Joshua Kushner | |
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Born | Livingston, New Jersey, U.S. | June 12, 1985
Education | Harvard University (BA, MBA) |
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Spouse | |
Children | 2 |
Parent | Charles Kushner (father) |
Family | Kushner |
Joshua Kushner (born June 12, 1985) is an American businessman and investor. He is the founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, co-founder and vice-chairman of Oscar Health, and the youngest son of the real estate developer Charles Kushner. He is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law and former senior advisor to the president of the United States Donald Trump. He is also a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Joshua Kushner was born on June 12, 1985, in Livingston, New Jersey, where he grew up in a Jewish family to parents Charles and Seryl Kushner. [1] [2] Kushner graduated from Harvard College in 2008, and from Harvard Business School in 2011. [3] [4] [5]
During his sophomore year, Kushner was founding executive editor of Scene, a new pop culture student-publication. [6] The publication was badly received by critics upon release. [7]
In the spring of his junior year he worked with two graduate students to pool $10,000 in order to found social network Vostu, [8] which aimed to "fill a void left by online communities in which English is the lingua franca", like Facebook. According to Kushner, Latin America was a promising market for a Facebook-alternative and new social networking site because "[it was] a place where Internet use is increasing every year, and technology is booming at a rapid pace". [9] Vostu laid off the majority of its employees in 2013 and significantly scaled back its operations after a copyright lawsuit from a competitor accused them of copying games. [10] [11]
The year after graduation he co-founded a start-up called Unithrive. Unithrive was inspired by the peer-to-peer loan model of Kiva, but aimed to "ease the crisis in paying for college" by matching "alumni lenders to cash-strapped students ... who [could] post photographs and biographical information and request up to $2,000", interest-free for repayment within five years of graduation. [12] After graduating from Harvard, he started his career in the private equity arm at Goldman Sachs, working for a year on distressed debt. [13]
He founded Thrive Capital in 2010, a venture capital firm that focuses on media and internet investments. [14] [15] Since its founding, Thrive has raised over $7.3 billion from institutional investors, including Princeton University. [16] Thrive’s capital funds include: Thrive II, which raised $40 million in 2011; Thrive III, which raised $150 million in 2012; Thrive IV, which raised $400 million in September 2014; [16] [17] Thrive V, raising $700 million in 2016; Thrive VI, raising $1 billion in 2018; Thrive VII, raising $2 billion in 2021; Thrive VIII, raising $3 billion in 2022; and Thrive IX, raising $5 billion in 2024. [18] [19] [20]
As an investor in Instagram, Kushner was the second largest investor in Instagram's Series B fundraising round. Valued at $500 million, Thrive soon doubled its money after Instagram was sold to Facebook. [8]
For his work with Thrive, Kushner was named to Forbes' 30 Under 30, [21] Inc. magazine's 35 Under 35, [22] Crain's 40 Under 40, [23] and Vanity Fair 's Next Establishment. [24]
In 2021, it was reported by Bloomberg that Goldman Sachs had invested in Kushner's Thrive Capital at a $3.6 billion valuation. [25] Kushner sold a 3.3% stake in Thrive to a group of investors, including Disney's Bob Iger and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts' Henry Kravis, valuing Thrive at $5.3 billion. [26]
As of September 2024 [update] , Forbes estimates his net worth to be $3.8 billion, primarily from his ownership in Thrive. [27] Fortune magazine listed Kushner in its inaugural list of the 100 Most Powerful People in Business in 2024, citing Thrive's early investment in OpenAI. [28] [29]
Kushner is a co-founder and vice-chairman of Oscar Health, a health insurance start-up. [30] Founded in 2012, Oscar was valued at $2.7 billion in 2016. [31] Oscar went public in 2021, with Kushner's Thrive Capital owning a stake worth $1.21 billion. [32] [33] Oscar reported an $87 million loss in its first quarter as a publicly traded company. [34]
In 2020, it was revealed by The Atlantic that Jared Kushner had contracted Oscar Health to develop a coronavirus testing website that was later scrapped, even though Trump had said publicly that Google was developing the website. [35]
In 2015, Kushner founded a new company called Cadre with his brother Jared and their friend Ryan Williams, with Williams as Cadre's CEO. Cadre is a technology platform designed to help certain types of clients, such as family offices and endowments, invest in real estate. [36] [37]
Kushner and his brother, Jared, each own 50% of JK2 (also known as Westminster Management), a real estate management company, [38] but Joshua is not involved with the business. [39] [40]
In April 2021, a Judge ruled that JK2 was found to have committed "widespread and numerous" violations of Maryland's consumer protection laws at Baltimore-area properties by collecting debts without the required licenses, charging tenants improper fees, and misrepresenting the condition of rental units. [41] [38] [42] During the COVID-19 pandemic, JK2 filed a significant number of lawsuits against tenants for debt collection and eviction, despite an eviction moratorium being in place. [43]
Kushner's JK2 was also featured in an episode of Netflix's Dirty Money series titled "Slumlord Millionaire." [44] The episode was based on an expose from ProPublica accusing the company of abusing tenants rights, leaving homes in disrepair, humiliating late-paying renters and suing tenants when they try and move out. [45]
Kushner became a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies after acquiring a 2.5% stake in 2019. [46] [47] In 2024, Kushner and his wife's media company, Bedford Media, announced plans to revive Life magazine in an agreement with Dotdash Meredith, with the first print issue scheduled for early 2025. [48] [49] He also joined the board of directors of A24 Films that year. [50]
Kushner married model Karlie Kloss in 2018. [51] They have two children. [52] [53] [54] [55]
In December 2020, the couple purchased a home in Miami, Florida, for US$23.5 million. [56] They also bought a 7,200-square-foot (670 m2) penthouse in the Puck Building in Manhattan for $35 million in 2021, and paid $29.5 million for the Wave House in Malibu, California, in August 2024. [57]
Kushner was included in a 2024 Washington Post article about a WhatsApp group chat from October 2023 through early May that year where some United States' business leaders discussed "chang[ing] the narrative" in favor of Israel by conveying “the atrocities committed by Hamas…to all Americans,” following Hamas's October 7th attack on Israel. [58] However, a spokesperson of Kushner stated that, “Josh has not participated in [the group chat].” [59]
The Puck Building is a mixed-use building at 295–309 Lafayette Street in the SoHo and Nolita neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. The building was designed by Albert Wagner in the Romanesque Revival style, with elements inspired by the German Rundbogenstil style. It is composed of two sections: the original seven-story building to the north and a nine-story southern annex. The Lafayette Street elevation of the facade was designed by Herman Wagner in a similar style to the original building. The Puck Building is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Brookfield Corporation is a Canadian multinational company that is one of the world's largest alternative investment management companies, with over US$900 billion of assets under management in 2023. It focuses on direct control investments in real estate, renewable power, infrastructure, credit and private equity. The company invests in distressed securities through Oaktree Capital, which it bought in 2019. Brookfield's headquarters are in Toronto.
Charles Kushner is an American real estate developer and disbarred attorney who founded Kushner Companies in 1985. In 2024, he was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as United States Ambassador to France during his second administration.
Sequoia Capital Operations, LLC is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California which specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. As of 2022, the firm had approximately US$85 billion in assets under management.
Jared Corey Kushner is an American businessman, investor, and former government official. He is the son-in-law of the president of the United States Donald Trump through his marriage to Ivanka Trump, and served as a senior advisor in his father-in-law's first administration from 2017 to 2021. He was also Director of the Office of American Innovation.
660 Fifth Avenue is a 41-story office building on the west side of Fifth Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, United States. The office tower was designed by Carson & Lundin and built for its developer Tishman Realty and Construction from 1955 to 1957.
Khosla Ventures is a private American venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California. It was founded by entrepreneur Vinod Khosla in 2004.
Karlie Elizabeth Kloss is an American model. She was a Victoria's Secret Angel from 2013 until 2015, when she resigned to study at New York University. By 2019, Kloss had appeared on 40 international Vogue covers.
Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) is a US-based venture capital firm focused on fast-growing technology companies. IVP was founded in 1980, as one of the first venture capital firms in Silicon Valley.
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.
AH Capital Management, LLC is an American privately held venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. As of April 2023, Andreessen Horowitz ranks first on the list of venture capital firms by assets under management, with $42 billion as of May 2024.
Joshua Jordan Harris is an American investor, sports team owner, and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management and managing partner of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, the NHL's New Jersey Devils, and the NFL's Washington Commanders. Harris is also a general partner of the English football club Crystal Palace and holds a minority stake in Joe Gibbs Racing. He has an estimated net worth of over US$11 billion.
Stripes is a private equity and venture capital firm based in Manhattan, New York, founded in 2008. In 2024, Stripes has US$7 billion of assets under management and more than 80 investments. Notable investments include On Running and Monday.com.
OpenGov Inc. is a government technology company that offers cloud software for public sector accounting, planning, budgeting, citizen services, and procurement. OpenGov serves over 1,000 cities, counties, and state agencies across 49 states. In February 2024, minority owner Cox Enterprises agreed to acquire the company.
Oscar Health, Inc. is an American health insurance company, founded in 2012 by Joshua Kushner, Kevin Nazemi and Mario Schlosser, and is headquartered in New York City. The company focuses on the health insurance industry through telemedicine, healthcare focused technological interfaces, and transparent claims pricing systems which would make it easier for patients to navigate.
RealCadre LLC, commonly Cadre, is an American financial technology company that provides individuals and institutions direct access to real estate investment properties, including commercial properties based in New York. The business and financial press describe it as a platform that "makes the real estate market more like the stock market" by allowing investors to select the individual transactions in which they participate, while investing a smaller amount than would be required to fully fund a transaction. For example, 12 institutional investors participated in a $60 million office building purchase. The firm was named to Forbes' "FinTech50" for 7 years in a row starting in 2016. In 2019, Cadre was the cover story of the Forbes "FinTech 50" issue. In 2018, a partnership with Goldman Sachs was announced through which Goldman Sachs' private wealth clients committed at least $250 million (USD) real estate investments through Cadre. In 2020, Cadre announced its "Direct Access" fund intended to include smaller investors with a $400 million target raise. The company also offers a managed portfolio service and a real estate secondary market, as well as a cash holdings account called "Cadre Cash". The company has announced plans to address racial injustice in the United States by investing at least 10% of its Direct Access fund investments with minority-owned operators and increasing its cash held in black-owned banks.
Away is an American luggage and travel accessories brand founded by Jen Rubio and Steph Korey in 2015 and based in New York City. Having raised $31 million in financing, Away is one of the highest funded female-backed startups.
The Kushner family is an American family involved in real estate development. The family originated from Novogrudok, Belarus, and is based in the New York metropolitan area. After surviving the Holocaust and settling in the United States, Joseph Kushner developed a portfolio of 4,000 apartments. He left the business to his sons, Murray and Charles Kushner, who worked together before having a falling-out over business and personal matters. Charles owns Kushner Companies and Murray owns the Kushner Real Estate Group. The net worth of Charles' family has been estimated at over $1 billion. Jared Kushner, Charles' son, was senior advisor to President Donald Trump.
Affinity Partners is an American investment firm, based in Miami, Florida. It was formed in 2021 by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law who also served as a senior advisor during Trump's presidency. The firm has a focus on investing in American and Israeli companies. Its sources of funding are overwhelmingly from the Saudi Arabian government.
Thrive Capital Management, LLC, commonly Thrive Capital, is an American venture capital firm based in New York City. It focuses on software and internet investments. The firm was founded by Joshua Kushner who is also co-founder of Oscar Health and minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies.
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