Bill Browder is a financier and political activist who has a net worth of $100 million. Bill Browder is the co-founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, at one time among the largest international investors in Russia. At the peak of the fund's performance, it managed more than $4.5 billion in assets.

Bill Browder is infamous for taking on a number of large, corrupt Russian companies through the firm, resulting in his deportation to the UK and his designation as a Russian national security threat in 2005. Browder has since been entangled in many conflicts with Russia, and its leader Vladimir Putin, for his attempts to fight the government's human rights abuses.

In 1998 Browder gave up his U.S. citizenship so he could avoid paying taxes to foreign investment. He did business in Russia for 10 years but was refused entry in 2005. He was instrumental in getting President Obama to sign into law the Magnitsky Act to punish Russian human rights violators. Bill Browder was tried in Russia and sentenced to nine years in prison but he was not arrested. He testified in 2017 to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee about Russia's alleged interference in the U.S. presidential election of 2016.

Vladimir Putin Wealth Claims

Over the years, Bill Browder has been one of the most vocal critics of Vladimir Putin. He has been especially critical of the massive personal wealth purportedly that Putin has amassed at the expense of the Russian people. In a number of interviews over the years, Browder has loudly proclaimed that he believes Vladimir Putin is secretly the richest person in the world.

One of Browder's first claims about Putin's wealth was made in a February 2015 CNN interview. When asked by interviewer Fareed Zakaria to estimate Vladimir Putin's net worth, Browder replied:

"I believe that it's $200 billion. After 14 years in power of Russia, and the amount of money that the country has made, and the amount of money that hasn't been spent on schools and roads and hospitals and so on, all that money is in property, bank–Swiss bank accounts–shares, hedge funds, managed for Putin and his cronies."

Elaborating…

"The first eight or 10 years of Putin's reign over Russia, it was about stealing as much money as he could. And some people, including myself, believe that he's the richest man in the world…with hundreds of billions of dollars of wealth that was stolen from Russia."

Early Life and Education

Bill Browder was born on April 23, 1964 in Princeton, New Jersey and was raised in Chicago, Illinois. He is the son of Felix Browder, the renowned mathematician, and the grandson of Earl Browder, who spied for the Soviet Union and headed the Communist Party in the United States from 1930 to 1945. Bill Browder has a brother named Tom who became a particle physicist.

For his higher education, Browder first attended the University of Colorado, Boulder before transferring to the University of Chicago, where his father had chaired the mathematics department. He graduated from U of C with a BS degree in economics. Browder went on to earn his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1989.

Career Beginnings

After graduating from Stanford, Browder joined the financial sector. He got his start in the Eastern European practice of the Boston Consulting Group in London, England. After that, Browder worked for Robert Maxwell's MCC conglomeration, and then managed the Russian proprietary investments desk at Salomon Brothers. In 1998, he relinquished his American citizenship, and the following year became a naturalized British citizen.

Hermitage Capital Management

In 1996, Browder co-founded the investment fund and asset management company Hermitage Capital Management with Edmond Safra. The aim was to invest an initial seed capital of $25 million in Russian companies during the country's post-Soviet era of mass privatization. Browder went on to use Hermitage for the purposes of shareholder activism, taking on a number of large Russian companies such as Gazprom, Sidanco, Avisma, and Surgutneftegas. In these companies, he exposed corporate malfeasance at the highest levels of management. From 1996 to 2006, Hermitage Capital Management was among the biggest international investors in Russia.

Conflicts with the Russian Government

In retaliation for his shareholder activism via Hermitage Capital Management, Browder was refused entry to Russia in late 2005, and was deported to the UK while designated as a Russian national security threat. In mid-2007, Hermitage Capital's offices in Moscow were raided by officers of Russia's Interior Ministry; the Moscow office of Browder's American law firm was also raided. Browder subsequently assigned his attorney Sergei Magnitsky to investigate. What Magnitsky found was that the documents that were seized in the raid had been used to fraudulently re-register Hermitage's holding companies under the name of an ex-convict. Magnitsky was arrested by Russian authorities for his role in exposing the corruption, and died in prison.

Following the death of Magnitsky, Browder lobbied for the US Congress to pass the Magnitsky Act to punish Russian abusers of human rights. The Act was signed into law by Barack Obama in 2012. The next year, both Browder and the late Magnitsky were tried in absentia in Russia for tax fraud, and were convicted and sentenced to prison. However, Interpol rejected Russian requests to arrest Browder, arguing that it was politically motivated. Over the subsequent years, Interpol continued to reject requests by the Russian government to place Browder on the arrest list of criminal fugitives. On a visit to Spain in 2018, Browder was arrested by Spanish authorities on a new Russian Interpol warrant. After being held in a Spanish police station for two hours, he was released.

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Books

Browder has authored some books about his experiences dealing with Russian government corruption. In early 2015, he published "Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice." Browder later penned "Freezing Order: A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath," which was published in 2022.

Honors and Awards

Browder has received numerous awards and honors over the years for his political activism, leadership, and contributions to finance. In 2018, he won the Aspen Institute Henry Crown Leadership Award and the Coalition for Integrity's Integrity Award. The following year, Browder was the recipient of the American Spirit Award for Citizen Activism and the Lantos Human Rights Prize. Among his other accolades, he received Trinity College Dublin's Trinity SMF Award for his work in finance.

Personal Life

With his wife, Russian businesswoman Elena, Browder has three children. One of his children, Joshua, is the founder of the online legal service and chatbot DoNotPay, which claims to use artificial intelligence to provide legal counsel.

Read more: Bill Browder Net Worth

Robert Rubin is an American economist and banking executive who has a net worth of $200 million. Robert Rubin earned his fortune through a long career in finance, first at Goldman Sachs then at Citigroup. He joined Goldman Sachs in 1966 and became a general partner in 1971. Rubin was Vice Chairman and Co-Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs from 1987 to 1990. Rubin oversaw the loosening of financial industry underwriting guidelines which had been intact since the 1930s. From the end of 1990 to 1992, Rubin served as Co-Chairman and Co-Senior Partner.

Outside of his banking career Rubin is known for holding several positions in government. From January 25, 1993, to January 10, 1995, Robert Rubin served in the White House as Assistant to the President for Economic Policy. Rubin was Secretary of the Treasury from January 11, 1995 – July 2, 1999. Rubin is credited with being integral to the economic prosperity of the Clinton era, although some critics later argued that his bank-friendly policies contributed to the 2007-2008 financial crisis.

Upon leaving the White House in 1999, Rubin was named Chairman of the Board of Citigroup. He was paid $21 million in his first year. He then made $50 million in the next two years. Between 2007 and 2009 alone, a time when the global financial system collapsed, Rubin earned $126 million in salary and compensation. Critics would later say that Rubin made $126 million, while the rest of the financial world imploded… thanks largely to policies he put forth during his years as Secretary of the Treasury, with the loosening or removing of various financial regulations and guardrails. As "The Black Swan" author Nassim Nicholas Taleb put it in an interview in the wake of the financial collapse: "He made $120 million from Citibank, which was technically insolvent. And now we, the taxpayers, are paying for it." The US government ultimately gave Citigroup a $45 billion bailout and made $300 billion worth of other guarantees to save the company from failure right at the time when Robert was earning $100+ million.

Early Life and Education

Robert Rubin was born on August 29, 1938 in New York City to Jewish parents Sylvia and Alexander. When he was young, he moved with his parents to Miami Beach, Florida, where he attended Miami Beach High School. For his higher education, Rubin went to Harvard College, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in economics in 1960. He went on to attend Harvard Law School for three days before dropping out. Wishing to see the world, Rubin subsequently attended the London School of Economics, and then came back to the US to attend Yale Law School.

Career Beginnings

After graduating from Yale Law in 1964, Rubin became an attorney at the New York City firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. He remained there until 1966, when he joined Goldman Sachs as an associate in the risk arbitrage department. Eventually, Rubin moved up to co-COO of Goldman Sachs, and in 1990 became co-chairman. Meanwhile, he served on the boards of directors of the New York Stock Exchange and the US Securities and Exchange Commission Market Oversight and Financial Services Advisory Committee.

Clinton Administration

Rubin joined the Clinton administration in 1993 in the role of Assistant to the President for Economic Policy. During his two years in that position, he directed the National Economic Council, which Clinton had created to coordinate policy recommendations going into his office. Rubin was credited with making the NEC succeed. He was also central in the creation of Clinton's 1993 Deficit Reduction Act, which contributed to the budget surplus and economic prosperity that characterized the latter half of the decade. Due to his successes, Rubin was nominated by Clinton to become the next US Secretary of the Treasury, a position he assumed in 1995. In his role, Rubin was credited with being a driving force behind the country's economic growth, including its near full-employment and bullish stock markets. He worked to balance the budget, leading to the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

Among his other contributions as US Secretary of the Treasury, Rubin was a major proponent of investing in distressed rural and urban communities. He advocated for more community development financial institutions in order to invest in inner cities and boost the CDFI Fund. Additionally, Rubin assisted in the Clinton administration's plans to increase empowerment and enterprise zones throughout the US, which would provide tax breaks for businesses in the zones. Elsewhere, he supported the repealing of the Glass-Steagall Act, which had been instituted in 1933 to impose restrictions on the activities of commercial and investment banks. The Act, which he argued was archaic, was successfully repealed after Rubin's resignation from the Clinton administration in July of 1999.

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Citigroup

After leaving the government, Rubin joined the leadership at Citigroup. He joined the company in September 1999 with a guaranteed first-year salary of $15 million PLUS unlimited use of the firm's fleet of private jets. He wound up making $20 million per year in his first three years at Citigroup. As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, between 2007 and 2009, a time when the global financial world collapsed, Robert was paid $126 million by Citigroup. Around this time a group of investors filed a lawsuit alleging that Rubin and other Citigroup executives sold shares at inflated prices while concealing the firm's risks. Rubin resigned from the firm in 2009, and in 2012 the lawsuit was settled.

Citigroup itself collapsed and ultimately needed $45 billion worth of TARP bailout money PLUS $300 billion worth of other asset guarantees from the Federal government.

Other Work

In his other post-government activities, Rubin served as a member of the Harvard Corporation board from 2002 to 2014, and in 2018 began serving on its finance committee. He also co-founded the Hamilton Project, an economic policy think tank. Elsewhere, Rubin serves as a trustee of Mount Sinai Health System, co-chair of the advisory board of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, and as a senior counselor at the investment banking advisory firm Centerview Partners.

Criticism Around the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis

Although he was integral in fostering the economic prosperity of the late 90s, Rubin was later criticized by many analysts for having a hand in the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Specifically, the advice he gave to Clinton against regulating credit derivatives was seen as a contributing factor to the crisis. Rubin was also criticized for his risk-taking at Citigroup, which had exposed the bank to losses that were compounded by policies he had promoted when he was Secretary of the Treasury.

Personal Life

With his wife Judith (née Oxenberg), Rubin has two sons named James and Philip. The family belonged to Temple Beth Sholom on Miami Beach for many years.

Read more: Robert Rubin Net Worth

Jim Chanos is an American hedge fund manager who has a net worth of $400 million. Jim Chanos is the founder of the New York-based hedge fund Chanos & Co and Kynikos Associates. As a globally renowned short-seller, Chanos has built his career on thorough investigation and the insightful understanding of companies' fundamentals. His analytical prowess and strategic mindset have earned him recognition as one of the industry's most astute investment managers.

He gained fame and fortune in a major way in the 2000s as a short seller of Enron. At the time of his short selling position it was seen as extremely risky and contrarian to bet against Enron. As we all know, Chanos' bet was extremely accurate and therefore profitable. In the years since, he has taken famous short selling bets against companies like Tesla and Beyond Meat.

At its peak, Kynikos Associates managed $6 billion and made Jim a multi-billionaire. By 2018 the firm's assets had dropped to $2 billion and in 2020 the firm reportedly had less than $500 million worth of assets.

Early Life

Jim Chanos was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on December 24, 1957. His father ran a chain of successful dry-cleaning establishments, sparking an early interest in business for Chanos. He earned his bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Yale University in 1980. While in college, he gained his initial experience in the investment industry with a part-time job at brokerage firm Gilford Securities.

Early Career

Upon graduating, Chanos moved to Chicago where he started as an analyst at Blyth Eastman Paine Webber. He quickly rose to prominence in the financial world during the Baldwin-United Corporation scandal. Chanos's suspicions were aroused by Baldwin's acquisition of the insurance company MGIC Investment Corp. Upon investigating, he discovered that Baldwin was using its insurance subsidiaries to finance its parent company, a potentially disastrous financial setup. His insights led to Baldwin-United's bankruptcy in 1983, placing him firmly on the investment map.

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Founding of Kynikos Associates

In 1985, Chanos established Kynikos Associates, named after the Greek word cynic, meaning "dog-like" or "questioning." Kynikos Associates is a New York City-based investment firm specializing in short-selling, a market strategy betting on the decline in a stock's price. Chanos's investment style revolves around intensive research and forensic accounting to identify overvalued stocks and potential corporate frauds.

The Enron Short and Global Recognition

Chanos's most famous investment was his short position on Enron in the early 2000s. He recognized the energy company's financial statements didn't add up and began shorting the stock long before it crashed in 2001. His pivotal role in uncovering the Enron scandal elevated his status in the finance world and further solidified his reputation as an incisive short-seller.

Chanos' firm reportedly earned $500 million off the Enron short.

Present Day Influence and Advocacy

Over the years, Chanos has remained a prominent voice in financial markets, often appearing in media to share his insights. He's also an active participant in public policy discussions and a firm advocate for financial market transparency. As a guest lecturer at Yale University's School of Management, Chanos shares his expertise with the next generation of finance professionals.

Real Estate

Jim has split his time between New York City and Miami in recent years.

In 2008 he paid $20 million for a penthouse apartment in Manhattan. He listed this property for sale in 2019 for $34 million but did not find a buyer. He listed it again in May 2023 for $23.5 million.

In February 2021 Jim sold his 3 acre oceanfront East Hampton home for $60 million.

In 2003 he paid $3.11 million for an apartment in a luxury Miami building. He subsequently bought a lower unit in the building which he used for staff. In May 2023 he listed the primary condo for $21 million and the staff apartment for $4 million.

Read more: Jim Chanos Net Worth

Vincent "Vinnie" Viola is an American businessman and U.S. Army veteran who has a net worth of $3.2 billion. Vincent Viola is notable for being former President Donald Trump's one-time nominee for Secretary of the Army, before withdrawing from consideration citing conflicts of interests with his business ventures.

Viola earned his fortune as the founder of Virtu Financial and as the former Chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). He is one of the nation's foremost leaders in electronic trading. He also owns the NHL's Florida Panthers.

Early Life

Vincent's father was an immigrant from Italy who drove a truck. Vincent attended Brooklyn Tech followed by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated in 1977. He later graduated from the U.S. Army Airborne, Infantry and Ranger Schools and served in the 101st Airborne Division. In 1983, he graduated from the New York Law School.

Career

He started his career in the financial services industry on the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange and rose to be Vice Chairman (1993-1996) and Chairman (2001-2004). Viola has launched a number of successful businesses during his career, including Virtu Financial and a regional banking group in Texas that is now listed on NASDAQ (IBTX).

He is currently the Executive Chairman of Virtu Financial. Based in New York City, Virtu was founded by Viola. Virtu Financial is a market maker and liquidity provider to the financial markets worldwide. Through its technology platform it provides quotations to buyers and sellers in equities, commodities, currencies, options, fixed income, and other securities on various exchanges, markets, and liquidity pools.

Shortly after September 11, 2001, Viola was instrumental in founding the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.

Vincent and his wife Teresa are investors thoroughbred horses. The own the St. Elias Stable and Teresa Viola Racing. Their horse Always Dreaming, won the 2017 Kentucky Derby.

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Real Estate

In 2005 Vincent and his wife Teresa paid $20 million for a 20,000 square-foot mansion on the Upper East Side of New York City. The home is six levels and has seven bedrooms. Vincent and Teresa performed major renovations to the property, which dates back to the 1880s. They added a swimming pool, movie theater and even a panic room.

In 2013 he listed the home for sale for a show-stopping $114 million. He finally sold the property in March 2021 for $60 million. At one point in 2017 he was under contract with a Chinese tycoon to sell the home for $80 million. The buyer reportedly disappeared before the deal could close. Vincent kept an $8 million deposit.

Vincent and Teresa finally sold the home in March 2021 for $59 million.

In January 2021 Vincent and Teresa sold a home in Brooklyn Heights for $25.5 million. This sale set a record for townhouse sale price in Brooklyn.

In 2017 he paid $105 million for a property in Brooklyn Heights, which he apparently intends to convert to condos.

Personal Life

Vincent and Teresa have three sons.

They are passionate about horse racing and breeding. They own the 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming

Read more: Vincent Viola Net Worth

Timothy Geithner is an American economist, central banker and civil servant who has a net worth of $12 million. Timothy Geithner is best known for his tenure as the 75th United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Barack Obama. Serving from 2009 to 2013, Geithner played a pivotal role in steering the American economy through the turbulent aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Tim joined Treasury in 1988 and worked his way up the ranks, spending a period as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York starting in 2004.

Before becoming Treasury Secretary Geithner's financial disclosure showed he estimated his own net worth to be between $740,000 and $1.7 million. According to his last financial disclosure, in 2013, at that time Tim Geithner's net worth was between $239,000 and $6 million.

Geithner was one of the least wealthy people to serve as Treasury Secretary. With a net worth of $500 million (at the time), his Treasury predecessor Hank Paulson was one of the richest people to hold the position. Before taking the position, Paulson was forced to liquidate hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Goldman Sachs stock. An attractive perk of becoming Secretary Treasury allowed Paulson to sell those shares without paying any capital gains tax. As a result, Paulson saved himself over $200 million by becoming Secretary of Treasury.

During the Great Recession, Geithner was directly involved in the allocation of $350 billion of funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program that was enacted during the Bush administration. He dealt with multiple signifiant issues, such as efforts to restructure the regulation of the nation's financial system, numerous attempts to spur recovery of both the mortgage market and the automobile industry, President Obama's tax changes, negotiations with foreign governments on approaches to worldwide financial issues, and demands for protectionism.

After leaving his government post in 2013, Geithner became the President of Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm in New York. He also released a book and has been known to earn as much as $400,000 for a single private speech.

Tim Geithner Salary

Before becoming Secretary of Treasury, Geithner was the President of the New York Federal Reserve bank. His salary in this position was $411,200. Upon stepping down he received a one-time $434,666 severance payment and was allowed to transfer $63,111 in pension benefits.

His salary as Secretary of the Treasury was $190,000 per year. So he took a more than 50% pay cut when he took this job.

Real Estate

In 2009 Tim and his wife paid $950,000 for a home in Bethesda, Maryland. They sold this home in July 2013 for $995,000. In 2004 they paid $1.6 million for a home in Mamaroneck, NY. They sold this home in August 2020 for $1.5 million.

He and his wife also own a Cape Cod vacation property which was valued at $500,000 in his 2009 financial disclosure.

Early Life and Education

Born on August 18, 1961, in Brooklyn, New York, Timothy Geithner spent much of his childhood abroad due to his father's work in international development. His upbringing in East Africa, India, Thailand, China, and Japan instilled an early awareness of global economic structures.

He pursued higher education at Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor's degree in government and Asian studies. His interest in international economics continued at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where he earned a Master's degree in International Economics and East Asian Studies in 1985.

Beginning of Career

Geithner commenced his professional journey at Kissinger Associates in New York. He subsequently moved to the public sector, joining the International Affairs division of the U.S. Treasury in 1988. His expertise and commitment led to his appointment as the Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs in 1999 under President Bill Clinton. During this period, Geithner gained invaluable experience addressing the Asian financial crisis.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

In 2003, Geithner ascended to one of the most influential roles within the Federal Reserve System — President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. His responsibilities extended to the national stage as the Vice Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, the central decision-making body for U.S. monetary policy. Geithner's tenure was characterized by his dedicated oversight of financial institutions and his crucial contributions to the nation's monetary policy.

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Secretary of the Treasury

In January 2009, at the height of the global financial crisis, President Barack Obama appointed Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury. With the economy in turmoil, Geithner faced the daunting task of restoring stability and confidence.

He spearheaded the implementation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), a critical component of the government's response to the financial crisis. The program aimed to strengthen the financial sector by allowing the government to buy or insure troubled assets. Despite intense scrutiny and public skepticism, Geithner's leadership helped stabilize the financial system, restore credit flows, and set the stage for economic recovery.

Warburg Pincus

Following his term as Treasury Secretary, Geithner transitioned into the private sector, serving as the President of Warburg Pincus, a prominent private equity firm, from 2014 onwards. His extensive experience and understanding of financial systems brought a unique perspective to the firm's investment strategies.

Simultaneously, Geithner maintained an active role in shaping discourse on financial crises through his memoir, "Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises," offering an insightful first-hand account of the financial crisis and recovery.

Geithner's Lasting Impact

Geithner's role in leading the U.S. economy through the 2008 financial crisis places him as a significant figure in economic history. His dedication to public service, his understanding of complex financial systems, and his steady leadership during a time of unprecedented economic turbulence underscore his enduring legacy.

Moreover, his contributions extended beyond crisis management. Geithner played a vital role in formulating the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, reshaping American financial regulation. His actions during and after the crisis have significantly influenced the conduct of economic policy, leaving an indelible mark on global finance.

Read more: Timothy Geithner Net Worth

Melissa Francis is an American actress and television journalist who has a net worth of $8 million. Melissa Francis worked at CNBC and CNET before joining Fox in 2012 where she became an anchor at Fox Business Network. She left Fox in late 2020. As we detail later in this article, her departure from Fox was controversial and eventually resulted in Melissa receiving a large financial settlement.

Early Life

Francis was born on December 12, 1972 in Los Angeles, California. She was raised in Los Angeles, attending elementary and high school there where she was a very strong student. Throughout her time in school, she simultaneously pursued a career as a child actor. After high school, she enrolled at Harvard University. She graduated in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.

Acting Career

Francis began her acting career as a baby when she appeared in Johnson & Johnson shampoo commercials at the age of 6 months old. In 1979, at the age of seven, she appeared in two television films – "Champions: A Love Story" and "Son-Rise: A Miracle of Love." From 1979 to 1980, she had a main role in the series "Joe's World." She also appeared in episodes of "Mork & Mindy," "Galactica 1980," and "When the Whistle Blows" in 1980. In 1981, she landed the role of Cassandra Cooper Ingalls on "Little House on the Prairie." She was on the show for two years. In 1984, she appeared in the television film "Something About Amelia." The following year, she appeared in episodes of "Hotel," "CBS Schoolbreak Special," and "St. Elsewhere."

In 1986, she booked a main role in the show "Morningstar/Eveningstar." In 1988, she appeared in an episode of "A Year in the Life" followed by an episode of "ALF" in 1989. In 1990, she appeared in "Hardball." She then stopped acting when she enrolled at Harvard. Throughout her entire acting career, she also appeared in nearly 100 commercials.

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News Career

After completing her education, Francis pursued a career as a television news correspondent. Some of her early positions include serving as a producer for WCSH-TV in Portland, Maine, a weekend morning anchor and general assignment report for WFSB-TV in Hartford, Connecticut, and a general assignment reporter in Providence, Rhode Island and Manchester, New Hampshire.

She then began working as a correspondent for CNET. There, she covered stories related to consumer products, finance, and technology. During this time, she was also often featured on CNBC, where she provided reports on those topics.

Francis was later hired to be an energy and financial reporter for CNBC in 2003. There she covered issues related to oil pricing, the corporations and companies operating within the energy sector, and various economic issues affecting energy pricing and consumption.

Melissa joined the Fox Business Network in 2012. Francis was a panelist on the series "America Live" from 2012 to 2013. During this time she frequently appeared on the television series "Cavuto on Business" and "Your World with Neil Cavuto." From 2012 to 2015 she hosted the TV series "Money with Melissa Francis."

In 2014 Francis became a co-hoston the series "Outnumbered." The following year she began co-hosting the television series "After the Bell."

Melissa left Fox amid a salary dispute in 2020.

Salary Dispute and Settlement

Melissa worked for Fox News between 2012 and 2020. In 2017, the year she was promoted to co-host "Outnumbered," Melissa was considered one of the top female stars on Fox Business. Around the time of her promotion Melissa requested a salary increase. At the time she was reportedly earning a little under $1 million per year, reportedly much less than her male co-anchors. When she learned of the salary disparity, Melissa requested and received a modest raise, but was still being paid much less than her male co-anchors.

Not satisfied, Melissa apparently began keeping a spreadsheet that listed every salary she discovered. The results reportedly showed that male anchors at Fox consistently and significantly out-earned their female counterparts.

Melissa entered arbitration with Fox to hopefully settle the dispute but was ultimately pushed out of Fox in October 2020.

In June of 2022 Melissa was reportedly awarded a $15 million settlement from Fox.

Books

In November of 2012, she authored the book "Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter: A Memoir." The book details the challenges she faced in her experience with her own overbearing mother. Five years later, in 2017, she published "Lessons from the Prairie." The title was inspired by her childhood acting experience on "Little House on the Prairie" and discusses various aspects of her childhood and how they have affected her life as an adult.

Personal Life

Francis has been married to Wray Thorn since 1997. The couple met in Boston, as Thorn also attended Harvard University. They have had three children together – Greyson, Thompson, and Gemma. Due to a rare genetic condition that Francis has, her first two pregnancies were very risky for her health. The couple had their third child – Gemma – via surrogacy. The family lives in New York City.

Read more: Melissa Francis Net Worth

John Bogle was an American businessman and executive who had a net worth of $80 million at the time of his death in 2019. John Bogle is best known for founding the Vanguard Group, one of the world's largest investment management companies. Index funds were Bogle's revolution. It was his theory that an average investor would do far better owning a small piece of the entire market as opposed to paying a mutual fund manager endless fees to frequently perform WORSE than the market. Over the course of his career, Bogle was a fierce advocate for low-cost index funds and was recognized as one of the most influential figures in the world of finance. He is also known for his 1999 book "Common Sense on Mutual Funds: New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor," which became a bestseller and is considered a classic.

Bogle's $80 million net worth might be surprising given that the company he founded, Vanguard, managed around $5 trillion at the time of his death. However, in a 2012 interview Bogle confirmed that he wasn't a billionaire, nor a hundred-millionaire and that his net worth was in the "double digit millions." Had he decided to run Vanguard as a more traditional mutual or hedge fund, he surely could have been worth many many billions of dollars. However Bogle decided he wanted his investment managers to work more to help customers as opposed to charging big management fees or fees on gains that took away from customers. He is arguably a hero to millions of everyday working investors. Today Vanguard manages more than $8 TRILLION.

In 1997, Bogle was appointed by then-U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt to serve on the Independence Standards Board. He also received honorary doctorate degrees from Princeton University, University of Delaware, University of Rochester, New School University, Susquehanna University, Eastern University, Widener University, Albright College, Pennsylvania State University, Drexel University, Immaculata University, Georgetown University, Trinity College and Villanova University. In 2004, TIME magazine named Mr. Bogle one of the world's 100 most powerful and influential people and Institutional Investor presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. John Bogle died on January 16, 2019 at the age of 89.

Early Life

John Bogle was born May 8, 1929 in Montclair, New Jersey. He grew up in a middle-class family and attended Blair Academy, a boarding school in New Jersey. Bogle went on to attend Princeton University, where he studied economics and graduated with honors in 1951.

Vanguard

After graduating from college, John Bogle was hired by Wellington Management Company. He eventually rose to President and then CEO of the company. Bogle was actually fired from Wellington in 1974. After getting fired, he put together a new fund which he called Vanguard.

Under Bogle's leadership, Vanguard became known for its low-cost index funds, which were designed to provide investors with broad exposure to the market at a lower cost than traditional actively managed funds. Bogle's philosophy of low-cost investing was based on the idea that most actively managed funds fail to outperform the market over the long term, and that investors would be better off investing in a low-cost index fund that tracks the market.

Today The Vanguard Group is the largest mutual fund organization in the world with just over $8 trillion in assets under management. Headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, Vanguard is made up of more than 160 mutual funds. The Vanguard 500 Index Fund, the largest fund in the group, was founded by Mr. Bogle in 1975. It was the first index mutual fund.

In 1997, he was named one of the "Financial Leaders of the 20th Century" in Leadership in Financial Services (Macmillan Press Ltd., 1997). In 1999, FORTUNE designated him as one of the investment industry's four "Giants of the 20th Century." In the same year, he received the Woodrow Wilson Award from Princeton University for "distinguished achievement in the nation's service."

(Photo by Leif Skoogfors/Getty Images)

Later Career and Legacy

John Bogle continued to lead Vanguard for several decades, and remained an outspoken advocate for low-cost investing and the importance of long-term thinking in investing. He also authored several books on investing, including "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing" and "Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life."

Bogle's impact on the world of finance was profound, and his philosophy of low-cost investing has become widely adopted by investors around the world. He was recognized as one of the most influential figures in finance, and was awarded several prestigious honors and awards throughout his career, including the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship and the George S. Eccles Prize for Excellence in Economic Writing.

In addition to his work with Vanguard, Bogle was also involved in several other business ventures and philanthropic organizations. He was a vocal critic of executive compensation and corporate governance practices, and was known for his advocacy on behalf of investors and shareholders.

Personal Life and Philanthropy

John Bogle was known for his personal integrity and his dedication to philanthropy. He was an active supporter of several charitable organizations, including the Bogle Foundation, which he founded in 1998 to support education and community service.

In his personal life, Bogle was an avid reader and a lover of classical music. He was also known for his dedication to his family, and was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather.

Death and Legacy

John Bogle passed away on January 16, 2019, at the age of 89. His death was widely mourned in the world of finance, and he was recognized as a visionary leader and a champion for investors.

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David Tepper is an American businessman and philanthropist who has net worth of $16 billion. For many years he was one of the richest people in New Jersey. After relocating to Palm Beach, he became the richest people in Florida. Tepper earned his fortune as the founder of the hedge fund Appaloosa Management. He struck out on his own in 1993 after being repeatedly passed over for partnership at Goldman Sachs. He owns the Carolina Panthers NFL team and the Charlotte FC MLS soccer team. David Tepper's net worth makes him one of the richest sports team owners on the planet. On the philanthropic side of things, Tepper donated $67 million to his alma mater Carnegie Mellon University to establish the Tepper Quadrangle and various campus buildings.

Early Life and Education

David Tepper was born on September 11, 1957 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as the second of three children of elementary school teacher Roberta and accountant Harry. He is Jewish. As a teenager, Tepper went to Peabody High School. Subsequently, he attended the University of Pittsburgh, from which he earned his BA in economics. Tepper went on to obtain his MS from Carnegie Mellon University in 1982.

Career Beginnings

Tepper began his financial career while still in college by making small-scale investments in different markets. After graduating from Pittsburgh, he worked as a credit analyst in the treasury department of Equibank. He left that position to study at Carnegie Mellon, and then took a job in the treasury department of Republic Steel in Ohio. In 1984, Tepper was recruited by Keystone Mutual Funds in Boston, Massachusetts.

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Goldman Sachs

Tepper left Keystone in 1985 when he was recruited by Goldman Sachs to become a credit analyst. Within six months, he was the company's head trader. Tepper stayed at Goldman Sachs for eight years, during which time he focused mostly on bankruptcies and special situations. Tepper was credited with playing a critical role in the survival of the company in the wake of the 1987 stock market crash.

Despite being a high-performer, Tepper felt repeatedly looked-over each year when it was time to name new partners.

Appaloosa Management

Frustrated by the rejection Tepper decided to go his own way.

He subsequently began working at the offices of mutual-fund manager and Goldman client Michael Price. Having raised sufficient money by aggressively trading his personal account, Tepper founded his own fund, Appaloosa Management, in early 1993. At first, the firm was known for being a junk bond investment boutique. However, at the start of the new millennium, Appaloosa had established itself as a hedge fund specializing in distressed debt while investing in global public equity and fixed income markets. The company made especially big profits early on through its investments in Conseco and Marconi.

By the early 2000s Appaloosa was thriving. In 2001 the firm generated a 61% return, primarily through investing in distressed bonds. Distressed bonds would become a trademark. Tepper made savvy investments in the debt of "dicey" companies.

Having survived the 2007-08 financial crisis, Appaloosa earned around $7 billion in 2009 by profiting from the recovery of distressed financial stocks it had previously purchased. About $4 billion of those profits were pocketed by Tepper himself, making him the top-earning hedge fund manager of the year. He was listed as the top-earning manager again in 2012. Appaloosa has continued to maintain its success via major investments in such companies as Amazon and Alibaba, and due to its offshore Palomino Fund.

In 2019 David announced his plan to convert Appaloosa into a family office, meaning the firm would return outside money to investors and would eventually manage his own personal assets alone.

At its peak, Appaloosa had $14 billion in assets under management, roughly 70% of which were Tepper's own money.

David Tepper $100 Million ATM Receipt

Tepper is perhaps most famous for withdrawing $400 from an ATM in the Hamptons and accidentally leaving the receipt. The next person who used the ATM found his receipt and noticed his account balance was close to $100 million! The ATM receipt was posted on the internet and became sensation:

David Tepper Net Worth

Hamptons House Revenge

In 2010 – the year after he earned $4 billion – David paid $43.5 million for an oceanfront mansion in the Hamptons hamlet of Sagaponack. The property is extremely rare in that it spans 6.5-acres, basically unheard-of for the area. The previous owner had been known to rent the property for $900,000 for the summer. The purchase also provided a little bit of revenge for Mr. Tepper. The seller of the home was Joanne Dougherty. Joanne received the house as part of a divorce settlement from a man named Jon Corzine. Joanne and Jon were married from 1969 to 2003. Jon Corzine is notable for two reasons.

#1) He was the governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010

#2) Prior to becoming governor, Jon worked at Goldman Sachs from 1979 to 1999.

Jon was David's boss. He was the one who kept David from becoming a partner all those years. Corzine's partnership stake earned him $400 million on the day Goldman went public in May 1999. At that point David and Appaloosa were still a scrappy upstart. In what must have been the ultimate move of sweet revenge, not only did Tepper buy the Hamptons mansion from Corzine's ex-wife, he quickly moved to raze their mansion to the ground. He then built a mansion twice the size in its place. Tepper and Joanne did the deal without any brokers. It was a simple transaction with no fees or commissions.

You can see the new mansion David Tepper built in the following drone video which was taken a beautiful morning after a major snow dump. You can see the house starting at the 10 second mark, through the 40 second mark. You can't miss it:

In 2016, Tepper relocated his business empire from New Jersey to Florida. The move was so devastating in terms of lost state income tax that New Jersey was forced to disclose the loss as a potential budget risk. He had been New Jersey's largest individual taxpayer for several years running.

In 2017 he paid $10.7 million for a condo in Miami, Florida.

In February 2021 Tepper paid $73 million for an oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida.

In October 2020 Tepper indicated he would potentially be moving back to New Jersey.

Sports Ownership

Beyond his lucrative hedge fund, Tepper is substantially involved in the world of professional sports ownership. In 2009, he became part-owner of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers after purchasing a 5% stake in the team. Later, in 2018, Tepper purchased the NFL's Carolina Panthers from the team's founder and original owner Jerry Richardson, giving up his Steelers shares in the process. His bid of $2.2 billion was the highest in NFL history.

Upon his purchase of the Panthers in 2018, Tepper expressed his desire to bring an MLS franchise to Charlotte. He was successful in his campaign, as the city was awarded the 30^th team in the MLS in late 2019, Charlotte FC. Tepper reportedly paid a record $325 million in expansion fees to acquire the franchise, which made its playing debut in 2022.

Philanthropy

In his philanthropic work, Tepper has made a number of major donations to his alma maters. He donated $55 million to Carnegie Mellon's business school in 2004, and in 2013 donated $67 million to establish the Tepper Quadrangle and various other buildings and facilities on campus. Elsewhere, Tepper has made several large donations to the University of Pittsburgh, including for endowed undergraduate scholarships, outreach programs, and academic centers.

Among his other philanthropic contributions, Tepper donated $1 million to United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey. In 2012, he and his former colleague Alan Fournier founded the political action group Better Education for Kids. Via his foundations, Tepper has also donated to relief efforts related to Hurricane Ida and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Personal Life

In 1986, Tepper married Marlene. They had three children named Brian, Randi, and Csey before divorcing in 2016. Three years after that, Tepper wed Nicole Bronish. Previously, he resided in a modest stone house in Livingston, New Jersey. Tepper also reportedly paid $43.5 million for a beachfront mansion owned by his former Goldman Sachs supervisor, which he proceeded to have demolished. Subsequently, he had an even bigger house built on the property.

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Joshua Kushner is an American businessman, entrepreneur, and investor who has a net worth of $3.5 billion. Joshua Kurshner earned the majority of his net worth as the founder of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital. He is also the co-founder of Oscar Insurance. And it should be noted that he comes from an extremely wealthy real estate family. Joshua's brother Jared Kushner, which means Ivanka Trump is his sister-in-law. A 2018 wealth disclosure report from Jared, showed that the family controls a $7 billion real estate portfolio and that each sibling's share of that trust is worth $800 million. In 2018 Josh married Victoria's Secret supermodel Karlie Kloss. They had been dating since 2012.

Early Life and Education

Joshua Kushner was born in Livingston, New Jersey in June 1985. His parents are Charles and Sheryl Kushner. His paternal grandparents were polish Holocaust survivors who settled in the US after World War II. His grandfather Joseph laid the groundwork for what became a family real estate empire.

Today the Kushner Companies is a highly successful real estate development company with a portfolio of more than 4,000 apartments in New Jersey as well as over 60 major buildings in New York City, notably the GM Building, 229 West 43rd Street and 666 Fifth Avenue. In 2005 Charles was convicted on 18 criminal counts and sentenced to two years in prison, serving 14 months. He was also ordered to pay a $500,000 fine and was disbarred in New Jersey.

Josh graduated from Harvard in 2008 and then Harvard Business School in 2011.

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Thrive Capital

Kushner's career started at Goldman Sachs but within a year of leaving Harvard undergrad he had already founded a venture capital firm firm called Thrive Capital. Thrive was the second-largest investor in Instagram, having invested in two rounds. Thrive's second Instagram investment was at a private valuation of $500 million. This deal closed in April 2012. Several days after the deal closed, Instagram was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion.

Thrive was also an early investor in the medical technology company Oscar Health Inc, eventually amassing a 20% equity stake in the firm. Unfortunately Oscar's stock price declined more than 90% after going public in March 2021.

In January 2023, Thrive Capital raised $175 million in a round led by a consortium of billionaires like Jorge Paulo Lemann, Henry Kravis and Mukesh Ambani. The funding round valued Thrive at $5.3 billion. At that point Josh owned roughly 50% of Thrive's equity. When combined with his family wealth, that increased Josh's net worth to $3.5 billion. Interestingly that made Josh $1.5 billion richer than this brother's father-in-law, Donald Trump.

Personal Life

Josh and model Karlie Kloss began dating in 2012. They became engaged in July 2018 and married in October 2019. Before getting engaged, Karlie converted to Judaism. They welcomed their first child in 2021.

Read more: Joshua Kushner Net Worth

Larry Fink is an American financial executive who has a net worth of $1 billion. Larry Fink is the chairman and CEO of BlackRock, an American investment management corporation that has over $10 trillion in assets under management. That makes it the largest money management firm. Larry co-founded BlackRock in 1988 under The Blackstone Group before it split in 1994. The company went public in 1999. He has also been Chairman of the Board, Chair of Corporate Council, Chairman of the Executive and Leadership Committees, and Co-Chair of the Global Client Committees.

Billionaire Status

Larry Fink achieved billionaire status for the first time in April 2018. At that point, roughly $600 million of his net worth was his equity in BlackRock. Larry Fink owns 0.7% of BlackRock's total outstanding shares.

Salary

In a typical recent year, Larry has earned as little as $20 million and as much as $40 million in salary compensation. That has made him at times one of the 20 highest-paid CEOs in the world. For example, in 2021 Larry earned $36 million in total comp. That comp was made up of:

• $1.5 million base salary
• $11.3 million bonus
• $18.4 million equity incentives
• $4.9 million deferred equity

Early Life

Lawrence Douglas Fink was born on November 2, 1952 in Van Nuys, California to Lila and Frederick Fink. His mother worked as an English professor while his father owned a shoe store. He grew up in a Jewish family with his two siblings. After completing high school, he enrolled at the University of California Los Angeles where he earned a bachelor's degree in political science. He was also a member of the Kappa Beta Phi fraternity. He then received an MBA degree in Real Estate at the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management in 1976.

Early Career

In 1976, after finishing his graduate degree, Fink started his career at First Boston, a New York-based investment bank. He was one of the first mortgage-backed security traders at the firm and also managed the firm's bond department. He also became the firm's managing director and headed a number of the firm's financial groups. Fink helped increase First Boston's bottom line by around $1 billion. He was considered to be very successful there until 1986 when he lost the firm $100 million due to his incorrect interest rate predictions. From that experience, he learned the importance of incorporating comprehensive risk management into future investments.

BlackRock

In 1988, Fink co-founded BlackRock under the corporate umbrella of Stephen Schwarzman's Blackstone Group. He became its director and CEO. BlackRock later split from The Blackstone Group in 1994 and Fink retained his position as director and CEO. He led the company as it went public in 1999.

Throughout the 2000s, Fink was involved in some headline news story events in the financial industry. In 2003, Fink was part of the negotiation of the resignation of the CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Grasso. Grasso had been widely criticized for his $190 million pay package. In 2006, he led the BlackRock merger with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. The result of the merger doubled BlackRock's asset management portfolio.

In 2006, BlackRock also purchased a Manhattan housing complex, the Stuyvesant Town – Peter Cooper Village, for $5.4 billion, It was the largest residential real-estate deal in American history. However, the project ultimately ended in default and BlackRock's clients lost millions. In the years that followed, however, BlackRock would become a huge investor in real estate projects around the country.

In 2008, the U.S. government contracted with BlackRock to help restore health to the financial industry following the financial meltdown of 2008. His contract allowed Fink to build relationships with members of President Obama's administration. Some questions have since been raised about whether conflicts of interest have arisen due to this close relationship, as BlackRock later hired many former executive branch appointees to the firm.

In December of 2009, BlackRock purchased Barclays Global Investors. Following the deal, BlackRock became the largest money management firm in the world. By 2016, BlackRock had $5 trillion under management with over 12,000 employees in 27 different countries.

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In 2016, Fink received the ABANA Achievement Award in New York City. The award recognizes an individual who exemplifies leadership in banking and finance, specifically in their focus on financial cooperation between the United States and the Middle East and North Africa. In 2018, Fink was ranked in the 28^th spot on the "Forbes" list of the World's Most Powerful People. In 2019, he received the Charles Schwab Financial Innovation Award.

Fink has tried to manage the public perception of BlackRock. In 2018, he wrote in a letter to shareholders that large companies like BlackRock should be aware of their impact on society. However, several anti-war organizations were unhappy with the statement considering BlackRock is the largest investor in weapons manufacturers through its U.S. Aerospace and Defense ETF. Fink dealt with an awkward on-stage encounter with U.S. non-profit organization Code Pink at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit in 2018.

He also announced environmental sustainability as one of the core goals of BlackRock's future investment decisions. He published a 2020 open letter in which he explained this goal and discussed how BlackRock would be cutting ties with former investments that involved large environmental risk. However, despite this effort, Fink was still named one of country's top "climate villains" by "The Guardian" in 2022 as BlackRock was known to profit from deforestation. BlackRock has also faced heat for its close ties to the Federal Reserve System, anticompetitive behavior, and investing heavily in China.

Personal Life

Larry and his wife Lori have been married since 1974. They own homes in Manhattan, North Salem, New York, and Colorado. Together, they have three children. Fink has been a lifelong supporter of the Democratic Party. Fink has served on the board of trustees for New York University and also co-chairs the NYU Langone Medical Center and is a trustee of the Boys and Girls Club of New York.

Read more: Larry Fink Net Worth