Thrive Capital founder Josh Kushner's wealth doubled in one year to $16.7 billion, with assets under management approaching $650 billion

BlockBeats News, August 23: 41-year-old Josh Kushner (brother of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner) is now estimated to be worth $16.7 billion, more than double the $5.2 billion from a year ago, mainly benefiting from the assets under his venture capital firm Thrive Capital skyrocketing from $23 billion at the end of 2024 to $65 billion. Thrive Capital has historically invested in star companies such as Instagram, Spotify, OpenAI, SpaceX, Databricks, and Anduril. Following SpaceX's IPO, Thrive's stake is reportedly worth $10 billion, and they also hold a 7% share of AI programming company Cursor, acquired by NVIDIA for $12.6 billion, valuing their stake at $4.2 billion. The company's latest flagship fund, Thrive X, completed its fundraising in March with a size exceeding $10 billion. In a letter to investors, Kushner revealed that Thrive's fund has an average annual return of 33%, compared to around 14% for the S&P 500 and 17% for the Nasdaq, generating over $1 billion in liquidity in the past 12 months and expecting several billion dollars in additional liquidity in the next few quarters, with a significant portion possibly coming from OpenAI's IPO next year, which could be valued at over $1 trillion.

Outside of business moves, Kushner teamed up with former Disney CEO Bob Iger to buy the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers for $12.5 billion, setting a record for sports team sales, but the deal faces uncertainty due to disagreements between Jeanie Buss and her siblings over the sale of a 17.8% stake. Kushner also holds around $800 million in shares of the Miami Heat, which need to be divested before the Lakers deal is completed. Forbes estimates his wealth to be approximately 17 times that of his brother Jared and about three times that of former President Trump. The acquisition of the Lakers could also bring significant tax advantages, as by amortizing up to 90% of the transaction price (including media rights, player contracts, and acquisition premiums) as intangible assets over 15 years, an annual tax bill savings of around $750 million can be achieved.

Thrive Capital has disclosed holdings of $2.15 billion in Amazon shares and $1.3 billion in Shopify shares, and their stake in the oldest investment, health insurance startup Oscar Health, is now valued at $200 million. Before founding Thrive, Kushner worked in Goldman Sachs' private equity division for a year, starting in 2010 at the age of 25 with a $5 million seed fund.