Africa-Israel Investments, an Israel-based real estate company, reported its fourth quarter and full year results for 2008, with full year revenue falling 45 percent to NIS 6 billion. The loss has been touted as the largest in the nation's history.
In a profit warning issued in early March, Africa-Israel warned that profits in the fourth quarter would be low, largely due to sinking American real estate values, including the serious devaluation of the New York Times building.
Controlling shareholder Lev Leviev told reporters Monday, "There are years that are better, and there are years that are less good, but that's the business...."
Leviev, a Bukharan Jew who moved to Israel with his family a few years after the Six Day War, was listed as the 227th wealthiest person in the world according to Forbes magazine in 2008. Initially making his money in the diamond industry, Leviev has since expanded into residential real estate, shopping malls, energy, fashion, telecommunication and media.
Apart from his reputation as an astute businessman, Leviev is also a renowned philanthropist, touting Microsoft's Bill Gates as a role model in charitable giving. Leviev is best known for his massive financial support of Jews in the former Soviet Union. Included in his projects there are Jewish orphanages, day schools, synagogues, soup kitchens, and community centers in over 500 Jewish communities, in which he has also ensured the availability of 300 rabbis, mostly from the American-based Chabad Lubavitch Chassidic sect.