In October 2006, Geffen sold two paintings by Jasper Johns and a De Kooning from his collection for a combined sum of $143.5 million. On November 3, 2006, "The New York Times" reported that Geffen had sold Pollock's 1948 painting "No. 5, 1948" from his collection for $140 million (£73.35 million) to Mexican financier David Martinez. Martinez is the founder of London-based Fintech Advisory Ltd, a financial house that specializes in buying Third World debt. The sale made "No. 5, 1948" the most expensive painting ever sold (outstripping the $134 million paid in October 2006 for Gustav Klimt's portrait "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I," purchased by cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder).