Laurene Powell Jobs’s Net Worth : Career & Charity
The American businesswoman, the founder of Emerson Collective and executive, Laurene Powell Jobs’s net worth is a staggering $22 billion as of 2024.
Laurene Powell is an actress and model. Jobs is well known for being the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. After Steve’s death in 2011, Laurene became one of the world’s wealthiest women.
While you would imagine her wealth is generated from Steve’s Apple stock, the Jobs family’s wealth is primarily earned from a significant stake in Disney.
In 2006, Steve sold Pixar to Disney for $7.4 billion. He received 138 million Disney shares in the transaction or around 7% of the total number of shares outstanding.
As a result, he became Disney’s single largest shareholder. At the time of his death, the shares were worth $8 billion.
His Apple stock was valued at about $2 billion at the time of his death.
Her fortune stems from her work as a co-founder and former CEO of Apple Inc. and her ownership of The Walt Disney Company.
Powell Jobs was a board member of Achieva, an internet company, and a co-founder of Terravera, which sold to merchants around Northern California.
She has also worked as a fixed-income trading strategist for Merrill Lynch Asset Management and Goldman Sachs.
Her philanthropic activity includes co-founding College Track, a program that strives to increase “underserved” students’ college enrollment, high school graduation, and college graduation rates.
Conservation International, College Track, The Foundation for Excellence in Education, NewSchools Venture Fund, and Stanford University are among the organizations on which she now serves on the board of directors.
Quick Facts
So, let’s get to know Laurene Powell Jobs a little better, starting with some basic facts about her.
| Name | Laurene Powell Jobs |
| Birthplace | West Milford, New Jersey, United States |
| Birthdate | 6 November 1963 |
| Age | 60 years old |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | White |
| Religion | N/A |
| Father’s Name | N/A |
| Mother’s Name | N/A |
| Siblings | Brad Powell, Tracy Powell |
| School | N/A |
| College | University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford Graduate School of Business. |
| Profession | Businesswomen |
| Nickname | Laurene |
| Height | In Centimetres – 170 cm In Feet and Inches – 5′ 7″ |
| Weight | In Kilograms – 68 Kg In Pounds – 149 lbs |
| Hair Color | Blonde |
| Eye Color | Blue |
| Zodiac Sign | Scorpio |
| Net worth | $22 billion |
| Sexual Orientation | Straight |
| Marital status | Divorced |
| Spouse | N/A |
| Children | 3 |
| Social Media | Wikipedia, Twitter |
| Last Update | April, 2024 |
Early Life: Laurene Powell Jobs
Laurene Powell was born in West Milford, Connecticut, on November 3, 1963.
Powell Jobs studied political science and economics at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated with a B.A. In the mid-to-late 1980s, she worked on Wall Street for Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch after graduating.
She moved to Palo Alto, California, in 1989 to pursue an MBA at Stanford University.
How she met Steve Jobs?
A friend invited Laurene to a school event featuring Steve Jobs as a speaker one night. She knew a little about Jobs, but she imagined him to be more like Bill Gates.
Jobs was no longer the CEO of Apple at the time. Instead, he was the CEO of NeXT, a new computer business he founded.
Laurene was not impressed, but her friend insisted on ongoing, so she reluctantly agreed. They ran late and tried to take a seat in the aisle, but security swiftly informed them that this was not an option.
Laurene and her companion sneaked into several empty reserved seats in the lecture hall’s first row. Steve Jobs ended up sitting close to Laurene before it was his turn to speak.
Steve and Laurene struck up a conversation. She teased him by pretending that she had won a raffle and that the prize was dinner with him. Jobs went seeking Laurene after the lecture and found her in the parking lot.
He inquired about the upcoming raffle. They exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet for dinner the next Saturday. Their first dinner date lasted four hours, and they’ve been dating since.
The Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park hosted Steve and Laurene’s wedding on March 18, 1991.
Laurene ran a health-food truck called Terravera after receiving her MBA for a while. People at Palo Alto’s business parks could get burritos with black bean dressing and basmati rice meals from the food truck.
Laurene Powell Jobs’s Net Worth and Income
Laurene Powell Jobs’s Net Worth
An American businesswoman, the founder of Emerson Collective and executive, Laurene Powell Jobs’s net worth is a staggering $22 billion as of 2024.
Powell Jobs launched Terravera, a natural foods company that supplied to stores around Northern California, in the early 1990s. She was also a board member of Achieva, a company that created online educational aids for pupils.
Powell Jobs established Emerson Collective, a social change organization focusing on education, the environment, immigration reform, health, and media, in 2004.
To effect change in the United States and abroad, the limited liability business employs philanthropy, advocacy, impact investing, and community participation. Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer complications on Oct. 5, 2011, at the age of 56.
He had a net worth of roughly $10.2 billion at the time of his death. Jobs bequeathed his Steve P. Jobs Trust to his wife, which includes a 7.7% share in the Walt Disney Company, valued at $4.6 billion at the time.
Powell Jobs is expected to have received a sizable percentage of Jobs’ wealth, making her one of the world’s wealthiest women.
She reportedly purchased a 20% share in the parent company of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals in 2017.
The Wizards were ranked 18th most valuable NBA franchise by Forbes in February 2017, with a value of $1 billion, while the Capitals were placed 10th among NHL franchises with a value of $575 million.
Powell Jobs continued to demonstrate her commercial acumen by purchasing holdings in several publications.
Laurene Powell Jobs’s Income
According to an SEC filing, she sold just under half of her Disney interest, 64.3 million shares, for $7 billion in 2017.
Even after selling half of her position, she still possessed about 74 million Disney shares, or 4% of the company’s total outstanding shares.
Every year, she receives roughly $120 million in cash dividends from Disney (actually $60 million twice a year). 74 million Apple shares are worth roughly $13 billion at today’s market pricing.
Laurene has now valued at roughly $22 billion thanks to her remaining Apple investment. Her fortune peaked at $28 billion in late 2020, making her one of the world’s top 35 wealthiest people.
She is currently ranked #85 in the world, with a market capitalization of $22 billion.
Laurene Powell Jobs’s Net Worth in Different Currencies
Let’s take a look at Laurene Powell Jobs’s Net Worth in several currencies, including BitCoin, the cryptocurrency.
| Currency | Net Worth |
| Euro | € 18,840,800,000 |
| Pound Sterling | £ 16,149,929,400 |
| Australian Dollar | A$ 30,885,800,000 |
| Canadian Dollar | C$ 28,392,100,000 |
| Indian Rupee | ₹ 1,637,251,000,000 |
| BitCoin | ฿ 469,096 |
Key Facts
- When Steve Jobs died in 2011, he received 5.5 million Apple shares.
- After two stock splits, he now owns 154 million Apple shares.
- Apple’s stock is now valued at roughly $20 billion.
- Apple shares pay out $160 million in cash dividends each year.
- When Steve died, I inherited 138 million Disney shares.
- In 2011, those Disney shares were valued at $8 billion.
- In 2017, she sold half of her Disney stock for $7 billion.
- The remaining Disney stake is now worth $20 billion.
- Her Disney stock pays out $120 million in annual dividends.
Laurene Powell Jobs: House and Cars
House
Jobs is presently the world’s fifth wealthiest woman, which is lucky given her spending habits, which might easily bankrupt a lesser billionaire.
On the other hand, Laurene Powell can afford to be extremely extravagant, with a net worth estimated to be around $20 billion. Her most recent outing — which we’ll get to in a minute — took place only last week in San Francisco.
Ms. Powell is, of course, the late and illustrious Steve Jobs’ widow. Our Mr. Jobs died in an untimely death in 2011, but Ms. Powell’s spending has only accelerated in the last three or four years.
San Francisco’s House Sold
A mansion-sized house in San Francisco’s affluent Russian Hill area sold for $16,500,000 in cash a few days ago, the city’s second-highest price paid so far this year (after only one month on the market!).
Danny Rimer, a well-known venture entrepreneur, was the house’s buyer in 2013, paying $12,375,000 for it.
Los Altos Hills
Ms. Powell spent $16,300,000 for a 10-acre equestrian estate in Los Altos Hills in late 2014.
The property has state-of-the-art horse facilities, including a 13,000-square-foot barn with 12 stalls, a full-size riding ring, meadows, and the property’s single residential structure, a 2-bed, 1-bath caretaker apartment.
Malibu House
Ms. Powell paid a staggering $44 million for an unfinished bluff-top house that looms over Malibu’s beautiful Paradise Cove neighborhood in April 2015.
Yolanda spent another $16,500,000 two years later, as she first informed you, to acquire the little house next door, which she is integrating with the larger parcel to build one mega-estate.
That implies Ms. Powell has already spent $60,500,000 in Malibu for all you beancounters. That’s not to mention the millions she’s spending to build a custom multi-acre estate up there. The place was still under construction the last time Yolanda passed by on PCH.
Florida
Ms. Powell invested $15,300,000 on a 3-acre residence in Wellington, Florida, an equestrian-oriented (and wealthy) Palm Beach County neighborhood.
California House
Back in California, Ms. Powell is finally completing her late husband’s dream home in Woodside, a low-key but high-priced neighborhood.
Before his death, Mr. Jobs envisioned the $20 million spread, but he did not live long enough to see it become anything more than a piece of unoccupied ground.
Ms. Powell’s plans for obtaining licenses and the like show a nearly 16,000-square-foot estate. She does not, however, intend to construct a mega-mansion. Rather, the future estate will be concentrated around a 3,706-square-foot main home.
Ms. Powell owns a slew of additional big gurl toys, in addition to her $130 million worth of the residential real estate.
At least two Gulfstream planes, one of which is a $65 million G650, as well as a $100 million superyacht named “Venus” and co-designed by her late husband.
Last year, Ms. Powell was seen vacationing on her floating palace with her longtime boyfriend, former Washington, D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty.
Cars
Many of us believe that millionaires must own a high-end vehicle that costs at least $100,000. Some millionaires who enjoy cars possess a few highly exotic cars that cost millions of dollars, while others drive cars that cost less than $50,000.
“You’ll see a Coca-Cola logo everywhere every day,” we used to hear. “You will see an Apple product anytime, anywhere,” we can now confidently assert.
The widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs owns a $37,000 Audi A5, which is a practical, valuable, and easy-to-navigate vehicle. The A5 is a car with all the features that American ladies look for when purchasing a new vehicle.
Yacht
Venus is a €105 million superyacht conceived by Philippe Starck’s design firm Ubik and built by Feadship for entrepreneur Steve Jobs, owned by his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs.
He died a year before the yacht was launched, in October 2011. Venus was unveiled at the Feadship shipyard on October 28, 2012. The yacht was named after the goddess of love in Roman mythology.
The boat was seized at the Port of Amsterdam on December 21, 2012, following a payment dispute in which Starck claimed Jobs’ heirs owed him €3 million of his €9 million project fee. After a few days, the disagreement was settled.
Private Jet
When Steve Jobs died in October 2011, his wife received most of his assets, making her one of the world’s top 50 wealthiest persons.
Powell-Jobs also has two private planes: a 2013 Gulfstream G650, which is presently valued at $58.8 million, and a 1999 Gulfstream G-V, currently valued at $9.95 million.
Laurene Powell Jobs: Lifestyle and Vacation
Lifestyle
Laurene Powell Jobs, who inherited wealth from her late husband, Steve Jobs, and is using it to accomplish some very fascinating things, is an admirer of Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American Transcendentalist.
Emerson Collective is the name of her umbrella organization, which invests and donates money.
Powell Jobs even purchased the majority of Atlantic Media, the company that publishes The Atlantic magazine, which he helped start.
This homage has a certain amount of tension to it. Emerson was one of the great American proponents of individuality, having spent most of his professional life alone writing.
“Self-Reliance” is the title of his most famous essay. The prospect of creating a collective of any kind would almost certainly have sent him into a mental tizzy. And that isn’t the only apparent inconsistency—not that Emerson disapproved of inconsistency.
Laurane became one of the world’s wealthiest women due to one of life’s great tragedies, the loss of a husband—a truly exceptional husband.
She is using her enormous fortune to try to reshape the way we live, learn, and work, even as she speaks about the need for grassroots activism.
Vacation
Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, was photographed on her $110 megayacht, Venus, spending a summer vacation in the French Riviera.
On Tuesday, Powell basked in the blazing hot Mediterranean sun off Cannes, surrounded by friends and family aboard the 260-foot luxury boat.
The businesswoman and philanthropist wore a colorful sarong and a trendy straw sunhat. She also wore huge round sunglasses and a black one-piece swimming suit.
Powell announced an ambitious data-gathering campaign to assist the Democratic Party and bolster Joe Biden’s bid to beat President Donald Trump in the November election just two months before his sunny vacation.
Powell and Jobs’ daughter Eve, who is in her senior year of undergraduate studies at Stanford University, as well as a group of Eve’s young friends, were among those who joined her on the Venus this week.
Eve went out on a jet ski with a friend to enjoy the sun on the deck of the luxurious boat. The group gathered for brunch under the shade of a white canopy on the yacht’s main deck.
Apple Shares, Disney Shares, Activism
Apple Shares
Laurene was given 5.5 million Apple shares when Steve died. That holding became 38.5 million shares after the stock split 7-1 in 2014. This stake grew to 154 million shares when the stock split 4-1 in August 2020.
154 million shares have a market value of $20 billion as of this writing. Those shares pay out roughly $160 million in dividends each year (technically, $40 million each quarter).
Laurene has amassed almost $1 billion in cash dividends throughout the course of her career.
Disney Shares
Laurene inherited Steve’s Apple and Disney shares in their whole. According to a statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, she sold approximately half of her Disney interest, or 64.3 million shares, for $7 billion in 2017.
She now owns almost 4% of Disney’s total outstanding shares as a result of the sale. Disney does not have to record her trades publicly because she is no longer above 5%.
If she still holds the rest of her holding, those 74 million shares are worth $13 billion as of this writing. Every year, she receives roughly $120 million in cash dividends from Disney (actually $60 million twice a year).
Activism
Powell Jobs launched the Emerson Collective in 2004, a private firm structured as a Limited Liability Company that partners, grants, and invests in social entrepreneurs.
Also, groups working in education and immigration reform, social justice, media and journalism, and conservation. Powell Jobs owns The Atlantic and a stake in Axios via Emerson.
Powell Jobs gave $2 million to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election and raised another $4 million for her.
In 2017, she endorsed the formation of the political organization ACRONYM, which highlighted ethical concerns about Powell Jobs’ decision to create Courier Newsroom.
Powell Jobs contributed to the campaigns of Democratic presidential contenders Amy Klobuchar, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, and Michael Bennet during the 2020 U.S. presidential primaries.
She donated approximately $600,000 to Joe Biden’s campaign once he became the presumptive Democratic presidential contender.
Career
Powell Jobs is the co-founder and President of the Board of Directors of the national education nonprofit organization College Track, which strives to send impoverished students to college outside of her relationship with Steve Jobs.
Powell Jobs was a co-founder of Terravera, a food firm specializing in organic and healthful foods. She also worked at Merrill Lynch Asset Management for three years before attending business school.
Powell Jobs also served on the board of Directions of Achieva, a company that develops online tools to help students prepare for standardized tests more effectively.
Powell Jobs bought an interest in the Washington Wizards of the NBA, the Washington Capitals of the NHL, and the Capital One Arena in October 2017.
She is the second-largest shareholder in the company, after chairman Ted Leonsis, with a 20 percent interest.
You might also be interested in Kristin Davis’s Net Worth: Career & Lifestyle.
Charity
Powell Jobs launched the Emerson Collective in 2004, a private corporation that provides partnerships, investments, and grants to social entrepreneurs and groups working in education and immigration reform, social justice, media, and journalism.
She owns The Atlantic and Axios through this group. Powell Jobs contributed $2 million to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016 and helped her raise an extra $4 million.
She was a founder member of the political organization ACRONYM in 2017, which raised ethical concerns over Powell Jobs’ formation of Courier Newsroom.
Powell Jobs donated to many Democratic presidential candidates in the 2020 U.S. presidential primaries. Powell Jobs donated approximately $600,000 to the Biden-Harris campaign after Joe Biden was announced as the Democratic presidential contender.
In contrast to her late husband, who was notoriously uninterested in philanthropic endeavors throughout his life, it is her charity for which she is best known.
Teach for America, KQED (PBS), EdVoice, the New America Foundation, the Global Fund for Women, and the Stanford Schools Corporation are among the philanthropic and community organizations on which she serves on the boards of directors.
College Track
Powell Jobs and Carlos Watson co-founded College Track, a non-profit organization in East Palo Alto that strives to increase “underserved” students’ high school graduation, college enrollment, and college graduation rates.
College Track boasts a 90% graduation record, with 90% of students going on to four-year universities. College Track has grown to include locations throughout California and New Orleans, Colorado, Denver, and Washington, D.C.
XQ: The Super School Project, a $50 million program to develop high schools with revolutionary approaches to education, was launched in September 2015.
The Emerson Collective has provided funding for the project. Powell Jobs chairs XC’s board of directors. Powell Jobs is also a member of the Climate Leadership Council, which he founded.
Laurene Powell Jobs is clearly someone who isn’t content to sit on her fortune, preferring to give back to not only her neighborhood but to communities all across the world.
Giving Away The Fortune
Laurene has claimed in various interviews that she does not intend to leave billions of money to her children. She told the New York Times about her feelings:
“I’m not interested in leaving a legacy of wealth to my children. That didn’t pique Steve’s interest. It will finish with me if I live long enough.”
According to the Washington Post, she stated:
“I’m fully aware that we’re all only passing through here.” I think I’ve finally found my stride. My goal is to deploy resources efficiently. It’s fine with me if there’s nothing left when I die.
3 Interesting Facts About Laurene Powell Jobs
- Laurene Powell Jobs was named to the White House Council for Community Solutions by Barack Obama.
- She serves on the advisory board of Udacity, a Stanford-based firm that offers low-cost higher education.
- Laurene Powell Jobs’ intelligence and authority have led her to serve on the College Track, Stanford University, and the New Schools Venture Fund advisory boards.
FAQS
How long did Steve Jobs and his wife have a relationship?
Powell and Jobs had been married for over 20 years when he died. In 1991, they married in a tiny Buddhist ceremony in Yosemite National Park and settled in Woodside, California.
From where did Laurene Powell Jobs got her money?
Laurene Powell Jobs’ late husband, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, left her billions of dollars in Apple and Disney stock. She purchased a minority position in the parent company of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals in 2017.
Is Laurene Powell’s daughter in a relationship?
Eve Jobs, 22, recently made her new boyfriend’s Instagram official! Laurene Powell, the youngest daughter of late Steve Jobs and his widow, is dating Harry Hudson, a 27-year-old singer.
