Joshua Kushner | |
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Born | Livingston, New Jersey, U.S. | June 12, 1985
Education | Harvard University (BA, MBA) |
Occupations |
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Spouse | |
Children | 2 |
Parent(s) | Seryl Kushner (mother) Charles Kushner (father) |
Relatives | Jared Kushner (brother) |
Family | Kushner family |
Joshua Kushner (born June 12, 1985) is an American businessman, heir, 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 real estate developer Charles Kushner. He is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law and former senior advisor to former U.S. President 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; and Thrive VIII, raising $3 billion in 2022. [18] [19]
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, [20] Inc. magazine's 35 Under 35, [21] Crain's 40 Under 40, [22] and Vanity Fair 's Next Establishment. [23]
In 2021, it was reported by Bloomberg that Goldman Sachs had invested in Kushner's Thrive Capital at a $3.6 billion valuation. [24] 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. [25]
As of September 2024 [update] , Forbes estimates his net worth to be $3.8 billion, primarily from his ownership in Thrive. [26]
Kushner is a co-founder and vice-chairman of Oscar Health, a health insurance start-up. [27] Founded in 2012, Oscar was valued at $2.7 billion in 2016. [28] Oscar went public in 2021, with Kushner's Thrive Capital owning a stake worth $1.21 billion. [29] [30] Oscar reported an $87 million loss in its first quarter as a publicly traded company. [31]
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. [32]
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. [33] [34]
Kushner and his brother, Jared, each own 50% of JK2 (also known as Westminster Management), a real estate management company, [35] but Joshua is not involved with the business. [36] [37]
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. [38] [35] [39] 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. [40]
Kushner's JK2 was also featured in an episode of Netflix's Dirty Money series titled "Slumlord Millionaire." [41] 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. [42]
Kushner became a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies after acquiring a 2.5% stake in 2019. [43] [44] 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. [45] [46] He also joined the board of directors of A24 Films that year. [47]
Kushner started dating model Karlie Kloss in 2012. [48] The couple got engaged in July 2018, a month after Kloss' conversion to Judaism (Kushner's faith). [49] They married on October 18, 2018. [50]
Months prior to the Qatar diplomatic crisis, Kushner Companies had attempted to seek financing from the Qataris for their signature 666 Fifth Avenue property, which was facing a massive debt load in April 2017. [51] Joshua's father, Charles Kushner, had met with Qatari finance minister, Ali Shareef Al Emadi, twice to seek financing for the property. [51] [52] During the same week that his father was meeting with Ali Shareef Al Emadi, Josh also met with Al Emadi. [37] The deal fell through. [53] [54] [55]
According to an investigation by The New York Times , in October 2017, Joshua Kushner met with several senior members of the Saudi government and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund at a conference in Riyadh. The day after he left, his brother Jared, along with several other senior members of the Trump administration, met with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. [56] While the meeting was not illegal, it raised potential conflict of interest concerns. [56] [57]
In October 2020, it was reported that Kloss and Kushner were expecting their first child. [58] Their first child, a son, was born in March 2021. [59] [60] His wife announced her second pregnancy with Kushner during the Met Gala in May 2023. [61] Their second child, also a son, was born in July 2023. [62] [63] In December 2020, the couple purchased a home in Miami, Florida, for US$23.5 million. [64] 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. [65]
Kushner was included in a 2024 Washington Post article about a WhatsApp group chat from October 2023 through early May 2024 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. [66] However, a spokesperson of Kushner stated that, “Josh has not participated in [the group chat].” [67]
His brother, Jared, who is Donald Trump's son-in-law, was a senior advisor to the President during Trump's presidency, and is also an investor in Oscar Health. [68]
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 former attorney. He founded Kushner Companies in 1985.
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Kushner Companies LLC is an American real estate developer in the New York City metropolitan area. The company's biggest presence is in the New Jersey residential market.
Khosla Ventures is a private American venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California. It was founded by entrepreneur Vinod Khosla in 2004. The firm focused on early-stage companies in the Internet, computing, mobile, financial services, agriculture, healthcare and clean technology sectors. Some of its most successful investments include Affirm, DoorDash, Square, Impossible Foods, Instacart, and OpenAI.
The United States EB-5 visa, employment-based fifth preference category or EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program was created in 1990 by the Immigration Act of 1990. It provides a method for eligible immigrant investors to become lawful permanent residents—informally known as "green card" holders—by investing substantial capital to finance a U.S. business as long as it creates at least 10 new, full-time jobs for Americans and work-authorized immigrants. The EB-5 program is intended to encourage both "foreign investments and economic growth." The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program is one of five employment-based (EB) preference programs in the United States.
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.
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.
Thomas Joseph Barrack Jr. is an American private equity real estate investor and the founder and executive chairman of Colony Capital, a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT). Barrack has for decades been a close friend of and fundraiser for former U.S. President Donald Trump, representing him in television news appearances. He was senior advisor to Trump's presidential campaign and served as the chairman of his Inaugural Committee.
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 around US$9 billion.
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.
The Public Investment Fund is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. It is among the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world with total estimated assets of US$925 billion. It was created in 1971 for the purpose of investing funds on behalf of the Government of Saudi Arabia. The wealth fund is controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler since 2015.
The Office of American Innovation (OAI) was an office within the White House Office that existed from 2017 until 2021 during the Trump administration. Under Jared Kushner, The office's purpose was to be the White House's main point of contact for the American tech industry as part of an effort to reform the federal bureaucracy by applying lessons from the business world.
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 net worth of former United States president Donald Trump is not publicly known. For decades, Forbes has assessed his wealth, currently estimating it at $6.6 billion as of October 2024. Meanwhile, Bloomberg estimates his wealth at $7.07 billion as of the same date, although Trump himself claims a much higher net worth. He received gifts, loans, and inheritance from his father, who was a real-estate developer and businessman. Donald Trump's primary business has been real estate ventures, including hotels, casinos, and golf courses. He also made money from Trump-branded products including neckties, steaks, and urine tests. Money received through political fundraisers is used to pay for guest stays at properties owned by the Trump Organization and to pay his and his allies' lawyers.
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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