D irk Ziff is an American billionaire investor and an heir to the Ziff-Davis publishing fortune. He is the eldest of three sons of William Ziff Jr., who built a massive media empire with popular magazines like PC Magazine and Car and Driver. In 1994, the brothers' father sold the company for $1.4 billion, and Dirk, along with his brothers Robert and Daniel, inherited the vast proceeds.

Rather than becoming passive heirs, the three brothers founded Ziff Brothers Investments, a highly successful and diversified family office. They grew their inheritance significantly by investing across a range of asset classes and by seeding some of the world's most famous hedge fund managers, such as Daniel Och. After two decades of remarkable success, the brothers decided to wind down the main firm to manage their portions of the family fortune independently. Dirk now runs his own family office and is known for his passion for surfing.