Daniel Lubetzky | |
---|---|
Born | 1968 (age 55–56) Mexico City, Mexico |
Nationality | Mexican, American |
Alma mater | Trinity University (BA) Stanford University (JD) |
Known for | Founder of snack company Kind LLC |
Title | Executive chairman, Kind LLC |
Spouse | Michelle Lynn Lieberman (m. 2008) |
Children | 4 |
Relatives | Emmanuel Lubezki (cousin) |
Website | www |
Daniel Lubetzky (born 1968) is an American billionaire businessman, philanthropist, author, and founder and executive chairman [1] [2] [3] of snack company Kind LLC. [4]
Lubetzky is the son of Sonia and Roman Lubetzky. A Holocaust survivor and a Lithuanian Ashkenazi Jew, [5] Lubetzky's father was a partner in International Bonded Warehouses and United Export Trading Association, two duty-free shop chains with headquarters in Laredo, Texas. [6] Daniel Lubetzky was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico. [7] As a teenager, he moved with his family to the U.S.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and international relations, graduating magna cum laude, from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. As an undergraduate, he studied abroad in Israel and France. [8] [9] Lubetzky then earned his Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School in 1993. [10]
In March 2008, Lubetzky married Michelle Lynn Lieberman, a physician. [6] They have four children. [11] Lubetzky is the cousin of three-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. [12]
While in college Lubetzky created a retail watch operation, Da'Leky Times. [13] After graduating from law school, Lubetzky worked briefly at Sullivan & Cromwell [14] and at McKinsey & Company. [14]
In 1993, Lubetzky was awarded a Haas Koshland Fellowship [15] to write about legislative means [16] to foster joint ventures between Arabs and Israelis. While carrying out his research, he discovered a sun-dried tomato product that provided the foundation for PeaceWorks Inc. [17] in 1994. PeaceWorks is a "not-Only-for-profit" business pursuing both peace and profit. Its flagship brand – Meditalia [18] – is made through cooperation among neighbors striving to co-exist in the Middle East.
In 2003, concerned about unhealthy snacking choices and the rising obesity and diabetes epidemic in America, Lubetzky launched Kind Snacks with the slogan "Kind to your body, your taste buds and your world". In 2015, Kind was the fastest-growing snack company in the US. [19]
In 2010, Lubetzky co-founded Maiyet, [20] a luxury fashion venture committed to partnering with artisans in developing economies to create high-end products, while promoting self-sufficiency and entrepreneurship.
In 2015, President Barack Obama and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker named him a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship. [21] In 2018, Lubetzky founded a New York-based family office, Equilibra, which backs entrepreneur-run businesses that offer packaged goods to consumers; investments include Greek yogurt brand Ellenos, and social enterprise Yellow Leaf Hammocks. [22] [23] As of November 2021, Lubetzky had a net worth of $2.2 billion. [24]
In November 2020, it was announced that Kind North America would be purchased by Mars in a deal worth $5 billion. Lubetzky said he would retain his stake in the company and remain involved in its operations. [25] [26] [27]
In September 2021, Lubetzky teamed up with two of Kind's former executives to create Somos (meaning "we are" in Spanish), an authentic Mexican food company. [28] [29]
In January 2023, Lubetzky relaunched Equilibra as Camino Partners, a business incubation and investment platform. [30]
In May 2024, Lubetzky was one of a group of billionaires and business interests who privately pressured New York City Mayor Eric Adams to deploy police on pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. A WhatsApp group with some of the country’s wealthiest people detailed donations to Adams’s campaign and conversations with the mayor. Some of those involved include real estate magnate Barry Sternlicht; Daniel Lubetzky, founder of the Kind Snacks brand; hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb; and founder of Thor Equities, Joseph Sitt. [31]
Lubetzky established Equilibra Partners Management Inc. in 2018. The firm backs entrepreneur-run businesses that offer packaged goods to consumers. [32]
In May 2020, Equilibra purchased a 25% stake in Yellow Leaf Hammocks for $1 million when Lubetzky sat as a guest shark on Shark Tank . [33]
In 2020, Equilibra invested $18 million in Greek yogurt company Ellenos. [34] [35] Towards the end of the year, it made a $250,000 investment in FitFighter, a fitness brand which began with equipment for firefighter training programs and expanded to full-body fitness tools and workouts. [36]
In 2021, Equilibra purchased a 10% stake in Quevos, [37] an egg white protein snacks company, also on Shark Tank. [38] That same year, they invested in Tandm Inc., a family-owned business that created a tandem boogie board. [39]
Other investments include: Cava Group, [40] Justin's, Krave Jerky, gimme Snacks, [41] Chapul, [42] food company Belgian Boys, [43] and HummViewer. [44]
Lubetzky is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Do the Kind Thing, Think Boundlessly, Work Purposefully, Live Passionately. [45] The book is based on Lubetzky's entrepreneurial experience, and was inspired by his father's stories from the Holocaust. [46] Lubetzky has also published multiple opinion posts to CNN describing his opinions on how to stop violent extremists and lessons he will pass on to his children. [47]
Since 2019 Lubetzky has been a recurring guest shark on Shark Tank from Season 11-Present. [48]
In 2002, he co-founded the OneVoice Movement, an international grassroots effort, to amplify the voices of moderate Israelis and Palestinians seeking to end the conflict. [49]
In 2015, Lubetzky and Kind Snacks created the Kind Foundation. Its signature initiative, Empatico, is a video-conferencing and digital learning platform that connects classrooms around the world to help kids explore their similarities and differences and expand their world views. [50]
In 2017, he launched a public advocacy organization called Feed the Truth to counteract the food industry's influence on food policy and public health. He pledged $25 million to the organization. [51]
In April 2020, Lubetzky's Kind Foundation launched the Frontline Impact Project in consultation with Project N95. The project is a platform for healthcare and other frontline responders to request resources needed in the fight against COVID-19. As of May 14, 2020, Frontline Impact Project had partnered with more than 40 brands including Unilever, Nestle, and Mars, reaching more than 180,000 people working mostly in hospitals, nursing homes, and outpatient medical practices. [52] [53] [54]
In 2021, Lubetzky launched Starts With Us.[ clarification needed ] Its movement partners include Jason Alexander, Mark Cuban, and Andrew Yang, amongst others. [55] [56]
In September 2022, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Lubetzky Family Foundation announced a scholarship program for Ukrainian students studying in the US. The program was launched in partnership with Jose Andres and Garry Kasparov. [57]
In 2019, Lubetzky was appointed to the Anti-Defamation League's inaugural board of directors. [58]
Lubetzky was involved in a long-standing WhatsApp group chat from October 2023 through early May 2024 with some of the United States' most powerful business leaders with the stated goals of "chang[ing] the narrative" in favor of Israel and "help[ing] win the war" on U.S. public opinion following Hamas's October 7th attack on Israel. [59] Members of the group chat discussed how they received private briefings by, and worked closely with, members of the Israeli government, including former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett; Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet; and Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog. [59]
Members of the 2023-2024 WhatsApp group chat, including Lubetzky, also held a video call in April 2024 with New York City Mayor Eric Adams in an effort to, according to reporting by The Washington Post , "pressure Columbia’s president and trustees to permit the mayor to send police to the campus" to shut down criticism of Israel's offensive military operations in Gaza, which many campus protesters, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, civil servants, and governments around the world have alleged to be genocide. [59] During the video call, group members discussed making political donations to Adams. [59] Following the video call, Lubetzky suggested that group members should take specific concrete steps, including resharing a link to offer financial support to Adams, calling and writing to Columbia’s president and board of trustees, and, according to the Post, “getting Black Leaders to condemn Anti-Semitism,” asking if anyone in the group knew Jay-Z, Beyoncé, or LeBron James. [59] A spokesperson for Lubetzky said he did not donate to Adams. [59]
Danone S.A. is a French multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in 1919 in Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris, where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock market index. Some of the company's products are branded Dannon in the United States.
Jamba Juice, doing business as Jamba, is an American quick-service restaurant and juice bar chain that sells blended fruit and vegetable juices, smoothies and other food products. The first Jamba Juice location, originally named Juice Club, opened in 1990 in San Luis Obispo, California. Jamba is owned by Focus Brands, an affiliate of private equity firm Roark Capital Group, which completed its acquisition in 2019. The company has more than 850 locations operating in 36 states in the United States, and also has locations in Australia, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia.
Milka is a Swiss brand of chocolate confectionery. Originally made in Switzerland in 1901 by Suchard, it has been produced in Lörrach, Germany, from 1901. Since 2012 it has been owned by US-based company Mondelez International, when it started following the steps of its predecessor Kraft Foods Inc., which had taken over the brand in 1990. It is sold in bars and a number of novelty shapes for Easter and Christmas. Products with the Milka brand also include chocolate-covered cookies and biscuits.
Red Mango FC, LLC is an American frozen yogurt and smoothie brand known for its all-natural frozen yogurt, fresh fruit smoothies, yogurt parfaits, and fresh juices. There are now more than 50 locations in over 15 states in the United States and Puerto Rico, and one each in El Salvador and Qatar. In 2011, Red Mango was named the No. 1 Zagat Rated chain in America for smoothies and frozen yogurt.
Daymond Garfield John is an American businessman, investor, and television personality. He is best known as an investor on the ABC reality television series Shark Tank. As well as being the founder, president, and chief executive officer of FUBU, John is the founder of The Shark Group.
Shark Tank is an American business reality television series that premiered on August 9, 2009, on ABC. The show is the American franchise of the international format Dragons' Den, a British TV series. It shows entrepreneurs making business presentations to a panel of five venture capitalists called "sharks" on the program, who decide whether to invest in their companies.
Barry Stuart Sternlicht is an American billionaire and the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, an investment fund with over $100 billion in assets under management. He is also chairman of Starwood Property Trust. He is the founder of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide and served as its Chairman and CEO from 1995 to 2005. As of May 2023, his net worth was estimated at $4.6 billion.
Kind LLC, stylized as KIND, is an American snack food company based in New York City. It was founded in 2004 by Daniel Lubetzky. Since 2020, it has been a subsidiary of Mars Inc.
Brynwood Partners is an American private equity investment firm focused on leveraged buyout and other control investments.
Chobani is an American food company specializing in strained yogurt. The company was founded in 2005 by Hamdi Ulukaya, a Turkish businessman. Chobani sells thick, Greek yogurt with a higher protein content than traditional yogurt and is one of the main companies to popularize this style of yogurt in the US. The company has also expanded to non-dairy, plant-based products such as dairy-free vegan yogurt and oat milk. Chobani produces a variety of Greek yogurt products, oat drinks, and snacks. Chobani's yogurt's market share in the U.S. rose from less than 1% in 2007 to more than 20% in 2021, and is the top-selling Greek yogurt brand in the United States and operates the largest yogurt facility in the world. In April 2016, Chobani announced it was giving 10 percent of its ownership stake to its employees.
Hamdi Ulukaya is a Turkish billionaire businessman, activist, philanthropist of Kurdish ethnicity and based in the United States. Ulukaya is the owner, founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Chobani, the #1-selling strained yogurt brand in the US. He established production facilities first in upstate New York, and since then has expanded. According to Forbes, his net worth as of October 2022 is US$2.1 billion. On 26 April 2016, Ulukaya announced to his employees that he would be giving them 10% of the shares in Chobani.
Fresh Healthy Vending is a vending machine company located in San Diego, California specializing in healthy alternatives to traditional vending machine snack foods and beverages. It was founded in June 2010. The company's refrigerated machines offer carrots, yogurt, smoothies, granola bars and beverages such as milk, juice and teas.
Robert Jakobi is a Food entrepreneur. He is the former Managing Director and Co Owner of Metcalfe's Food Company, which was founded by Julian Metcalfe in 2009.
Coffee Meets Bagel is a San Francisco–based dating and social networking service.
Zak Normandin is an American entrepreneur and product designer who served as Founder and CEO of Iris Nova until the company ceased operations in 2022. Iris Nova was the parent company of NYC-based beverage brand DIRTY LEMON. He had previously founded Little Duck Organics, a privately held New York City based company focused on organic children's snacks. Normandin is best known for innovative consumer product package designs, advocacy of organic food products and development of the text-message based conversational commerce platform used by DIRTY LEMON, and the portfolio of Iris Nova beverage brands.
The first season of Shark Tank aired on Network Ten on 8 February 2015 and concluded 7 June 2015. The series was confirmed on 1 September 2014.
Ido Leffler is an Israeli-born Australian entrepreneur, investor, and advisor. He is the co-founder of Yoobi, Yes To Inc., Cheeky, Brandless, and Beach House Group.
Yellow Leaf Hammocks is an American hammock company established in August 2011. The company focuses on reselling woven cotton hammocks purchased from the Mlabri people of Thailand.
Emma Findlay Grede is a British businesswoman, entrepreneur and fashion designer. She is the CEO and co-founder of the denim company Good American, a founding partner of Skims, and co-founder of Safely.
Ellenos Real Greek Yogurt is a yogurt company which originated at Pike Place Market, in the U.S. state of Washington.