Advertising guru and CNBC host Donny Deutsch has come a long way since the day back in the early 1980s when his own father fired him. "I can't recall the exact moment he called me in, but he fired my ass, threw my ass out," Deutsch recalls, in an exclusive interview with Portfolio.com. "I wasn't doing my job, I wasn't performing. I wasn't committed.... It was a very good wake-up call."

It must have worked. Then Deutsch, 49, went on to turn his father David's tiny ad agency into one of the world's largest—a brand-name behemoth with 1,000 employees—and personally pocketed a quarter of a billion dollars when he sold Deutsch Inc. to the ad and marketing conglomerate Interpublic Group.

Between greetings from fellow power breakfasters the Reverend Al Sharpton and Larry King at the Regency Hotel in Manhattan this week, Deutsch, who is host of the nightly program The Big Idea on CNBC, shared his views on the new Fox Business Network, his dustup over the term "perfected Jews" with leggy right-wing provocateur Ann Coulter, the principles of good advertising, and, of course, his endlessly fascinating love life.

Lloyd Grove: So, I got up this morning at 5 o'clock to watch FBN. There's a new sheriff in town.

Donny Deutsch: I wouldn't call it a new sheriff. [Laughs.]

L.G.: What would you call it?

D.D.: To be honest, I didn't even watch it this morning.

L.G.: One thing I did notice was that among the most prolific advertisers was CNBC.

D.D.: [Laughs.] I think that was a very clever strategy. Look, let me tell you something about CNBC. [President] Mark Hoffman, [Senior Vice President] Jonathan Wald, and [Vice President] Susan Krakower-these guys are serious, you know. These guys are warriors. Mark has done a spectacular job. I think the record speaks for itself. They're on their A game and they're going to continue on their A game. They are offensive, and I don't mean in the negative sense of the word.

L.G.: Is there a negative sense of the word? Oh, yes, there is—we'll get to that.

D.D.: We're rocking and rolling—that's pretty much the bottom line.

L.G.: But do you know [Fox News and Fox Business Chairman] Roger Ailes?

D.D.: Yeah, look, Roger's obviously a very bright guy, and I get a kick out of Roger because Roger's got that twinkle in his eye. And obviously Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes, they're smart guys. They'll figure out what they're going to do. They're not dopes. But CNBC has a brilliant brand, an incredible business model.
 
L.G.: You're talking about them like they're neophytes in the game and Fox News Channel is not the No. 1 cable news channel—and that Roger Ailes is not the most competitive man in television or any other business he's entered.

D.D.: Look, if you want to ask me if anybody is quaking in our boots, we're absolutely not. Guess what. Last time I looked, General Electric and the folks over there are pretty sharp dudes also. So to say that nobody's paying attention to them is ridiculous; to say that we're all of a sudden adjusting what we do or looking any different is equally ridiculous.... I wish Roger continued success. [Laughs.] What do you want me to say?... He's throwing grenades, and I'm a warrior so I respect that. Nobody's curing cancer here, and so people are going take off the gloves and want to knock dukes. That's fucking America, man! That's what this country is, so to me, I'll pick a guy like Roger Ailes any day of the week. He's a street fighter, and that's where I built my business, you know?

L.G.: What are the challenges facing CNBC vis-à-vis FBN?

D.D.: I think the challenges are facing Fox, and that's a reality.... I think it's an affluence game. I think the CNBC business model is a very successful one, so I don't think it's about what CNBC's going to do. I think it's about what Fox is doing.

L.G.: And they have the problem of trying to attract an elite audience and a mainstream kind of audience? They say, "Main Street, not Wall Street."

D.D.: Let's not knock Wall Street! [Laughs.] A lot of money in Wall Street!... I see [FBN anchor and executive] Neil Cavuto said Fox wasn't gonna use big words, so hopefully we'll continue to use big words. I think CNBC should continue to use big words. At least, I will continue to use big words on my show.

L.G.: Any in particular?

D.D.: No. I think viewers are really smart. Last time I looked, consumers, viewers, and all of the above can handle big words. So I'm going to stick with the big-word strategy.... I think that CNBC is always the most affluent viewer; CNBC is an aspirational channel. Businesspeople are very smart, very high-end, and that's what the advertisers are there for. That's the business model—aspiration, wealth—and that could be inclusive also, but it's business, man! It's about making money.

L.G.: And at the moment, FBN has 30 million homes and CNBC has what, 90 million? Now where does that put you and your show, Donny? You're on at 10 p.m. What do they throw against you?

D.D.: I don't know, as God is my witness. [It's a repeat of FBN's 7 p.m. show, America's Nightly Scoreboard.] I've got a franchise I'm building in there and look, obviously whatever Fox does—I've got a successful thing I'm doing here. I come from a world of competition. You're making it seem like this is the first time there's a competitor in any business in the entire world! And that's business, man. That's what's fun. I come from the world of marketing, you know, that's cool shit, man. That's what makes business business.

L.G.: Now the Fox organization, especially their P.R., is known for having all the subtlety of a baseball bat. The New York Observer did a piece about you that said, "As for the impending challenge from Fox, Mr. Deutsch appeared unruffled. ‘They'll come after me like they'll come after everybody,' he said." In response, a Fox spokesperson told TV Newser, "We only go after shows with relevance and ratings, neither of which Donny has, so he has nothing to worry about." And then, to add insult to injury, they anonymously said, "The Big Idea scratched [failed to register in the ratings] 16 times in adults 25 to 54 in the third quarter, for a scratch rate of 26 percent. The show also scratched 21 times in total viewers for a scratch rate of 34 percent—in both cases, The Big Idea is scratching more than a quarter of the time."

D.D.: Big Idea is up close to 20 percent this year. It is on an incredible roll. They must be a little concerned. They're putting a lot of effort into putting things out there and twisting things, God bless them. When they stop doing that I'll know I'm not doing something right. I think Roger Ailes said I like having my show because it's a good way to meet women. I thought that was interesting. [Ailes told the Columbus Dispatch, "I'm not sure if Donny Deutsch is really the answer for them, even though he announces he is. I'm not sure it's anything more than a very expensive way to meet girls for him."]

L.G.: Are you saying having your show is not a good way to meet women?

D.D.: It's a great way! It helps! But, uh, I'm kidding. It's fun. I mean, I laugh at that stuff.

L.G.: Speaking of which... 

D.D.: Yes.

L.G.: You had Ann Coulter on last year when she was promoting her book Godless, and you complimented her on her legs and then you said, "Well, maybe we can go out to dinner, have a lot to drink, and then you can have your way with me." I take it the romance is over?

D.D.: Did I say that? Were those my exact words?

L.G.: Pretty much. [Deutsch told Coulter, "You have beautiful legs," at which she flashed a smile and said, "Thank you!" Later in the interview, Deutsch mused, "If you and I had dinner tonight, we would get along, we would get drunk, you would have your way with me..."]

D.D.: Where did you get those words from?

L.G.: YouTube has everything, man. [Here and here.]

D.D.: Okay, I don't remember the exact words. We always have a little fun, banter, kidding around. It was disappointing what happened, to tell you the truth. [Last week, Coulter claimed on The Big Idea that Christians are "perfected Jews," and Deutsch, a self-described practicing Jew, told her, "I'm offended by that personally."]  I think my show is about success and the American dream. I didn't have Ann on to argue and fight. I had Ann on to really talk about a very successful business model. I even started the interview, "Love her, hate her, she has a business model that works," and I kept trying to keep the interview on that. And she said, "Oh it's not a business model, I believe what I say, da da da da." I unfortunately failed in that interview, because I pride myself that my show is really a nighttime positive talk show, and I couldn't keep it on track. So I didn't do my job as an interviewer. And I asked her one question, "What would the world look like if it was Ann Coulterized?" And you saw her answers, and that was disappointing because that's not what I do here. And you know, I don't think she did it as a bit. I think it just came out, and it was unfortunate, and I reacted very genuinely. I gave her three or four chances to fix it and said, "You can't believe that," and just told her I was offended and, you know, moved on.

L.G.: Do you think she's an anti-Semite?

D.D.: You know what? I actually don't, to be honest with you. I think it's a demonstration of her losing a little touch with what words can do and what words can mean. Once again, I don't know her deeply. I know her very, very casually. If I had to bet, I'd say no.

L.G.: Have you ever been out to dinner with her?

D.D.: No, no. I've bumped into her in the media world, and we have very pleasant interactions.

L.G.: Have you ever seen her out to dinner with Andrew Stein? [Coulter has been spotted at candlelit dinners several times in the past month with Stein, the former New York City Council president.]

D.D.: No. But you know what? I don't buy that argument of "I have plenty of black friends," you know. Words are words, you know what I mean? And so, once again, I don't want to waste any more time on that. It's unfortunate. I think we're coming to a moment in time where that stuff is getting a little old.

L.G.: Well, let me ask you this. How much did that whole incident raise the profile of your program?

D.D.: It's a catch-22, because it was a little off-brand for us.

L.G.: Have you ever gotten that much attention for anything on your show?

D.D.: That caught a media storm. So no, not that level of being, you know, the CNN lead story of the day or the bottom of the three stories on top of the Today show. I don't think too many shows get that. It was a little off-brand for us, because as I said, my show is about the American dream, and that kind of took a detour. So when it happened, it was genuine. We weren't going, like, "Oh, wow, look at this!" It's like, "Shit!" You know what I mean? Because it's not brand for us, if you will. We almost said, "Do we even run this?" But you can't not run it. And we literally didn't service it. [The liberal watchdog group Media Matters, not CNBC, promoted the Coulter dustup.]

L.G.: But then you went on the Today show.

 

D.D.: That was it.

L.G.: That was it? You did only the one thing?

D.D.: Turned down CNN, turned down MSNBC. And I literally got, you know, 100 requests.

L.G.: So for you, it was not really a good marketing opportunity because it was so off-brand?

D.D.: It was, at the end of the day. You and I both know that when you're in the center of the news, it can be. Our show came off, I think, as very intelligent. I frankly think I handled myself well. It was news. It was interesting. We're in a media world—so of course. [The Rev. Al Sharpton drops by the table to say hello.] Reverend! There he is! [Sharpton leaves.] That obviously was big press, but it's not where I'm going with my show. It was a little bit of a double-edged sword.

L.G.: But your name, because of all this, is just that much more prominent, at least for the week. Then at some point you'll go back to doing what you're doing.

D.D.: I never left doing what I'm doing.

L.G.: Let's go back a little bit. Did you learn anything in business school?

D.D.: I went to business undergrad, at Wharton [at the University of Pennsylvania]. Did I learn anything? I'd like to think I learned some things there, yeah. I really learned more of an overall way to think, to problem solve. I made a lifelong core group of friends, so I think it gave me an edge. I think it really—what's the word?—sharpened my sword, if you will. So absolutely. Can I go back and say that what I learned in accounting and balance sheets was the most important thing in my life? No, but it really gave me an overall problem-solving approach to business and a lot of management skills. So yeah, absolutely, to be honest with you, it was a tremendous learning experience.

L.G.: And then you went out to L.A.

D.D.: I went out to L.A., fucked around for a while, went to Ogilvy & Mather, went to work for my dad [at the small David Deutsch advertising agency]. I was a really bad assistant accounting executive.

L.G.: Were you a slacker or something?

D.D.: I was kind of a fuckup, I think. I left after almost a year, then went to find myself. Went out to L.A., went on game shows, sold jeans at flea markets, da da da da.

L.G.: You were on The Match Game, weren't you?

D.D.: A great moment. I won five grand on The Match Game, and five grand at that point [in 1979] was like a million dollars, you know?... That was fun stuff. That was good stuff.

L.G.: And then you came back, and you worked for your dad's ad agency?

D.D.: Did that.

L.G.: You were there for a while, and he fired you.

D.D.: Yeah.

L.G.: What was that like, being fired by your dad?

D.D.: It was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. I was in my young twenties. I was still running around, going crazy, really wasn't ready to settle in, and I think that was a good dose of reality. I can't remember the exact moment he called me in, but he fired my ass, threw my ass out.

L.G.: Why?

D.D.: Because I wasn't doing my job. I wasn't performing. I wasn't committed, and my father's a very passionate guy. That was a good thing, and it caused a little soul-searching. It was a very good wake-up call. It felt awful, but I probably needed it, and then I kind of said, "Give me a second chance—let's do it differently."
 

L.G.: He was thinking seriously of selling his company.

D.D.: He was. It was interesting, he was going to sell his company. And somehow I had the stupidity, hubris, naiveté to say, "Don't do it. We could do this together and blow it up." And I think I needed to force myself to take on that responsibility. And once I did that, I was maniacal for the next 15 to 20 years. We were with an amazing group of people, built an amazing company. He did the hard part, to start something from nothing. That's the hard part, I think. But, you know, I stand on his shoulders every day. He's my favorite guy in the world. He was 78 in August. Fantastic.

L.G.: So he must be extremely proud of you.

D.D.: Yeah, he is, and I'm proud of him.

L.G.: Looking back, how did you build this tremendous ad agency?

D.D.: In no particular order: It was surrounding myself with very good people. I had a very good sense of talent, so it was really assembling a great team. Then I made some bold moves in terms of trying to promote the agency, to get some very visible campaigns. And always just trying to be a little bit contrarian, you know, because when you're the new kid on the block, you almost win by default by zigging when everyone's zagging. And then just doing great work. At some point, it comes down to the work. And I think we really just did fantastic work, and that kind of grew itself. So my pet business is a very simple business. The assets go up and down the elevator every day, and the people I assembled who are running the place now, you know, the management team, I feel it was the best in the business. And that's why you win. I always said, in this business, the one with the best toys wins-and we had the best toys. And we had a blue-chip group of clients, and it was fun.

L.G.: And what was the first big client that you got?

D.D.: Me personally? At the time it was big—it's a small client now. It was a $3 million account, which is a tiny account—just the local Pontiac dealers. You know, Tri-State Pontiac. We had no car experience, we had no TV experience, and to get in the door—because they wouldn't see us—we sent them used car parts every hour. Like, we would send them a headlight with a note that said, "We'll give you bright ideas." Or a fender: "We'll protect you."

L.G.: These days they'd get a restraining order against you.

D.D.: Exactly. I call that the "obligatory sell." But sometimes, you try and do something where somebody says, "Oh, these guys are so hungry or so creative, I've got to give them a shot." Now sometimes it backfires for you, and they take out a restraining order. But we got a lot of visibility from that and went on from there.

L.G.: And you got Andy Warhol. He was probably very expensive.

D.D.: No, interestingly enough. We did a campaign called "What was the last exciting thing that happened to you?" We interviewed men on the street, and the answer was, "Oh, you know, my wife left me." And we started using local celebrities. We paid $2,500 per, and here are some of the people we got: Don Imus, Regis Philbin. I still laugh when I see Regis. $2,500! Andy Warhol called us because he thought it was the best example of pop culture at the time. In his ad, he was supposed to say, "I went to the opening of an envelope." But he never got to say it. We asked, "What was the last exciting thing that happened to you?" And he was sitting with his bulldog and the bulldog yawned, and that was it! Now a nice ending to the story: I became an art collector, and Warhol is my top guy. I mean, I have tremendous Warhol art on my wall—a great portrait of Brigitte Bardot, Nelson Rockefeller. So it's come full circle, my relationship with Andy Warhol.

L.G.: You weren't rich enough at the time to have him do a portrait of you.

D.D.: I was not rich enough to barely get on the subway.

L.G.: But then obviously you got much bigger accounts—hundreds of millions of dollars.

D.D.: Yeah, then we won Ikea. Then we worked on Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, which gave us a lot of visibility. We shot all the documentary footage for the bus tour. I remember there were two days that we were on the bus. It was Bill and Hillary, Al and Tipper, myself, a sound guy, a camera guy, four Secret Service guys. It was surreal. And we did some health-care ads and a lot of stuff. When you work for an advertising agency in a presidential campaign, you act more as a production company. You know, the James Carvilles, the George Stephanopouloses, the Mandy Grunwalds set the strategy, and you do what you traditionally do as an ad agency with your corporate clients, and you execute their strategy. So you actually act more as a production team, if you will, but it was fun.

L.G.: And the story is that George and Mandy saw your Ikea ads—in which you had a gay couple picking out furniture.

D.D.: That ad actually happened after. I think they saw some of our outdoor billboards around Washington. We always do provocative stuff, and they called us. They were a great group. That was an inspired group of people who were just on a mission. George, Mandy, James—they were warriors. And what was fascinating about that, I remember, they would give us an assignment, they would say, "Okay, we're going run a health-care ad, they're going respond with that ad, so we need a response to their response." They understood that political advertising is daily communication warfare. And that's where Roger Ailes comes from, and that's why Roger is so good at what he does and has a sharp sword. It's not even advertising or marketing; it's daily communication warfare—and it's an interesting game to play.

L.G.: Mandy, of course, is running the advertising for Hillary's race.

D.D.: Yeah, yeah.

L.G.: Are you supporting her? I saw you maxed out your political contributions to John Edwards. Are you giving money to everyone?

D.D.: I give here and there. But you know what? I'm a Democrat, I make no bones about that, but I'll vote for the best candidate, and if the best candidate was a Republican, I'd vote Republican. I think Hillary is very formidable, and I think she's going to be our next president. I haven't officially come out behind anybody, but if you ask me as a media person who I think the next president is, I think it's Hillary. I think she's got the chops, and so if I had to bet, that's who I'm going to come out behind.

L.G.: Could you see yourself being lured back into political advertising?

D.D.: I couldn't do it in my current role. It would be a bit complicated. I can't have a national prime-time talk show and do political advertising. I would have to take a leave from my show. I think Hillary's going to be the candidate, and I've always been a fan of the Clintons. I think eventually, I mean, I—you know what? I'm going to say it now! I'm for Hillary! There it is, I said it. Done!

L.G.: Tell me this, what makes a good ad? Is it something you can codify or distill for me?

D.D.: A good ad is one simple idea, with humanity in it, that connects with consumers, that represents the value system of a company and then can connect it with the consumer. We always say a brand is set of shared values. So if you can simply demonstrate your value system as a brand, so that a consumer could say, "Ah, our values line up. I vote for you, brand!" that's a good ad.

L.G.: And do you go at it starting with research or with your gut?

D.D.: You can't do fantastic advertising without understanding the consumer. You have to use research appropriately. I don't think research should ever be used prescriptively. That's a mistake. There was a famous story in the advertising business that they were testing a cigarette and one ad was, you know, "Tastes better," the other ad was a cowboy. And a lot of people in the focus groups were like, "What the fuck does a cowboy have to do with it?" You can't ask people to be forward thinking, so you sometimes want to do sanity checks. You want to use research to test if something is communicating something properly. But I don't think you ever want research to tell you what to do. Because that's not what vision comes from. So there needs to be gut in there, and you need to use research properly.

At the end of the day, great advertising is just like great moviemaking. No great research has ever made a movie; no great research has ever made a television show. You can tweak things, see if something is working a certain way, so yes, research can test "Is this communicating what I think it communicates?" You might think it does, but if 20 people say, "I don't get it," well, you've got to pay attention to that. But you can't listen if 20 people go, "I think it's this" or "You should do this" or "I like this." The best creative products—and this goes for television programming also, this goes for news organizations—use research appropriately and intelligently, but give me that great gut every time. And that's what separates the men from the boys.

L.G.: And how did you get a great gut?

D.D.: I was lucky to be born with it. Still, I can't remember a moment in time where I said, "Hey, I'm pretty good at this." But as each year went on, I realized that my 73 strengths and my 79 weaknesses were in the perfect DNA makeup of a good advertiser—a combination of having very good creative instincts, being able to surround myself with brilliant people, having both sides of the brain working for me, being able to properly motivate people, and being a great salesman myself.

L.G.: What makes you a great salesman?

D.D.: Because I believe in what I'm selling. Passionately. What is amazing is, on the show I have now, every person to a tee, from Bill Gates on down, when you say, "What is the key to success?" they say, "Passion." And I was always passionate about what I do, always. Because I believed in it, and that's contagious, and I wouldn't sell something I didn't believe in. So I've always believed in why I think I'm very good at selling my show now: I'm very passionate about it. It's making a difference, I believe in it, and it's me. It is authentic. You could sell your writing, but if all of a sudden you went into the raspberry business, you probably wouldn't be as good a salesperson because it's not authentic.

 
L.G.: Unless it was blowing raspberries, which is what I do for a living. Not really, just kidding. So you got these amazing clients: Bank of America, Old Navy, Mitsubishi, right? And there came a time, in 2000, when a huge company, the Interpublic Group, said, "We just want to give you lots of money to buy it." And you owned 87 percent of the company, right? And they bought you out, and you stayed on as chairman and C.E.O. And your take was something like 200 million bucks?

D.D.: More than that, but who's counting? [Laughs.]

L.G.: What was it?

D.D.: The agency was valued at $282 million. So it was around $250 million.

L.G.: What was that day like, when there was suddenly 200-plus million dollars in your bank account? It's not like winning the lottery, because with the lottery you're taxed at income tax rates, and here it's capital gains.

D.D.: First of all, it's not like that day I became a wealthy person. I was making a lot of money already by then. It was a privately held agency, and we were incredibly profitable. So it wasn't like, okay, now I can stop taking the subway and start taking taxis. And I never did it for the money.

L.G.: Yada, yada, yada.

D.D.: No, no, no, listen to me, it's very interesting. Money matters and money is good, but it's never the driver. The reason I sold the company is that I was starting to walk into three-hour meetings and in 10 seconds, I knew how they would end. We were Agency of the Year like five years in a row. There's an irony that comes with success: I call it the pillar of success. I wrote a chapter in my book [Often Wrong, Never in Doubt: Unleash the Business Rebel Within]  called "The Multiple Mountain Theory." If you're one of the one-tenth of 1 percent of the people that's lucky, you find something you're good at, you get self-actualized, you make good money. But there is no margin for failure, and basically it comes to down to greed. Are we going up on $2.3 billion to $2.6 billion? And I started to miss that, you know, that clawing.

And now that I'm on another mountain, and I'm doing really well but I'm still a relatively new kid on the block, because there's a margin of failure, you feel like you're 23 again! I got guys like Roger Ailes calling me an asshole. I love that, you know what I mean? So I wanted to reenergize myself. And also, I think the agency needed global backing. There was a business model on advertising that said you can only get so big being a pure, domestic agency. So it was also the right thing for that baby. So if I look at the business as an organism, I look at myself as an organism, it seemed to be the right thing to do. But as I'm going for the sale, I was actually getting a little depressed. I was like, "Why am I fucking doing this?" And I realized why I was doing it—the results, forcing myself to a new mountain.

And for the next year or two afterward, people would always say to my accountant, "What is Donny doing? What is Donny doing with all that money?" And the only thing I did was I helped out the shul where I grew up in Queens. The Hollis Hills Jewish Center. Other than that, I didn't do anything.

I didn't buy my first home until a year ago. So my life didn't change. I lived in the same place, I drove the same car, there was nothing that was different. Some people helped me manage the money, and so really there was no spending spree. And if you talk to any person that's had a big payday, they'll tell you the same stuff. As a matter of fact, they've done stories on guys, people in their forties, who sell their business and fall into depression.

L.G:  You were 42.

D.D.: I was 42, 43. I always say to people, You can't go visit your money every day. It's an emotional decision, so unless you're ready to do something else, don't do it. It's interesting, I was interviewing [Las Vegas casino moguls] the Maloof brothers last week, and we were talking these crazy numbers, and one of them intelligently said, "Yeah, where would I go every day?" So selling is an emotional, not a financial, decision. You do it because you either want a challenge or you want to move the pieces around. But if somebody's going give you a billion dollars, what the fuck is the difference? What are you going to do? Where are you going to go? Are you going to roll in it every day?

L.G.: What do you do with it? Do you give some money away?

D.D.: I'd like to think I'm very charitable. And I invest it. I have my same prescription in doing everything else in business—I surround myself with the best people. I know what I don't know, and I have a simple philosophy. Even if I'm a pretty smart guy, you got guys in the investment world working 14 hours a day who can't figure it out. So how the fuck am I going to figure it out? So a lot of my friends are hedge fund guys, and I kind of use them to put together kind of a great team of people, and I have fantastic people that run it for me.

L.G.: Has it done well?

D.D.: It's done well. I mean, we're risk-averse. [Larry King drops by to say hello, then leaves.]

L.G.: Are you doing as well as the Standard & Poor's  500?

D.D.: Yes, I have. I'm happy to say I've been doing very well. I have no complaints.

L.G.: The agency was billing at what, $3 billion, when you gave up the reins as C.E.O.?

D.D.: That was about, I think, a year and a half, two years ago. Linda Sawyer is the C.E.O. She's fantastic. I'm still a chairman, and I'd like to think spiritually I still have an impact on the agency. But it's day-to-day run by Linda.

L.G.: Wasn't your active involvement in the agency part of the value that IPG was paying for?

D.D.: I think they were paying for an amazing business and culture, a set of clients, a way of doing business. And, look, everybody is replaceable, you know, even infinitely more prominent people in the field of advertising that have moved on, whether it's David Ogilvy or whatnot, and their agencies thrive. If you have built a company and when you step back or step aside it does not thrive, then you haven't built a good company. So clearly they love knowing I'm still around, but they're very happy with the management. It's their thing. They'll bounce stuff off me, and I'd like to think I still have a very close, personal relationship with all of them. They'll come to me for advice sometimes, sanity checks, because obviously I do have a certain perspective.

L.G.: You're like the grand old man.

D.D.: Grand old, yeah. You know what? I think I'll get an oil painting done of me and a couple of Newfoundland dogs. Funny you should say that, though. Another reason I sold the company: I remember I used to be the youngest Turk in the room, and now I'd walk in a room and be in the middle of 25 people and look around and go, "Wait, when did I become one of the oldest guys in the room?"

L.G.: Are you still taking off your shirt in meetings?

D.D.: Oh, God, you know, let's put this in the category of dumb things I've done over the years. I used to do a lot of crazy things, no question about that.

L.G.: A question everybody wants to know the answer to: How's your love life?

D.D.: My love life has never been better because I have two spectacular new loves in my life. I have my two daughters: Daisy who's four months old ...  actually, I have three daughters: Daisy; her older sister, London, who's four, who I think of as my own, love her to pieces; and I have a 20-year-old stepdaughter whom I raised, whom I think of as my own, Chelsea.

L.G.: Is that from your first marriage?

D.D.: That's from my first marriage, yeah. I didn't realize what a hole it was for me, and it's a very completing feeling having Daisy, and it has profoundly changed me. It's just ... it's calming, it's a reason to be, you know, and it softened me and it's a great feeling, I can't put it into words. . . . So I have kind of an ex-wife, even though we weren't married, you know what I mean? But it's good, it's the best.

L.G.: You have kind of an ex-wife and two real ex-wives?

D.D.: Two real ex-wives. This one is not an ex-wife; it's a woman who—we had a kid together and, you know, we do other things separately, it's great. It's crazy. It's very, uh, well, how old are you?

L.G.: None of your damned business. But I was going to say that it's a nice thing to do as you're about to turn 50.

D.D.: 50, yes, I have to tell you, it's a very completing feeling.

L.G.: Would you ever get married again?

D.D.: Sure, yeah. I think so. I had a baby with a wonderful woman, Amanda [real estate broker Amanda Zacharia]. We chose not to get married. We're co-parenting these children. She's a fantastic mom.

L.G.: But you're not romantically involved with her?

D.D.: We used to be. We have an interesting relationship, which takes twists and turns, but right now we call it co-parenting, and she's wonderful, and we speak 20 times a day. I see the kids three or four times a day ... I live in Trump Park [Avenue] temporarily; I'm actually moving to a townhouse. Actually, Rupert Murdoch lives right on top of me. Isn't that great? I'm on the 23rd, he's on the 24th, so if I see something on Fox go wrong, I'm going to knock him upstairs. I love that guy. Rupert rocks. He's fantastic. The cutest thing is seeing him walking his two little girls in the morning. I mean, he's in his gym shorts, you know. But I'm a family guy now-an untraditional family guy.

L.G.: And you're getting your new townhouse ready?

D.D.: It's going to be exciting. I have to tell you, when you get a little older, you start to figure out there's no one way to do things. You do what works for you, and you realize there's no one best way to do it. And for me, this is the way to back into it and, you know, I wouldn't rule out getting married again. I wouldn't rule out having more children. But right now, I feel good.

L.G.: What are you looking for in a future wife?

D.D.: Oh, I'm not looking.

L.G.: What are you looking for in a future ex-wife?

D.D.: [Laughs.] Bar-rump-bum. Henny Youngman. Now, I'll just meet a woman and just get her a house, right? You know, I don't know. Ron Perelman said an interesting thing to me a few years ago—he always gives me great personal advice. We can put that under the blind leading the blind, of course. He said to me, "When you hit 50, you get a real sense of things."

L.G.: Any big plans for your birthday on November 22?

D.D.: I got talked into throwing an understated party for 300 of my closest friends at the Jazz at Lincoln Center hall, and it's taking on a life of its own, it's sort of a big bash. In my particular instance, I'm doing things at 50 that most people are doing in their twenties: having my first biological child, starting a new career, building two new homes. So I feel like a king, and I'm just thrilled with it.

L.G.: But ladies, take note!

D.D.: I learned to tell ladies to do nothing. So I'm not telling lady readers of Portfolio.com to do anything other than hopefully read the article and watch The Big Idea. That's pretty much it.