberg and Fox Business News. But Murdoch never initiated talks with Merrill, and Rattner's Quadrangle handled the purchase for Bloomberg L.P.)

Rattner's association with the Times began in 1974, when the Brown University graduate was hired by renowned columnist James Reston as his clerk. He eventually landed in the Washington bureau and made a name for himself with sophisticated coverage of the energy and economy beats. And he befriended another upstart reporter: Sulzberger. "We've been workout buddies going on 20 years now," Sulzberger says.

But journalism wasn't Rattner's calling, despite his talents. In 1984 he headed for Wall Street, where he had been wooed to Lehman by Roger Altman, a former assistant Treasury secretary whom Rattner had met while covering the Carter administration's economic policies. "He was clearly just a brilliant guy," says Kathy Slobogin, a CNN producer and Rattner colleague at the Times in Washington. "He decided that rather than covering the players, he wanted to be a player." If he has his way, this player may again return to Washington—by way of a grand salon on Fifth Avenue.

© 2008