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February/March 2021 Volume 204 | Number 1 2 INSIDE CONTENTS COVER STORY CHRISTIE HEMM KLOK FOR FORBES64 | The Outsider Frank Slootman doesn’t start companies. But no one in business history has a better track record of turning the ideas of others into jackpots. With $80 billion Snowflake, the biggest software IPO ever, he has rewritten the playbook. And now he’s sharing it. By Alex Konrad FORBES.COM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
4 CONTENTSFebruary/March 2021 78 CHRISTIE HEMM KLOK FOR FORBES72788896 COVER CREDITS: Cheat for Profit Can Instacart America’s Most Corporate PHOTOGRAPHER: Deliver? Manipulative Cryptomania Christie Hemm Klok for Forbes Students have always Billionaire cheated, but the The pandemic trans- Up 300% in 2020, Covid-19-driven shift formed Apoorva Mehta’s The inside story of how Bitcoin is suddenly to online learning has grocery delivery service Bob Brockman, the getting respect in the turned a nagging prob- into an essential—and secretive billionaire who C-suite. Here’s how lem into an epidemic. booming—business. allegedly masterminded PayPal, Square and Meet superspreader Now the 34-year-old America’s biggest tax- the 48 other big com- Chegg, which has billionaire is under evasion scheme, used panies on Forbes’ third become the most pressure to outdo “Darth Vader” contracts annual Blockchain 50 valuable ed-tech Jeff Bezos—all while to overcharge auto are outpacing their company in America dodging an avalanche dealers and finance competition using by connecting college of new competitors, Robert F. Smith’s Bitcoin and the students to test answers rebellious workers and private equity empire. underlying blockchain. on demand. restless partners. Plus: The crypto By Chris Helman billionaires By Susan Adams By Chloe Sorvino By Michael del Castillo FORBES.COM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
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6 FRONTRUNNER 26 15 | Meet the Neighbors Inside Indian Creek, the ultra-exclusive Florida enclave and new home to Jared and Ivanka. 18 | Fortune Builder Roblox’s gaming site mints a new billionaire. 20 | Trump’s Troubles The election wasn’t the only thing Donald Trump lost last year. 22 | Buy, Hold, Sell Toss your old med-school textbooks, but keep your English Lit classics. 24 | Africa’s Richest The continent’s wealthiest are weathering the pandemic just fine. 25 | 30 Under 30: Shot Blockers Taking aim at gun violence, in 30 words or less. 26 | The Next 1000 Forbes surfaces a new class of entrepreneurial hero. 28 | World of Forbes Around the globe with our 35 international editions. 30 | Conversation Readers flocked to our tenth annual 30 Under 30 list—and tweeted praise for Travis Scott, the Millennial Midas on the issue’s cover. CONTENTS CONTRARIAN 33 GABBY JONES FOR FORBES; JENS KRISTIAN BALLES FOR FORBES; MICHAEL HOEWELLER FOR FORBES 33 | TECHNOLOGY: Small Ball Biotech Most drug-development outfits spend years chasing the elusive billion-dollar blockbuster. Not AbCellera Biologics founder Carl Hansen, now an overnight Covid multibillionaire. By Alex Knapp 36 | TECHNOLOGY: Credit Card Killer Affirm’s Max Levchin is repackaging buying now and paying later for Millennials—and it has made him a billionaire. By Jeff Kauflin 40 | ENTREPRENEURS: In With the Old Used clothing is the hottest trend in apparel, and big brands are happy to outsource the grimy but lucrative work to tiny Trove. By Lauren Debter 48 | MONEY & INVESTING: Oil Vulture Even if energy demand never recovers from Covid-19, billionaire John Goff sees the pandemic as a rare chance to invest in distressed frackers. By Chris Helman 52 | FORBESLIFE: A Higher Calling Billionaire Beau Wrigley is building his cannabis firm to be bigger than his family’s chewing gum business— and not by getting people stoned. By Will Yakowicz SPECIAL SECTION 11 | Fact & Comment 57 | Best-in-State Commercially viable cryptocurrencies will emerge as a Wealth Advisors genuine alternative to government-manufactured money, on two conditions. By Steve Forbes By Jason Bisnoff and SHOOK Research 110 | Thoughts on Home FORBES.COM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
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SIDELINES Journalist Entrepreneurs February/March 2021 • Volume 204 | Number 1 CHAIRMAN AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: STEVE FORBES; CEO AND PRESIDENT: MICHAEL FEDERLE EDITORIAL for the past century, Forbes has ad-8 To the larger world, RANDALL LANE, Chief Content Officer Executive Editors: Caroline Howard, Luisa Kroll, Kerry Lauerman, Michael Noer; Managing Editor: Joyce vocated passionately for entrepreneurial capitalism. Bautista Ferrari FORBES In the media world, for the past decade, Forbes has Assistant Managing Editors: Jessica Bohrer (Editorial Counsel), Kerry A. Dolan, Alice Jackson-Jolley, Brett Knight, Rob LaFranco, Rashaad Lambert (Culture & Community), Janet Novack, Michael Ozanian, Jennifer Rooney, innovated a vast variety of new products and business Matt Schifrin, Michael Solomon Senior Editors: Susan Adams, Maneet Ahuja, Dan Alexander, Kurt Badenhausen, Steven Bertoni, Jeremy models. This year, we’re merging those legacies into a Bogaisky, Abram Brown, Dawn Chmielewski, John Dobosz, Amy Feldman, Antoine Gara, Martin Giles, Christo- pher Helman, Alex Knapp, Alex Konrad, Alan Ohnsman, Susan Radlauer (Research), Tina Russo McCarthy, Halah new program, Journalist Entrepreneurs, designed to Touryalai, Nathan Vardi, Merrill Vaughn Deputy Editors: Colleen Curry, Steven Ehrlich, Iain Martin, Andrea Murphy, Chase Peterson-Withorn, Helen deliver ever-better reporting and writing to our readers. A.S. Popkin, Glenda Toma, Vicky Valet, Jennifer Wang, Taesik Yoon; Associate Editors: Thomas Brewster, Michael del Castillo, Julius Juenemann, Jeffrey Kauflin, Maggie McGrath, Marty Swant, Isabel Togoh, Alexandra Wilson Many top journalists currently wrestle with Staff Writers: Angel Au-Yeung, David Axe, Madeline Berg, Jason Bisnoff, Lauren Debter, David Jeans, Katie whether to remain an employee—with the safety of an Jennings, Suzanne Rowan Kelleher, Noah Kirsch, Scott Mendelson, Dwight Silverman, Chloe Sorvino, Kristin Stoller, Rebecca Szkutak, Michela Tindera, William Yakowicz established platform and regular paycheck—or, increasingly, strike Reporters: Justin Conklin, Katherine Love (Managers, Editorial Operations); Thomas Beer, Jack Brewster, Kenrick Cai, Deniz Çam, Elizabeth Daffin, David Dawkins, Alison Durkee, Brianne Garrett, Sarah Hansen, Sergei Kleb- nikov, Tanya Klich, Jemima McEvoy, Jonathan Ponciano, Carlie Porterfield, Nicholas Reimann, Leah Rosenbaum, Rachel Sandler, Christina Settimi, Ariel Shapiro, Andrew Solender, Alexandra Sternlicht, Giacomo Tognini, Hank Tucker, Lisette Voytko out on their own in pursuit of Assistant Editors: Maria Abreu, Margherita Beale, Justin Birnbaum, Elisabeth Brier, Abigail Freeman, Eliza freedom and unlimited upside. Haverstock, Christian Kreznar, Sofia Lotto Persio, Kristin Tablang, Samantha Todd Forbes seeks to create a third way: Journalist Entrepreneurs will earn Art and Production: Alicia Hallett-Chan (Design Director); Merrilee Barton, Charles Brucaliere, Nick DeSantis, a salary and benefits like other Suzanne O’Neill, Robyn Selman, Philip Smith, Gail Toivanen Audience Development: Social Media: Cliff Benston (Director); Lindsey Burns, Caroline Dilone, Dario Foroutan, Evan Spadaccini. Newsletters: Nick Shippers, Rachel Thomas Video: Tim Pierson (Director); Greg Andersson, Leah Bottone, Meghan Christensen, Ivan Clow, Travis Collins, Julia Ferrier, Marc Gomes, Nick Graham, Riley Hallaway, Matthew Kang, Kieran Krug-Meadows, Chad McClymonds, Juliet Muir, Bernard Osei, Jonathan Palmer, Brian Petchers, Morgan Sun, Kirsten Taggart Dwight Silverman staffers, and be able to leverage SALES AND MARKETING our editors, fact-checkers, lawyers Suzanne Rowan and designers. But then they’ll JESSICA SIBLEY, Chief Revenue Officer Kelleher split revenue with Forbes—evenly, without a cap—based on the sub- Ad Sales: Manni Arango, Maria Aiza Contro, Aaron Andrews, Julia Aziz, Jake Bell, Jessica Blitzer, Leann Bonanno, scription journalism they create. Marissa Brown, Jeremy Campbell, Shae Carroll, Seema Chaudhari, Julie Chisar, Ruth Chute-Manning, Alexandra In addition to great writing for the Cohn, Jennifer Cooke, Jennifer Crowe, Sarah Curry, Hannah Davidson, Leigh Day, Sean Downey, Emilie Errante, magazine and Forbes.com, expect Taylor Felgenhauer, Olivia Gelade, Louisa Goujon, Janett Haas, Shauna Haras, Megan Hennessey, Matthew a fleet of world-class newsletters, Herrmann, William Hosinski, Victoria Kreher, Martina Landeka, Jordan Loredo, Brian McLeod, Ayisha Mendez, among other new offerings. Tara Michaels, Leah Monroe, Bianca Olivas, Akshay Patel, Ryan Queler, Paul Reiss, Melanie Ruderman, Jesse Silberfein, Abbey Smith, Rebecca Taroon, William Thompson (SVP), Laura Villaraut, Kyle Vinansky, Elliot Vinzon, We already have Dwight Sil- Adam Wallitt, Alex Wood, Casey Zonfrilli verman onboard—the longtime Houston Chronicle tech editor car- Brand Strategy/Marketing/Partnerships: Lynn Schlesinger (Chief Marketing Officer); Gaston Alegre, Rachel ries so much weight that Michael Aquino, Kate Bishop, Erika Burho, Nicholas Clunn, James Colistra, Danielle Collins, Connor Davis, Krystle Davis, William Delehanty, Meghan Donovan, Martine Ehrhart, Samantha Evans, Erica Ferraro, Moira Forbes (EVP, Forbes- Women), Kristine Francisco, Ross Gagnon, Cara Gilmartin, Sahara Gipson, Ashley Grado, Adelaide Hill, Olivia Hine, Merryl Holland, Amani Hussain, Kari Jones, Nicolette Jones, Nicole Lamastra, Jessica Lantz, Juliana Longo, Brian Lee, Douglas Lopenzina, Erika Maguire, Julie McGovern, Scott McGrath, James Mentzinger, Sophia Minassian, An- tonio Morales, Sade Muhammad, Alexis Murillo, Morgan O’Hare, Romy Oltuski, Jahcelyne Patton, Jennifer Ramos, Allison Rickert, Claire Robinson, Joshua Robinson, Danielle Rubino, Claire Ryan, Peter Sarnoff, Andrey Slivka, Al- lyson Souza, Kara Stiles, Ashka Thaker, Rashaad Denzel Toney, Meenal Vamburkar, Jason Webster, Janet Yin Digital Revenue Operations: Rebeca Solorzano (SVP), Alyson Williams (SVP); Ashley Alexander, James Barry, Sergiu Bucur, Lisa Chiobi, Andrew Dizon, Rachel Goroff, Lauren Gurnee, Jayson Ildefonso, Victor Lee, Emily Lewis, Nicole Lewitinn, Kelly Mui, Melis Ocal, Casey Riordan, Steven Song, Jacqueline Subramaniam ForbesLive: Sherry Phillips (SVP); Andrew Appelbaum, Jessica Charles, Chardia Christophe, Brett Cohen, Alex Engel, Madie Federle, Delisha Fields, Julieanna Gray, Kayla Jennings-Rivera, Nicole Kerno, Susan Kessler, Michael Martin, Sydney Melin, Menaka Menon, Jimmy Okuszka, Mary Margaret Soderquist, Erika Speed, Elizabeth Strozier, Shelby Tompkins, Blair Walther DIGITAL Scott Mendelson Dell personally tweeted him best NINA GOULD, Chief Product Officer; VADIM SUPITSKIY, Chief Technology Officer wishes when he jumped to Forbes. Suzanne Rowan Kelleher covers Product: Ebony Shears; Terrence Agbi, Jennifer Bruno, Youssef Drihmi, David Feldman, Nina Foroutan, Kelly Hanshaw, Erica Ho, Mike Medric, Martin Navarrete, Alex Noonan, Dayne Richards, Grant Tunkel, Katie Ward, Mila Wentrys Corporate Tech: Peter Hahm; Jiten Bhojwani, Christopher Frank, Justin Harris, Joshua Hartzog, Adaze Idehen- Amadasun, Julia Kim travel trends as deftly as Beyoncé Design: Dan Revitte; Sara Amato, Andres Jauregui, Joy Hwang, Adrienne Michalski commands the stage. Scott Mendelson knows more about Hollywood box office than the studio heads E-Commerce: Emily Jackson; Cory Baldwin, Madeline Kaufman, Kimberly Peiffer themselves—no small topic as the entertainment busi- ness reinvents itself. Dozens more are still to come. Engineering: William Anderson; Adrian Ali, Ken Barney, Stephanie Brown, Don Cao, Katie Delgado, Igor Carras- co, Brian Chamberlain, Kay Chan, Chris DeLeon, Mudit Dhawan, Philip Diaz, Stephen Dotz, Gustavo Faria, Jae Letting our journalists embrace the same free- Kyung Ha, Benjamin Harrigan, Isabelle Ingato, Daryl Kang, Yanella Lopez, Charles Morrissey, Marissa Orea, Drew Overcash, Sungmin Park, Sameer Patwardhan, Mads Pedersen, Joseph Pietruch, Totaram Ramrattan, Ronak Ray, Charles Rea, Rodney Rodriguez, Kyle Rogers, Aaron Romel, Alexander Shnayderman, Zachery Shuffield, Dmitri Slavinsky, Scott Warner, JD Weiner, Forrest Whiting, Raymond Wong, Heath Woodson, Boris Yakubchik Business Intelligence: David Johnson; Matthew Haensly, Evelyn Kanu, Alexi Potter, Robert Salgado, Kelsey Simmons, Gregory Spitz, Sukanya Tiwatne CORPORATE market system we’ve always espoused enables us Finance/Operations: Michael York (Chief Financial Officer); Cristina Baluyut, Noemi Baraket, Oneil Brodie, Adele to create something truly authentic for Forbes. Our Cassano, Rosa Colon, Chelsea Deluca, Mike Deochand, Cindy Eng, Nancy Garcia, Iris Garcia, Christie Hansen, Giedre ultimate incentive, of course, is one thing above all: Kristahn, Christopher Labianca, Nina LaFrance (SVP, Consumer Marketing), Stephanie Lewis, Jaclyn Liu, Christopher Lopiano, Andrea Maniscalco, Natalie Maquiling, Christine Martinez, Paul Motta, Nelson Osegueda, Willie Osegueda, Amanda Pasquarello, Barbara Passarella, Jeanine Pecoraro, Gary Prasto, Ivette Reyes, Angel Sauri, Diane Schmid, Lisa Serapiglia, William Simmons, Vera Sit, Courtney Stanton, Parag Tolia, Buddy Trocchia, Donald Walsh making you, the reader, ever happier. Corporate Partnerships: Peter Hung (Senior Liaison, Investment Group); Taha Ahmed, Rich Karlgaard, Matt Muszala, Katya Soldak Communications: Matthew Hutchison (Chief Communications Officer); Laura Brusca, Susan Masula, Jocelyn Swift, Christina Vega Magrini Human Resources: Ali Intres (SVP); Ashley Abendschoen, Brooke Dunmore, Emanuel Joseph-Bain, Amanda Osit, Rachel Shapiro Legal: MariaRosa Cartolano (General Counsel); Paul Anderson, Lindsey Datte, Susy Garcia, Nikki Koval, Josephine Love-Loftin Forbes Asia: William Adamopoulos (CEO), Justin Doebele (Editor); FORBES CHINA: Sherman Lee (CEO), Russell Flannery (Editor) —RANDALL LANE, CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER Founded in 1917 B.C. Forbes, Editor-in-Chief (1917–54) Malcolm S. Forbes, Editor-in-Chief (1954–90) James W. Michaels, Editor (1961–99) William Baldwin, Editor (1999–2010) Print Magazine Consultants: Priest + Grace (design); Brian Dawson (editorial); Sarkis Delimelkon (production) FORBES.COM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
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“With all thy getting, get understanding” FACT & COMMENT By Steve Forbes, Editor-in-Chief Bitcoin Is Not Money—Yet 11 Bitcoin is the new darling of investors. It Unless both conditions are met, they won’t be has rocketed since March 2020 from $5,000 genuine alternatives to the dollar and other to over $40,000 before pulling back. Fans government-manufactured money. are predicting that it will resume its rise and head to $100,000 or higher. Commercially usable cryptos will emerge as the Federal Reserve blunders by creating But that doesn’t make Bitcoin an excess money out of thin air to finance alternative to the dollar yet. Washington’s massive coronavirus relief programs and other prospective big spending People are rushing in because of a lack bills. But it won’t be Bitcoin, because of its of faith in government currencies. The arbitrary supply limit. Federal Reserve and other central banks have crushed interest rates and are printing The supply of Swiss francs is enormous unimaginable amounts of money to pay because it is regarded by global markets as for Covid relief measures and to stimulate trustworthy: The franc has preserved its damaged economies. purchasing power better than any other currency in the world over the past 100 years. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are now seen as a respectable investment class, and financial institutions are Big Tech’s Big Blunder adding Bitcoin to their portfolios. Enthusiasts say Bitcoin is the new gold and that it will eventually replace the dollar. When it comes to censorship, Big Tech is making a big mistake. Twitter and other high-tech giants are trying to Not so fast! severely restrict or stamp out conservative opinion. For Whatever Bitcoin is, it’s not money. years they have hindered or, on occasion, blocked right-of- We use money to buy products and services. The dollar, center postings. for instance, is like a claim check on a car, a coat or a ticket to an event—only, in the dollar’s case, it can be used to Now, in the aftermath of the horrific mob attack on purchase or sell anything. Capitol Hill, these companies have shed all pretensions of Money works best when it has a stable value. While objectivity. Most egregiously, they have shut down Parler, a there are stories of vendors being willing to accept a relatively new competitor to Twitter. The moguls running cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies will remain Twitter, Facebook, Amazon and others piously claim that curiosities until their value is stable. they’re against fomenting violence, which is laughable Contracts are essential to an economy, whether for given the rancid, murderous postings from Chinese and buying a house with a mortgage, leasing a car, purchasing Iranian propagandists—not to mention other over-the-top insurance or countless other activities. Who in his right posts from individuals and various organizations—that go mind would sign a long-term contract based on Bitcoin? untouched. For example, the former CEO of Twitter last year Had you taken out a mortgage in March 2020 for $250,000 called for the shooting of capitalists he found objectionable. in Bitcoin, you’d owe the bank almost $2 million today. With Bitcoin it’s steak one day, dog food the next and Big Tech may think it’s buying protection insurance caviar the day after. from Democrats, who have won control of the White House Another problem with Bitcoin is that there’s a fixed and both houses of Congress. But they’re only creating supply of it. The amount cannot be increased. The supply serious ill will, which will eventually come back to hurt of money must be able to expand in order to meet the needs them. Arrogance and a public-be-damned attitude always of a growing economy. invite retribution, no matter how powerful companies and Between 1775 and 1900, when the U.S. went from a organizations think they are. simple, agricultural-based economy to the world’s mightiest industrial nation, the supply of dollars increased 160-fold. By trying to destroy sites like Parler, Big Tech is For cryptocurrencies to seriously challenge existing triggering a raft of lawsuits accusing them of restraint of currencies, they must be as easy to use as money is today trade. Moreover, soon-to-be plaintiffs are exploring other and must have a fixed value, being tied to gold or something avenues of legal attack, such as the concept that certain sites like the Swiss franc so that they can be used for contracts. FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 FORBES.COM
Steve Forbes Cont. qualify as public common carriers out-of-touch politicians are attempting the company was nicknamed, went and therefore cannot block posts that to marginalize or suppress them. out of its way to please one and all. don’t violate the law, just as passenger This anger and sense of alienation Service was impeccable. Its personnel railroads or telephone companies can’t isn’t healthy for the political and were the essence of politeness and bar customers. cultural environment. helpfulness. Every media outlet got Big Tech’s actions are providing grist These tech giants should have advertisements from AT&T. All that 12 for antitrust actions, which states and realized years ago that their well- protected it from political attack. other countries were already pursuing. being ultimately depends on public Technology, not politics, ultimately • FACT & COMMENT They are also fanning the anger of goodwill—or acquiescence, at least. broke up the old AT&T monopoly. millions of Americans who feel that big Decades ago AT&T was a legal It’s too bad Big Tech hasn’t followed business and haughty, power-hungry, telephone monopoly. Ma Bell, as that model. You Won’t Cut This Cable Camino Winds—by John Grisham is somehow involved. To get the goods Kerr had been a rising, high- (Doubleday, $28.95). This novel by on him, they recruit Mercer Mann, a powered lawyer in San Francisco but the foremost man of letters from Mis- young woman who years before had became a whistleblower when he sissippi since William Faulkner takes spent time on Camino Island with her learned that an executive at a defense up where a previous gripper, company—one of his firm’s clients— Camino Island (Bantam, grandmother, Tess. Mercer was selling classified information to 2017), left off. The most in- is a novelist who has osten- the North Koreans and the Iranians. teresting character in both sibly returned to her grand- While the feds gave Kerr a reward for of these well-constructed, mother’s house to finish her what he uncovered (much of which can’t-put-’em-downers is second book. Her real task was promptly lost to taxes and a nasty Bruce Cable, an independent is to get to know Cable and divorce), his legal career as a high- bookstore owner. A lover of use their budding friend- income earner was over. Who wants to rare books and manuscripts ship to gain critical informa- hire a “snitch” as a lawyer? and an imaginative and tire- tion about where the manu- less marketer who takes de- scripts are. After plenty of Kerr subsequently relocated and light in promoting promising writers pulse-raising situations, the wrote a couple of successful spy-and- and in doing all he can to make sure items are recovered, while Cable ends international-intrigue novels, dem- established authors sell multiple hun- up doing well for himself. He and Mer- onstrating his budding talent. But dreds of their latest works at festive cer actually do become close friends. nothing in those warranted his being book signings and readings, Cable is And Cable turns out not to be the total killed. Cable and Nick figure he must a prodigious reader and man of high fiend we originally suspect he is. have been working on something new. taste. He also has a rather roguish side Only a novelist of Grisham’s talents that enables him to charmingly seduce could plausibly pull off such a tale. While Kerr’s death turns out not attractive women. PC he is not. In Camino Winds we find Cable de- to have been accidental, the local and ciding to remain on the island, even state police’s pursuit of a perpetrator In Camino Island, priceless hand- though a brutal hurricane is bearing is lackadaisical. Against his inclina- written manuscripts of F. Scott Fitzger- down. Nick Sutton, a college kid and tions—after all, he’d be putting himself ald have been ingeniously stolen from summertime worker at Cable’s book- in mortal danger—Cable is drawn into Princeton University’s legendary li- store who has read hundreds of who- unraveling the truth. brary. Who pulled off the heist and, dunits, also refuses to evacuate. The more to the point, how are these manu- storm savagely mauls the island, and Kerr had indeed been examining scripts going to be fenced? Authorities, 11 of the stay-behinds are killed, in- a hideous scandal: Certain nursing not without reason, suspect that Cable cluding a lawyer-turned-novelist, Nel- homes were cheating Medicare out of son Kerr. After the storm Cable and hundreds of millions—if not billions— Introducing Nick visit the place where Kerr lived of dollars. and conclude that he was no casual- What’s Ahead ty of Mother Nature but was instead In both of these irresistible reads probably murdered. With hundreds of Grisham introduces readers to mem- The podcast hosted mysteries animating his mind, Nick orable characters whom he capably by Steve Forbes. even theorizes about what weapon brings to life. And in Camino Winds Subscribe now on iTunes was used to kill him. he raises disconcerting questions or GooglePlay Store. about how many of the places in which we place—or dump—the elder- ly are managed. FORBES.COM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
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W H AT ’ S WHO’S NEW NEXT 15 FRONTRUNNER MEET THE NEIGHBORS BY NOAH KIRSCH; PHOTO BY ANDREW HARNIK/AP. FEDERICO WINER FOR FORBES (ISLAND, PAGES 16-17) Meet the Neighbors JAVANKA’S FORBES.COM NEW FLORIDA HIDEOUT Inside Indian Creek, the ultra-exclusive enclave that’s likely home to the most billionaires—and Super Bowl rings—per capita. FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
Javanka’s New Florida Hideout Cont. FRONTRUNNERJ16 Julio Iglesias The Spanish singer-songwriter, one of the most successful recording artists in history, has owned property on the island for decades. ESTIMATED PROPERTY VALUE*: $22 MILLION Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump Robert Diener may have said goodbye to Washington, D.C., in January, but they’re landing The cofounder of Hotels.com, Diener sold in a community that’s even more elite. his interest in the company in 2003. An avid In December the couple closed on a $32.2 million property on Indian kitesurfer, snowboarder and triathlete, Creek, a luxurious island community Diener will have some real athletic in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The village’s population was last competition when Tom Brady moves in. tallied at 86 people—at least five of whom are billionaires. ESTIMATED PROPERTY VALUE: $33.1 MILLION The Kushners acquired the property Edward Lampert from famed Spanish singer Julio Iglesias, who still owns multiple Worth an estimated $1.6 billion, Lampert took over parcels of land on Indian Creek, a as CEO of Sears Holdings (Sears, Kmart, Kenmore) source familiar with the island tells in 2013; the company’s collapse sparked backlash Forbes. Money trumps politics, it seems. In 2015, Iglesias, who is now over his management tactics and questions 77, called the 45th president a “clown” about whether he profited off its decline. over his anti-immigrant rhetoric. (Lampert’s firm has denied any wrongdoing.) Close readers of the tabloids might expect the couple to receive a frosty ESTIMATED PROPERTY VALUE: $41.1 MILLION reception from Indian Creek’s other wealthy residents. According to the Mary Stephens Shula New York Post, “Javanka need not apply” to the island’s country club. The widow of Hall of Fame Miami In truth, the pair will probably get Dolphins coach Don Shula, who died in along fine with their rich and famous new neighbors. Some 79% of the May 2020, has lived on the island island’s 53 presidential votes in 2020 for many years—as local royalty. reportedly went to Donald Trump. ESTIMATED PROPERTY VALUE: $24.5 MILLION Another new owner is a man long approved by Ivanka’s father. Tom Rakesh Gangwal Brady and his wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, also bought a $17 million Worth an estimated $3.7 billion, the Indian Creek property late last year. former CEO of US Airways Group So who are Jared and Ivanka’s other cofounded IndiGo in 2006. It’s now new neighbors? A concentrated blend India’s largest budget airline. of wealth and influence, from activist investor Carl Icahn to the Emir of ESTIMATED PROPERTY VALUE: $26.9 MILLION Qatar. Here are some of the island’s most notable homeowners. Jaime Gilinski Bacal FORBES.COM The London-based billionaire, who presides over one of the biggest banking empires in Latin America, has a second home on Indian Creek. Bacal is currently working to redevelop a former U.S. Air Force base alongside the Panama Canal, an effort Forbes once dubbed “The Most Audacious Real Estate Project in the World.” ESTIMATED PROPERTY VALUE: $24.9 MILLION FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
Jared Kushner and Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani 17 Ivanka Trump The 40-year-old Emir of Qatar purchased The former first daughter a $49.9 million Indian Creek mansion in and her husband closed 2019 and has been spotted around the island multiple times, a source says. on the Indian Creek lot in December. Days later, ESTIMATED PROPERTY VALUE: $49.9 MILLION Kushner’s brother, Josh, FRONTRUNNER and his wife, model Karlie Kloss, reportedly bought a $23.5 million home on nearby Miami Beach. ESTIMATED PROPERTY VALUE: $32.2 MILLION Norman Braman A billionaire art collector who owns one of Florida’s largest car dealerships, Braman also has deep ties to the NFL: In 1985, he bought the Philadelphia Eagles—for whom he had once been a water boy— before selling the franchise for a $120 million profit nine years later. ESTIMATED PROPERTY VALUE: $26.7 MILLION Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen Late last year, Brady and Bündchen bought a $17 million home reportedly owned by real estate developer Jeffrey Soffer, making Bündchen Indian Creek’s most famous super- model. That title used to be shared by Soffer’s ex-wife, Elle Macpherson, and former Victoria’s Secret Angel Adriana Lima. ESTIMATED PROPERTY VALUE: $17 MILLION Carl Icahn One of the most successful dealmakers in Wall Street history, Icahn has many ties to Donald Trump. In 2014, he helped bring Trump’s Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City out of bankruptcy, selling it three years later to Hard Rock International—at a reported $100 million loss. ESTIMATED PROPERTY VALUE: $25.4 MILLION *Estimated property values are based on local assessments or recent transactions. For individuals with multiple properties, only one was included.
at $29.5 billion. As of press time, he was planning to take Roblox public through a direct listing in February. What sets Roblox apart: It provides tools for kids to make—and sell—their 18 own games, turning its audience into an army of apple-cheeked capitalists. Roblox sells a virtual currency called Robux—100 for a dollar—that players can spend on games and digital trinkets, such as avatars and in-game items. Creators earn a share of the Robux spent in their game worlds, at a rate of 35 cents per 100 Robux. In aggregate, Roblox’s 1 million creators made $210 million in the nine months to September 2020. For the top creators, it’s real money: More than a thousand earned $10,000 or more, and close to 250 pocketed $100,000- plus. Roblox itself generated nearly $600 million in revenue those same nine months—$100 million more than in all of 2019. FRONTRUNNER New Billionaire Sportsmoney NEW BILLIONAIRE BY ALEX KNAPP; SPORTSMONEY BY KURT BADENHAUSEN; TIMOTHY ARCHIBALD FOR FORBES (LEFT): GETTY IMAGES FORTUNE THE NBA’S TOP EARNERS BUILDER Pro hoops players are taking a 20% salary Blox Head T o millions of tweens, David Baszucki is much cut this season, as empty arenas dent better known as his avatar, “Builderman.” revenue leaguewide, but this quintet of David Baszucki’s What he built is Roblox, an addictive combo stars compensates with sneaker deals Roblox has taken its worth a combined $100 million per year. virtual experiences video game and social-media site that rivals into the real world 1. LeBron James with a line of toys and YouTube and TikTok for engaging children. Los Angeles Lakers Total earnings: $95.4 mil apparel based on Baszucki’s company is thriving as kids stuck in the rec room Salary: $31.4 mil popular games; tween Endorsements: $64 mil developers get a cut have turned to Roblox to while away the pandemic. In the nine 2. Stephen Curry of those sales too. Golden State Warriors Total earnings: $74.4 mil months to September 2020, the San Mateo, California–based Salary: $34.4 mil Endorsements: $40 mil startup grew its users by 81%, to 31.1 million; hours spent on 3. Kevin Durant Roblox’s app and website soared 123%, to 22.2 billion. Brooklyn Nets Total earnings: $65.2 mil The biggest winner is Baszucki, 58, who is now worth $2.8 Salary: $31.2 mil Endorsements: $34 mil billion after a January funding round that valued Roblox 4. Russell Westbrook Washington Wizards Total earnings: $58.1 mil Salary: $33.1 mil Endorsements: $25 mil 5. James Harden Brooklyn Nets Total earnings: $50 mil Salary: $33 mil Endorsements: $17 mil FORBES.COM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
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T he final year of Trump’s presidency was also the hardest. On top of the impeachment, the pandemic and the election, Trump’s business empire took a beating, with key properties 20 Billionaires losing more than 50% of their revenue. And that was before the insurrection and second impeach- TRUMP’S ment. Immediately following the riot, Shopify reportedly TROUBLES cut off the president’s online store, the PGA fled his club, New York City announced it would cancel his contracts and tenants looked to get out of their leases. What’s next? With an estimated $900 million in loans coming due over FRONTRUNNER The election wasn’t the only thing Donald Trump the next four years, Trump will probably have to sell some BY DAN ALEXANDER; DONALD TRUMP BY JIM WATSON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; TRUMP NATIONAL DORAL BY MICHELE EVE SANDBERG/AFP/GETTY IMAGESlost last year. Across his businesses, more thanassets—not that he’s had much luck with that recently TRUMP INTERNATIONAL HOTEL DC BY JEFF MASLET/NEWSCOM; TURNBERRY BY DUTOURDUMONDE/ALAMY; INTERNATIONAL TRUMP TOWER HOTEL BY FRED MARIE/GETTY IMAGESeither. In 2020, he sold just $435,000 of real estate, down TRUMP NATIONAL GOLF COURSE BEDMINSTER BY ALAMY; MAR A LAGO BY WANG YINGH/NEWSCOM$100 million of revenue vanished.from roughly $30 million in a more typical year. Trump National Doral | Miami Trump International Hotel | Washington, D.C. Trump Turnberry | Turnberry, Scotland 2020 REVENUE: Est. $44 million 2020 REVENUE: Est. $20 million 2020 REVENUE: Est. $10 million CHANGE FROM 2019: –$33 million CHANGE FROM 2019: –$33 million CHANGE FROM 2019: –$16 million The ex-president’s most important golf prop- Even before Covid-19, Trump’s hotel in the Trump’s most famous property in Europe lost erty—more a massive hotel than a traditional nation’s capital didn’t seem to be making $61 million from 2014 to 2019. But 2020 looks club—fired or furloughed about 560 employ- enough money to cover the interest on like its most challenging year. The golf resort ees, including 123 waiters and waitresses, its $170 million Deutsche Bank loan. With shut down from March to July, then again 43 housekeepers and 25 cooks. If Trump wants revenue down an estimated 63% last year in November and December. Revenue also to keep it afloat, he’ll have to scrounge up and the president leaving town, there is little plunged more than 60% at Trump’s other some cash: He has $125 million of Deutsche reason for optimism. The debt comes due two European golf resorts. Bank debt maturing on the property in 2023. in 2024. Expect this one to get ugly. Trump International Hotel | Las Vegas U.S. Golf Courses Mar-a-Lago | Palm Beach, Florida 2020 REVENUE: Est. $9 million 2020 REVENUE: Est. $99 million 2020 REVENUE: Est. $24 million CHANGE FROM 2019: –$14 million CHANGE FROM 2019: –$10 million CHANGE FROM 2019: +$3 million The golden tower just off the Las Vegas Strip Trump owns 10 golf clubs across the country. Many of Trump’s most loyal supporters are consistently generated about $23 million in To know how they performed in 2020, just also members of his exclusive Florida club. annual sales throughout Trump’s presidency— look at the electoral map. The properties in They stuck with him through the pandemic, until the coronavirus upended the economy states that Trump won (Florida and North making Mar-a-Lago a rare bright spot in last March. By April 3, the Vegas property, Carolina) lost almost no revenue. In places the Trump portfolio. The business actually which Trump owns in a 50/50 partnership President Biden won (New York, New Jersey, managed to increase sales an estimated 13% alongside fellow billionaire Phil Ruffin, had Virginia and California), sales fell an esti- in 2020. No surprise that Trump decided to laid off about 550 employees. mated 14% on average. make Palm Beach his post-presidential home. FORBES.COM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
Dillingham Ranch • O'ahu, HI • $45,000,000 Villa Bella Vista • Montecito, CA • $21,500,000 68-434 Farrington Highway 1395 Oak Creek Canyon Road Matt Beall • [email protected] Riskin Partners Estate Group • [email protected] +1 808.346.7413 +1 805.565.8600 DRE: 01815307 Muirlands Trophy Estate • La Jolla, CA • $13,500,000 The Enchanted Hill • Beverly Hills, CA • $110,000,000 1330 Inspiration Drive 1441 Angelo Drive • 120 Acres Nelson Brothers Team • [email protected] +1 858.215.3739 Jeff Hyland • jeff@hiltonhyland.com Rick Hilton • [email protected] Zach Goldsmith • [email protected] Jesse Lally • [email protected] DRE: 01376023 (Drew Nelson) and 01801493 (Tim Nelson) +1 310.278.3311 DRE: 01160681 Providing unrivaled access to the © 2021 FGP, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Forbes Global world's finest homes Properties® is a registered trademark used under license. ForbesGlobalProperties.com
BUY, HOLD, SELL Book Value Cars Leaders from the worlds of business, academia, 22 Ken Gross entertainment and Author, curator, former politics share what’s on director of the Petersen Automotive Museum their bedside table. FRONTRUNNER The DMC DeLorean Porsche 356B/ Lancia Aurelia B20 GT Dustin Moskovitz (1950-58) BUY, HOLD, SELL BY CHRISTIAN KREZNAR; ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHRIS LYONS FOR FORBES; MOSKOVITZ: SAM KERR FOR FORBES(1981-83)Porsche 356C (1960-65)Cofounder and CEO, Designed by automotive Asana; member of Famous for its gull-wing Well-built, fun to drive—and virtuoso Vittorio Jano, this The Forbes 400 doors and stainless-steel maybe most importantly, stylish coupe’s meteoric body—and its legendarily rise has slowed. At around undervalued—these $175,000, it’s time to sell. prime placement in last-generation gems Back to the Future. Fans’ promise longevity and, celluloid memories will at $80,000, significant propel John DeLorean’s appreciation. masterpiece well past the going $45,000. Rare Books The Infinite Game Adam Weinberger By Simon Sinek Rare-book dealer, member I’m committed to of the Antiquarian projects that will help humanity thrive, Booksellers’ Association and I work hard to of America, founder of manage my attention RareBookBuyer.com and energy in ways that maximize my Middle Eastern Works English Classics Old-Time Medical Books impact. Often, this means slowing down Oil prices might be mid- Looking to impress your Doctors may be saving to appreciate the big dling, but museums and colleagues on Zoom? more lives than ever, but picture. Ever wondered collectors in the Arab world don’t expect to see that if you’ve become too are spending big on their Try decorating your library reflected in the prices of focused on short-term heritage. A sheet from a with an 1843 first edition physicians’ textbooks. At goals? The Infinite Game 1482 copy of Ptolemy’s Christmas Carol by $6,950, true first editions of (Portfolio, 2019) is a atlas of the region just Dickens—one of which William Osler’s classic The must-read. It will inspire recently fetched $27,500 Principles and Practice of you to find ways to sold for $27,880. at auction. Medicine are flatlining. ground your business in purpose, be inspired by Emerging Painters your rivals and create organizations with Amanda Lo Iacono cultures built to last. Sinek demonstrates the Head of 20th Century principles of long-term and Contemporary thinking—playing the “infinite game,” that Art Auctions, Phillips is—through anecdotes from some of the Jadé Fadojutimi Amy Sherald Beauford Delaney world’s most inspiring teams, in business (born 1993) (born 1973) (1901-79) and other endeavors, putting together a The youngest artist in Michelle Obama’s portrait The captivating portraits picture of what it means the collection of London’s painter has a strong follow- and landscapes of this to be a leader who getting-overexposed works for the good of Tate (she’s 27) straddles ing—note her $4.2 million Harlem Renaissance all stakeholders, makes the line between abstrac- sale in December of “The master are selling for decisions with high Bathers” (2015, above), a close to $500,000, but integrity and above tion and figuration. Her brilliantly hued depiction with a documentary in all takes the long view auction debut, a piece of two women in swimsuits— on fulfilling the core from art school, brought the works, this renaissance mission of the team. and collectors lucky may have hit its peak. in $378,000. enough to own a Sherald should hold on tight. FORBES.COM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
Vail • Beaver Creek • Bachelor Gulch • Breckenridge • Keystone • Copper • Aspen • Snowmass • Denver 14 25 36 Nesting has never felt more natural We’ve found our natural fit 1 Vail Valley • Edwards • 1808 Colorow Road 4 Aspen • 2137 Red Mountain Road • $49,500,000 with Forbes Global Properties. $6,495,000 Krista Klees • +1 970.379.0173 • [email protected] Now find yours with Tom Jaffe • +1 973.747.7009 • tjaff[email protected] Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate. Newton Bartley • +1 970.379.8660 • [email protected] 2 Aspen • 603 S Garmisch Street • 5 Vail Valley • Mountain Star • 75 Mountain Sage $15,999,000 $6,295,000 Liz Leeds • +1 970.331.1806 • [email protected] Steve Cardinale • +1 970.376.4090 • [email protected] 3 Nottingham Ranch • Burns, CO 6 Snowmass • Havens on Fanny Hill SliferSmithandFrampton.com © 2021 FGP, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Forbes Global 19,010 acres • $89,000,000 ForbesGlobalProperties.com Properties® is a registered trademark used under license. Ed Swinford • +1 970.376.0746 • [email protected] From $5,700,000 Brent Rimel • +1 970.390.9872 • [email protected] Steve Harriage • +1 970.355.4646 • [email protected]
Billionaires AFRICA’S RICHEST On the Block MAKING BANK ON BANKSY 24 Whether you believe Banksy is the spiritual heir to Marcel Duchamp FRONTRUNNER or the clown AFRICA BY KERRY A. DOLAN; DANGOTE: WEI LENG TAY/BLOOMBERG; BANKSY: GETTY IMAGES prince of art (or both), one thing is certain—his works consistently bring high prices at auction. Last October, Bansky’s 2005 painting “Show Me the Monet” (below) sold for $9.9 million at Sotheby’s, the second-highest price ever realized for the anonymous British prankster’s work. (“Devolved Parliament” holds the record, selling for $12.1 million the year before.) The irony that collectors have sent his prices soaring isn’t lost on the anticapitalist A s everywhere, the wealthiest in Africa have come THE TOP FIVE artist. On March through the pandemic just fine. The continent’s 18 16, Christie’s will billionaires are worth an average $4.1 billion, up 12% 1. Aliko Dangote offer some of from a year ago, driven in part by Nigeria’s surging NET WORTH: $12.1 billion © Banksy’s best- known screen- stock market. For the tenth year in a row, Nigerian COUNTRY: NIGERIA prints for sale, SOURCE OF WEALTH: CEMENT and the title of the cement magnate Aliko Dangote (above) is Africa’s richest person, at auction— a nod to a 2007 $12.1 billion, up $2 billion. In second place: Nassef Sawiris of Egypt, 2. Nassef Sawiris work—once again whose largest asset is a nearly 6% stake in Adidas. sends a message $8.5 billion © to the art world: One person you won’t see here: Isabel dos Santos of Angola. In 2013, Forbes declared her the richest woman in Africa, with $3.5 billion—and EGYPT CONSTRUCTION, INVESTMENTS spelled out just how the daughter of Angola’s longtime president had 3. Nicky Oppenheimer accumulated her assets, in part by looting the country. (At the time, her spokesperson told Forbes she was a “private investor representing solely $8 billion © her own interests” and that her investments were “transparent.”) SOUTH AFRICA Angola’s government, under new president João Lourenço, wants to DIAMONDS claw it back. In January 2020 the country’s attorney general charged Dos Santos, her husband and a business associate with embezzlement 4. Johann Rupert and money laundering costing Angola at least $1.1 billion. Dos Santos denied all charges. (Her husband died in Dubai last October, $7.2 billion © SOUTH AFRICA LUXURY GOODS reportedly in a diving accident.) 5. Mike Adenuga Angolan officials have frozen her assets in the country, including $6.3 billion ª stakes in a mobile telecom and two banks. Courts in Portugal NIGERIA (Angola’s former colonizer) and the Netherlands later followed suit. TELECOM, OIL Forbes now values her frozen assets at zero; as such, her net worth has plummeted below $1 billion. Through a spokesman, Dos Santos declined to comment. FORBES.COM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
30 Under 30 25 SHOT FRONTRUNNER BLOCKERS Taking aim at gun violence with the Forbes 30 Under 30, in 30 words or less. Vy Tran 27 Benjamin Ziomek 29 Bruno Faviero 28 Robert Davis 30 FOUNDER, WONDER HOODIE COFOUNDER AND CTO, ACTUATE COFOUNDER AND COO, COFOUNDER AND COO, ASPETTO SYNAPSE TECHNOLOGY Tran makes stylish hoodies and New York–based Actuate For those special occasions jackets that protect against a sells $50 AI software that Simanta Gautam 25 when a bulletproof hoodie just .44 Magnum or knife slashing. enables cameras to detect won’t cut it, Aspetto (2020 2020 sales were $5.8 million. handguns and rifles. Since COFOUNDER AND CTO, sales: $9 million) has you Next up: bullet-resistant pants. 2018 it’s served 900 schools SYNAPSE TECHNOLOGY covered with bullet-resistant and the U.S. Army. Its 2020 formalwear. Think U.S. Border sales: $2.5 million. Their AI upgrades X-ray Patrol and the Air Force. machines to better identify 30 UNDER 30 BY BRIANNE GARRETT; ILLUSTRATION BY DIEGO PATIÑO weapons. First-gen immigrants from Brazil and Nepal have $6 million in venture funding for their Bay Area startup. ForbesLife Want to show your true colors? There’s now a full spectrum HUE TIME of rainbow-inspired watches. Some celebrate Roy G. Biv on the dial, while others paint the indices. Of course, the most exotic timepieces go to the end of the rainbow with intricately colored diamonds and other gemstones around the bezel. But those cost a pot of gold. (From left) Superocean Heritage ’57 Limited Edition by Breitling ($5,025); Big Bang Unico Rainbow King Gold by Hublot ($91,600); Ocean Star Decompression Timer 1961 Limited Edition by Mido ($1,250); Tonda 1950 Tourbillon Double Rainbow by Parmigiani ($178,000). FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 FORBES.COM
Entrepreneurs THE NEXT 1000 26 Before the pandemic, small businesses accounted for two-thirds of net new American jobs and generated 44% of GDP. The vast majority are bootstrapped via savings and credit cards. While venture-backed startups skew heavily white and heavily male, these sole proprietorships and seat-of-your-pants enterprises actually look like America. To surface a new class of entrepreneurial hero, all with under $10 million in revenue or funding but infinite drive and hustle, Forbes has launched the Next 1000. The first installment of 250 standouts— and a chance to nominate—is at forbes.com/next1000. FRONTRUNNER Francisco Rathna Sharad, 46 BY MANEET AHUJA; AGUILAR AND COOPER: GABBYJONES FOR FORBES; SHARAD: PEDRO OLIVEIRA FOR FORBES; DICKSON: JAMEL TOPPIN FOR FORBESAguilar, 37 FLAVORCLOUD BOUNCE IMAGING SEATTLE BUFFALO, NEW YORK Shipping across Cops and soldiers international borders was would much rather complicated and costly roll in one of Bounce’s before Covid. Then it ball-like 360-degree got worse. FlavorCloud cameras than walk blind is a one-stop shop for into a hostage crisis affordable cross-border or a firefight. Luckily, shipping—and it handles “national security wasn’t customs and tariffs. halted by the pandemic,” Sharad’s customer base, says the Costa Rica– mostly midsize retailers, born Aguilar. Bounce grew 300% last year. has raised $8.6 million. 2020 sales: $3.6 million. Dawn Dickson, 42 Garry Cooper, 37 POPCOM RHEAPLY COLUMBUS, OHIO CHICAGO Everyone has seen “Rheaply is trying to build those oversize vending a Google for physical machines in airports that assets,” says Cooper, sell headphones and whose company helps big phone chargers. Dickson organizations (the City of makes those—but fancier. Chicago, say, or the U.S. Her $20,000 units will Air Force) keep track of soon start appearing in their stuff—whether that’s hotels and airports; they computers, desks or lab apparently rely on AI to equipment—a task made goose buying. Projected harder by remote work. 2021 sales: $5.2 million. The startup has raised $2.5 million. FORBES.COM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
Our advisors listen, so you know you’ve been heard. When you talk to a Dell Technologies Advisor, they’re focused on you — to provide tailored solutions on everything from laptops to the cloud, to keep your Small Business ready for what’s next. Call one today at 855-341-5261 Dell.com/SmallBusinessPartner Vostro 15 5502 with up to an 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 processor Starting at $799 Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Copyright © 2021 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. Dell Technologies, Dell, EMC, Dell EMC and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners. 390685
ANGOLA ARGENTINA Forbes Angola celebrates Argentinian food producers five years by catching up including Arcor snacks and with business leaders who La Serenísima dairy have recently appeared on past magazine opened online stores to ship goods covers. Their shared directly to consumers as the sentiment: The country is pandemic curtails shopping at ailing because of its depre- supermarkets and kiosks. ciating currency, foreign W O R L D dependenceandthe AUSTRIA28 Covid-induced downturn. Lichtenberg-based Surgebright makes screws FRONTRUNNER OF from donated human BY KATHERINE LOVE. AUSTRIA: SURGEBRIGHT; BULGARIA: TELERIK ACADEMY; CZECH REPUBLIC: MARTIN ÚBL; CYPRUS: CYPRUS SEEDS FORBES bone as an alternative to metal implants for heal- ing fractures and tears. Cofounder Thomas Pastl makes Forbes Austria’s 30 Under 30 list. Across the planet, our 35 licensed BOLIVIA BRAZIL editions span five continents, “I am a machine working Karine Oliveira (below, 24 languages and 13 time zones. every day to have good second from left) appears They all share the same mission: contracts,” says Marcelo on Forbes Brazil’s 30 Under celebrating entrepreneurial capitalism Martins Moreno, the goal-scoring star of the 30 list for her company, in all its forms. national soccer team. Wakanda, which teaches The 33-year-old, who BULGARIA CHINA fronts the latest issue of business skills to Black Forbes Bolivia, discusses micro-entrepreneurs Mixed martial artist his latest moves into real CYPRUS such as seamstresses Zhang Weili, native of estate investing. and street vendors. Hebei province south To promote investment, of Beijing, makes the cover COLOMBIA Cyprus recently launched CZECH REPUBLIC of Forbes China’s 30 Under an entrepreneurship award 30 issue for her success as that paid for two winning Last spring, hiking the reigning UFC Women’s startup teams to participate enthusiasts forged and in a five-month accelerator mapped a Czech country- Strawweight world program at a Massachusetts wide footpath. Called champion. Cesta Českem, the trail Institute of Technology spans more than 600 miles. A Massachusetts software Forbes Colombia writer affiliate in Athens. company acquired Bulgar- Sebastián Rincón says of ian app developer Telerik in J Balvin, the “Midas king” GEORGIA 2014 for about $260 million, then spun off independent of reggaeton, a music The CEO of government- genre that mixes reggae owned Georgian Railway, educational arm Telerik and hip-hop: “Everything David Peradze, thinks the Academy. Now the Sofia- he plays turns to gold.” The based tech training startup, five-time winner of Latin country is positioned to led by Alexandra Mechkova, Grammys has also earned become a regional logistics three U.S. nominations. hub, thanks to its free-trade provides IT instruction agreements with both China and talent for Uber and FRANCE and the European Union. Coca-Cola. EL SALVADOR Glacial Erratic, a steel and sheet-metal sculpture created by California resident and San Salvador native Beatriz Cortez, landed in New York’s Rockefeller Center last year. GREECE Luxury-goods billionaire HUNGARY Bernard Arnault and his Telecom, “a business model Paris-based conglomerate Hungarian couple Kornél Mundruczó suitable for periods of high LVMH finally acquired and Kata Wéber created the new volatility or recession,” will Netflix film Pieces of a Woman remain a good play, says Nikos Tiffany & Co. for with producer Martin Scorsese. Stathopoulos, a Greek native $15.8 billion in January. Ar- The dark drama stars actors and partner at London-based nault crowned his 28-year- Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf as investment firm BC Partners. old son, Alexandre (above), parents grieving a tragic home birth. executive vice president of the jewelry retailer. FORBES.COM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
INDIA INDONESIA ISRAEL The cofounders of Ajaib, the Eviation cofounder Omer Bar-Yohay Jakarta investing app with over claims Alice, his all-electric commuter 1 million users, had a $25 million plane, is a quieter, cheaper and series A in January. Investors more stable aircraft. The Israeli- include billionaire Li Ka-shing’s American company, which has built two so far, is seeking clearance from Horizons Ventures, SoftBank the Federal Aviation Administration. Ventures Asia and Y Combinator. ITALY JAPAN KAZAKHSTAN 29 In January, medical workers Villa Eden, an adults- Chef Shusaku Toba hasn’t Among Forbes Kazakhstan’s list of the FRONTRUNNER began receiving Oxford- only luxury hotel and spa in been turning tables with 50 most powerful businessmen, Euro- AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 Merano, now offers Covid- $150 tabs in recent months. pharma chairman Kairat Itemgenov says vaccine, produced by the inspired treatments such as But business is strong at Sio, he’s following the Walgreens regimen Serum Institute of India. a $426 multivitamin IV drip his Michelin-starred French of selling food in its pharmacies: His plan CEO Adar Poonawalla, son restaurant in Tokyo, which is to install convenience stores alongside of its billionaire founder, to detox and strengthen his 200 or so existing pharmacies. Cyrus Poonawalla, has the immune system. is now offering to-go predicted that Indian orders, cheaper prices LATVIA MEXICO society will return to NIGERIA and recipes on Twitter. normalcy by October. Besides her day job as a Denis Vélez, a 28-year-old As chair of Gavi, the Vaccine POLAND product manager at L’Oréal, soprano from Puebla, won MONGOLIA Alliance, Ngozi Okonjo- $20,000 from New York’s Kraków-based Seedia Laura Noor leads anti- Metropolitan Opera last “You can see new business Iweala has helped raise more makes a line of smart city bullying nonprofit Neklusē, year and performed in two ideas from books and than $2 billion to equitably part of the World Economic distribute Covid-19 vaccina- products including bus Forum’s youth programs. She Lyric Opera of Chicago anywhere from life,” says tions across the continent stops and solar-powered appears on Forbes Latvia’s virtual concerts. Nyamtaishir Byambaa, and has been a top pick for benches where the public inaugural 30 Under 30 list. founder and chairman of next director-general of the can charge devices and ISRAEL: SHLOMI YOSEF; ITALY: VILLA EDEN; JAPAN: KO SASAKI; LATVIA: LAURA NOOR; MEXICO: JOSÉ LUIS CASTILLO; World Trade Organization. connect to Wi-Fi. Athens PORTUGAL ROMANIA PORTUGAL: VICTOR MACHADO; ROMANIA: MATEI BUŢĂ & MARIUS MICHAILOV; SLOVAKIA: MICHAL LUKÁČ; SOUTH KOREA: MAK. The Mongolian and Toronto are two of its SHIN IN-SEOP FOR FORBES KOREA; UAE: MUSTAPHA AZAB FOR FORBES MIDDLE EAST; UKRAINE: ALEXANDER CHEKMENEV & NOVA POSHTA corporation began in gold SLOVAKIA Today L’Oréal is a beauty Loucas Ellinas, owner of municipal customers. tech company, says Portugal luxury watch retailer Chrono- mining in 1993 and has link, is scouting locations in expanded to cement, CEO Cátia Martins. The the city of Cluj. “We already former intern points to have a rich clientele there,” aviation and more. augmented reality and artificial intelligence that are he says, “who constantly RUSSIA accelerating personalization complain that they have to take the plane to Bucharest.” for customers. Online-banking billionaire To support Webex video, SOUTH KOREA SPAIN Oleg Tinkov is due in U.S. Cisco is acquiring Slovak court on charges of tax audience feedback app Jinu Kim’s Seoul-based Madrid-based foundation Cibervoluntarios teaches fraud. (He has not provided Slido, with 8 million monthly startup, Liner, offers a high- computer skills and digital literacy to groups such as comment.) The leukemia users. Peter Komornik, who lighter and web browser for migrants, seniors and those in rural communities, engaging survivor is putting up to will remain CEO, has focused users to annotate and share more than 1,800 volunteers to help. Partners include $200 million toward starting on virtual polling and Q&A what they read online and a foundation in Russia fo- since the pandemic can- Facebook and the European Commission. cused on blood cancers and celed in-person conferences. customize search results. bone-marrow donations. He has raised almost UAE UKRAINE THAILAND $6 million and signed up “With technology, you can Claiming 59% market share nearly 3 million users, many break down borders faster,” and more than 30,000 em- Forty-three-year-old poly- of them U.S. doctors, law- says Ronaldo Mouchawar, ployees, courier Nova Posh- mer maker EPG, run by CEO yers and graduate students. ta has ended state-owned who spent 2020 expand- Ukrposhta’s monopoly of the Pawat Vitoorapakorn, has ing Amazon’s deliveries seen demand surge during to Saudi Arabia, Oman, postal-services market. Kuwait and Bahrain. The the pandemic, as restau- e-commerce giant acquired rants order 1 million plastic his startup Souq.com in 2017 for about $583 million. food boxes each week. FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 FORBES.COM
DEATH BECOMES HIM A chart-topper (among much else) both in life and beyond, Michael Jackson earned $48 million last year, ranking first on our annual list of the top- 30 earning dead celebrities for the eighth time in a row. Readers weighed in on the reigning king of the boneyard. FRONTRUNNER @TYLERSC36239940: “Michael Jackson was the BY LEAH ROSENBAUMbest of his time for any type of music that he made, and to me still stands as the best singer/songwriter in history.” Conversation @DEMIGODMOOR: “Dead people making GREAT SCOTT more than me is just salt T ravis Scott is a Millennial Midas—except everything he touch- in the wound.” es turns to platinum. The hip-hop superstar, a member of the Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2018, graced the cover of our tenth an- @ELITEWOMENREAL- ESTATE: “Goes to show— nual Under 30 issue (December 2020) as we examined how his all the money in the world, you can’t take it with you marketing acumen has become as sharp as his skill at the mic when you die.” and the mixing board. Tweeted @thethinkingbat: “Feels good to see artists @AUBREYMACARIOUS: breaking the norms and stereotypes by making such clever business deals.” “You guys should allow the This year’s Under 30 honorees—600 in all, across 20 industries in the U.S. dead to rest.” and Canada—might not all be household names, but they’re getting there, in @OMEGA_TBC: “Sad to see [Jackson] worth fields as varied as sports, venture capital, gaming, fashion and tech. Equally more in death vs. him spending most of it and going into debt diverse are the entrepreneurs themselves: 40% of this year’s class are women, during his life. He was a heck of an entertainer/pioneer.” and 49% people of color. “Congrats to all my friends, colleagues and mentors @SUNFLOWERSOUL71: for making this year’s Forbes Under 30 list,” tweeted Sahil Bloom, a vice presi- “Eleven years after his death, Michael Jackson is dent at Altamont Capital Partners. “Y’all are amazing!” still breaking records. Forbes names him #1 in best sells AGAIN this year.” THE INTEREST GRAPH 4,103,291 Forbes 30 Under 30 2021 98,961 How Hip-Hop Superstar Travis Scott Has Become Corporate America’s Brand Whisperer 84,330 How SPACs Became Wall Street’s Money Tree 79,185 How to Make Millions from Bezos’ Billions 73,674 The Highest-Paid Dead Celebrities of 2020 55,049 How Trump Has Quietly Paid Down $67 Million in Debt While in Office 24,620 The Green Revolution Has Been Won, Says America’s New Wind Billionaire 3,732 THE BOMB: How Dr. Seuss Charmed Hollywood FORBES.COM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
“Since losing my mother to pancreatic cancer, my goal has been to ensure that everyone facing a pancreatic cancer diagnosis knows about the option of clinical trials and the progress being made.” -Keesha Sharp Photo By Brett Erickson Stand Up To Cancer and Lustgarten Foundation are working together to make every person diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a long-term survivor. To learn more about the latest research, including clinical trials that may be right for you or a loved one, visit PancreaticCancerCollective.org. Stand Up To Cancer is a division of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
DARE TO DO DIFFERENTLY 33 By Alex Knapp I N N O VAT I O N Photograph by Jens Kristian Balle for Forbes FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 Small Ball Biotech Most drug-development outfits spend years chasing the elusive billion-dollar blockbuster. ABCELLERA BIOLOGICS concentrates on base hits— a focus that has made founder Carl Hansen an overnight Covid multibillionaire. FORBES.COM
E fencesharder of Minnesota and OrbiMed in May—at a valua- The Vault tion of $4.8 billion, according to PitchBook, just six months before going public—is not interested BLOCKBUSTER in seeing it through from beginning to end. In- OR BUST stead it offers what might be described as “drug 34 Biotech is filled discovery as a service.” It works with 90 outside CONTRARIAN • INNOVATION with big bets, businesses, including pharma giants Pfizer, Gil- but few are ead and Novartis. Those companies ask the bio- swinging for the tech to find antibodies that meet certain criteria. than Osman Kibar, AbCellera then uses its proprietary technology to whose Samumed find prospects. had just hit a $12 billion valua- In its highest-profile success to date, AbCellera tion when he examined thousands of antibodies derived from appeared on the Every time you’re infect- cover of Forbes’ the blood of people who had recovered from ed by bacteria or a virus, your immune system May 10, 2016, issue. Covid-19 in order to identify the antibodies that works to create treatments to defeat it. Molec- did the best job fighting the virus. It then turned ularly unique to each person, these tiny cells, or over the most promising antibodies to drug com- antibodies, either destroy these invaders or mark pany Eli Lilly. Clinical trials of one of those anti- them for other killer cells to track down. bodies, bamlanivimab, began in May—just 90 Carl Hansen, 46, is geeking out as he describes days after the partnership started. Tests found the process over Zoom. “We can make 100 trillion patients with mild or moderate cases had good different antibodies,” he exclaims. “The immune results, and in November, the antibody received system is spectacular beyond description.” emergency-use authorization from the FDA. If that sounds more like a college profes- “Samumed is find- The federal government has contracted to pur- sor than the CEO of a $13 billion (market cap) ing it easy to raise chase 950,000 doses of the drug for $1.2 billion. biotech company, there’s a reason: Hansen was huge amounts of Eli Lilly issued guidance in mid-December ex- one—until 2019, when he left to focus on Vancou- pecting up to $2 billion in revenue from Covid-19 ver-based AbCellera Biologics, cofounded with cash because it therapeutics in 2021, the bulk of which will come fellow researchers from the University of Brit- believes it has in- from bamlanivimab; AbCellera, which booked ish Columbia in 2012. “Universities are very good vented medicines $25 million through the end of September 2020, at testing new ideas and looking for which road that can reverse will earn estimated royalties of $270 million on might be effective,” he says. those sales, according to Credit Suisse. aging. Its first The team’s academic bent has played out in drugs are targeted AbCellera is also looking to speed up the time an even more important way. Nearly all biotech at specific organ it takes to develop its antibody therapies. The startups develop a handful of treatment targets, shorter time frame saves millions in develop- then spend the next eight to 12 years develop- systems. One ment costs while enabling revenues to come in ing those drugs, hoping to bring at least one of aims to regrow sooner than expected. “From a financial perspec- them to market. It’s not a sure thing—fewer than hair in bald men. tive, every year that you save is a huge opportu- 10% of new drugs make it all the way. But when The same drug nity cost for investors,” says Gal Munda, an ana- they do, they tend to be blockbusters: Seven of may also turn lyst at Berenberg Capital Markets. the 10 top-selling drugs in 2018 were antibody gray hair back to treatments, including AbbVie’s $19 billion (net its original color, Hansen is now worth $3 billion, thanks to revenue) immunosuppressive drug Humira and and a cosmetic the company’s white-hot December IPO. Asked Merck’s cancer drug Keytruda, which generated version could about his meteoric rise into the three-comma $11.1 billion in 2019. erase wrinkles. A club, Hansen is low-key: “It feels just a little bit second drug seeks surreal.” He’s more articulate about the biotech’s AbCellera takes a vastly different approach. to regenerate car- success: “If this example of Covid shows one Instead of trying to build a vertically integrated tilage in arthritic thing, to me, it’s the proof point of the business drug company, it is focused solely on the discov- knees. Additional model and the technology.” ery process. That’s the portion of drug develop- medicines in early ment that is earliest and most essential: It’s there human studies FINAL THOUGHT that the most promising treatment prospects are aim to repair selected, subjected to early laboratory tests and degenerated “SCIENCE IS AT THE BASE OF then moved through the pipeline. discs in the spine, ALL THE PROGRESS THAT remove scarring But AbCellera, which raised $105 million from in the lungs and LIGHTENS THE BURDEN OF LIFE investors including Peter Thiel, the University treat cancer.” AND LESSENS ITS SUFFERING.” Nearly five years later, a couple of —Marie Curie Samumed’s drugs have made it to late-phase clinical trials, but none yet are on the market. FORBES.COM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
CONTRARIAN TECHNOLOGY By Jeff Kauflin Credit Card Killer 36 CONTRARIAN • TECHNOLOGYMillennials were shunning plastic and supposedly waryof consumer debt. AFFIRM’s MAX LEVCHIN saw a way to repackage buying now and PLATON/TRUNK ARCHIVEpaying later for younger folks—and it’s made hima billionaire. O On April 26, 1986, 10-year-old Max Levchin and his fam- FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ily were living in Kiev, Ukraine—90 miles south of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. While the Soviet government scram- bled to cover up the scale of the disaster, Levchin’s mother, a physicist, understood the radiation risk and immediately packed Max and his brother off to live with his grandmother in Crimea, hundreds of miles away. Five years later, the family ar- rived in Chicago as Jewish refugees with just $700; the ruble had collapsed and the government had limited how much money people could take out of the country. “Part of the experience coming to the U.S. from a socialist country is that I just wasn’t prepared for a lot of the things that existed here, good and bad,” Levchin says. “I got my first credit card a couple years after coming to America and promptly de- stroyed my credit, because I had no idea how to use this power tool.” He’s speaking on January 13, the day Affirm Holdings— Code Cracker Levchin says he taught himself to program computers at age 10 to help his mom, a physicist, who had been instructed by her Soviet state employer to learn the new skill. FORBES.COM
the buy now, pay later fintech Levchin cofounded a $4 latte—typically incurs interest. (About 40% 37 and runs as CEO—went public. Its shares dou- of cardholders carry balances.) bled that day to $96, making the company worth HOW TO PLAY IT CONTRARIAN • TECHNOLOGY $24 billion and his stake worth $2.5 billion. Point-of-sale financing has proven so appeal- By William Baldwin ing to younger buyers that upscale brands includ- He’s talking to Forbes from the Big Island in ing Peloton, Mirror and West Elm now subsidize Hawaii, where he has been with his wife and Buy now, pay later. interest-free installment loans through Affirm. two kids since the December holidays. He’s shoe- The notion that Retailer payments made up half of Affirm’s less, decked out in gym shorts and a black Af- $596 million in revenue in the 12 months ended firm T-shirt. Wardrobe is the only thing even re- we can borrow our September 30. The company has yet to book a motely laid-back about this serial entrepreneur. way to prosperity profit, losing $97 million over those 12 months. A math prodigy with an immigrant’s drive, he starts at the top, cofounded PayPal, which revolutionized online at the U.S. Trea- For now, however, investors are buying growth, payments, at 23. His ventures include Yelp, sury, and pervades and buy now, pay later will become the fastest- where he was chairman until 2015; Slide, a our self-indulgent growing e-commerce payment method on the media-sharing service he sold to Google for $182 economy. You can planet by 2025, predicts Worldpay. Affirm and million in 2010; and Glow, a fertility-tracking be appalled and its competitors, Sweden’s Klarna and Australia’s app. His obsessive fitness and cycling regimen— Afterpay, financed more than $10 billion in U.S. a far cry from what he describes as a sickly child- yet still want to transactions in 2020, up from roughly $100 mil- hood—was the subject of a breathless 2014 fea- get your piece of lion five years ago. Meanwhile, U.S. credit card ture in Men’s Fitness magazine. the action. Stay balances have been dropping, and card charge volumes are still down from their pre-Covid lev- Still, at 45, Levchin is arguably a late-blooming away from the els. Each of the buy now, pay later companies has billionaire. Other PayPal founders (a.k.a. the Pay- newer companies imagined the business somewhat differently. For Pal mafia) long ago reached ten-figure status; in fintech lending, example, Afterpay doesn’t run credit checks on Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman are customers or charge interest but gets 14% of its worth a combined $190 billion today. most of which revenue from late fees, which Levchin abhors. are either losing Now Levchin has finally made it, too, thanks money or trading “I’m probably more in tune with consumer nai- to the surge of online commerce during the pan- vete,’’ he says. In a letter to investors in Affirm’s demic and an insight he had nearly a decade at ludicrous pre-IPO filing, he vowed to hasten the decline of ago. Drawing on his own early misadventures multiples. Better companies that “peddle toxic financial products with credit, Levchin concluded that the then- bets: old, stodgy and derive profit from their consumers’ mis- conventional wisdom—namely, that Great Reces- outfits. Among steps”—citing in particular the credit card model sion–scarred, student loan–burdened Millenni- your options are that finances big purchases interest-free but hits als were allergic to credit cards and consumer Ally Financial and the customer with deferred back interest if the debt—missed the point. It wasn’t debt or even, Credit Acceptance tab isn’t paid off in time. remarkably, high interest rates that turned them off. Instead, they hated certain aspects of credit Corp., both in Over the years, Levchin has made much of his cards: late fees, big banks (remember Occupy auto lending; SLM own hapless-immigrant story. As he tells it, he Wall Street?) and the fact that it was deceptively Corp. and Nelnet, ended up in the University of Illinois at Urbana- easy to rack up too much debt—particularly for in college lending; Champaign’s computer-science program because those who didn’t understand the way interest Equifax and Trans- his public-school counselor had never heard of charges on revolving credit cards compound. Union, observers “MTI,” the school he wanted to attend. (He had of deadbeats; and scrambled “MIT” when translating from a Rus- Affirm’s interest rates aren’t low, necessarily— FirstCash, opera- sian show he’d seen as a kid.) they run from 0% to 30% a year, depending on tor of pawn shops. the borrower’s creditworthiness and whether a Levchin launched several failed startups merchant is subsidizing interest-free payments. William Baldwin during and after college before heading to Sili- But Affirm never charges late fees and shows is Forbes’ Invest- con Valley, where he got Thiel interested in his buyers upfront the total interest they’ll pay for ment Strategies cryptography work. At PayPal, he created a way a specific purchase, with fixed payments typi- to securely transfer money from one device to cally lasting from three to 12 months—or, for columnist. another (starting with the PalmPilot) and later large purchases, up to four years. Consumers helped design a crucial system to detect fraud- PATRICK WELSH FOR FORBES can instantly finance an expensive item through sters. Levchin was CTO when PayPal went public Affirm while paying off routine credit card in 2002. By then, it had raised several funding charges in full each month. By contrast, once a rounds and merged with Musk’s startup X.com. cardholder carries a balance on a standard re- When eBay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion a few volving credit card, every new purchase—even months later, Levchin walked away with $33 mil- lion for his 2.2% stake. He reportedly earned a FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 FORBES.COM
Credit Card Killer Cont. Dramatis Personae Max Levchin is a made man in the PayPal mafia, the group of cofounders and early employees that would go similar amount from Slide, which Google shut THE TESLA MAFIA on to found or fund companies including Yelp, LinkedIn, down in 2011, a year after buying it. Palantir and Kiva. But Elon Musk, the PayPal mafia’s most famous capo, is also at the center of a newer mob: In 2012, Levchin was brainstorming startup former Tesla employees who have gone on to form ideas with friends when Alex Rampell, then-CEO electric vehicle and battery companies, mostly in Cali- fornia, that are poised to have an outsize impact on the $6 trillion global auto industry in the decades to come. of payments company TrialPay, suggested a ser- 38 vice that could make it easier to finance purchas- es online by assessing risk based on Facebook profiles. Rampell, Levchin, Palantir cofounder CONTRARIAN • TECHNOLOGY Nathan Gettings and serial entrepreneur Jeff Ka- JASON HENRY/REDUX; TIMOTHY ARCHIBALD FOR FORBES; RACHEL MURRAY/GETTY IMAGES; DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG; JAMES GLOVER II/REUTERS/NEWSCOM ditz—whom Levchin had met through cycling— Sterling Gene Henrik Fisker Peter JB Straubel became Affirm’s cofounders and began work on lending algorithms. Anderson Berdichevsky Cofounder, Rawlinson Founder, When the team decided in 2014 to offer its own Cofounder, Cofounder, Sila Fisker Inc. Cofounder, Redwood Materials loans—and ultimately other bank products, too— Levchin became CEO. “If you want to build a Aurora Innovation Nanotechnologies He styled a Lucid Motors One of five bank, you need to be able to raise a lot of money, and Max is basically a celebrity entrepreneur,” The MIT-trained Tesla’s seventh BMW for Rawlinson, Tesla cofound- Kaditz says. By mid-2015, Affirm had raised $325 million in debt and equity from investors includ- scientist employee James Bond a veteran of ers, Straubel ing Thiel and Lightspeed Venture Partners. worked on and the prin- and consulted Jaguar and left in 2019 to Pre-Covid growth came in fits and starts, as Af- firm signed up major new merchants. It issued Autopilot at cipal battery on Telsa’s Lotus, was chief concentrate on $2 billion in loans in 2018 but was burning cash. By 2019, Affirm had raised $1.1 billion in debt Tesla before engineer for Model S. engineer for his new startup, leaving in 2016 the Roadster. Now the new Tesla’s break- which recycles to start Aurora. Berdichevsky’s billionaire’s through Model used batteries The self-driving Daimler- publicly traded S back in 2012. from electric car company backed com- Fisker Inc. is His Lucid Air, a vehicles. has raised more pany makes readying a $169,000 ultra- than $1 billion energy-dense $37,500 electric luxe ride, is due and bought lithium-silicon crossover. this spring and Uber’s autono- materials for promises to mous unit in more-efficient outdo Tesla’s December. batteries. best. and equity, and its valuation was $2.9 billion, ac- cording to PitchBook. “Any other company would PayBright for $264 million. have struggled early on to keep raising money,” Meanwhile, competition could put pressure on says one venture capitalist who passed on Affirm. Affirm’s merchant fees—it extracts an estimated “Max assembled a machine with a cost structure 6% of sales financed from retailers, compared that needed a lot of volume to make [it] work.” with Afterpay’s 4% to 5% and Klarna’s 3% to 4%. The pandemic has delivered the volume, but not And the credit card companies are fighting back: yet the profits. Between November 2019 and July JPMorgan Chase, Citi and others have started in- 2020 Affirm’s U.S. borrowers nearly doubled, to 5.6 viting some customers to convert large purchases million. Loan volume in the 12 months ended Sep- into separate installment loans—in effect allow- tember 30 hit $5.3 billion—with a big assist from ing these items to be financed without subjecting Peloton. The seller of $2,000-plus in-home exercise other card charges to interest. Then, too, the lend- bikes saw sales nearly triple this past summer from ing environment could shift, with interest rates the year prior. In the third quarter, Peloton made eventually ticking up and Affirm’s default rates up 30% of Affirm’s revenue. Without it, Affirm’s (currently low, at about 4%) possibly rising. growth that quarter would have been 61% instead Ultimately, like other fintechs that have started of 98%, figures Bill Ryan, a managing director at out focused on one segment, Affirm is aiming to Compass Point. profit by selling more financial services to a loyal Clearly, Affirm will be challenged to live up to customer base that buys its fee-transparency its valuation (eight days after going public) of pitch. In June, it began offering a no-minimum, $26 billion—at 44 times trailing 12-month rev- no-fee, high-yield savings account. Now that it enue, it’s priced like a tech company, not a lender has $1.2 billion of IPO cash in the bank, what’s or even a mature payments company. (PayPal next? It could just be a reimagined, Millennial- goes for less than 12 times sales.) To keep growth friendly credit card. going, Levchin has made some big and expensive moves. In July, in a deal to become the exclusive FINAL THOUGHT installment-financing service for e-commerce platform Shopify’s U.S. merchants, Affirm gave “SHE PLANTED TERROR OF DEBT SO Shopify warrants for 5% of its equity—securi- DEEPLY IN HER CHILDREN THAT ties now worth $2 billion. In December, Affirm bought Canadian buy now, pay later company EVEN NOW I BECOME RESTLESS WHEN A BILL IS TWO DAYS OVERDUE.” —John Steinbeck FORBES.COM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
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CONTRARIAN ENTREPRENEURS By Lauren Debter Photograph by McNair Evans for Forbes In With the Old 40 CONTRARIAN • ENTREPRENEURS Used clothing is the hottest trend in apparel, and big brands are happy to make the profits—but avoid the headaches—by outsourcing the grimy work to tiny TROVE, which looks set to grow big. T The packages come every day by the hundreds, hauled in on FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 pallets and torn open by a small army of workers. The contents are always a surprise. Somebody’s trash, treated like treasure. An Arc’teryx winter coat that no longer fits. Patagonia boots used to hike the Pacific Crest Trail last summer. A moto jacket from Taylor Stitch bought on a whim. Under the glare of bright lights, the crew notes peccadilloes—dis- coloration or pilling on a sleeve—and checks for authenticity. Once satisfied, they clean, photograph and prepare an online listing for each item. The 80,000-square-foot warehouse outside San Francisco is the central nervous system for Trove, the big-brand reseller setting up shop at the cross- roads of retail’s tumultuous present and potentially transformative future. “It’s soup to nuts,” says Andy Ruben, 48, the nine-year-old startup’s cofounder and CEO, whose operation helps compa- nies capitalize on used goods that their Prince of Thrift Trove CEO Andy Ruben says brands have no choice but to get into resale. “Not being in this space is a very risky decision, given the growth and importance of it.” FORBES.COM
customers would ordinarily pawn at vintage shops growing part of the outdoor clothing company’s 41 or dump into landfills. “It’s resale in a box.” estimated sales of $800 million, up 40% in 2019. HOW TO PLAY IT CONTRARIAN • ENTREPRENEURS Ruben operates behind the scenes to power re- Of course, Trove doesn’t have this space to it- sale offerings for Patagonia, REI, Levi’s, Arc’teryx, By Jon D. Markman self. It’s battling a crowd of online marketplaces Taylor Stitch and Eileen Fisher. There’s more to that for years cut original manufacturers and come: The company says it’s in talks with 15 ad- The best way for retailers out of the action but are now trying to ditional brands and is set to double revenue this investors to play bring them in. ThredUp, which filed confiden- year from an estimated $20 million in 2020. the re-commerce tially for an IPO in October, has begun running trend is The Real- tests with Walmart, Macy’s, the Gap and others in Trove handles the messy logistics of taking Real, an online which shoppers can buy or sell used clothing in a back merchandise and preparing it for resale, marketplace for limited number of stores or online. Luxury online managing the online listings and shipping the authenticated marketplace The RealReal, which went public merchandise in each brand’s own packaging. pre-owned luxury in 2019 and moves more than $1 billion in mer- goods. The San chandise every year, ran a similar test with Gucci It’s a one-stop shop for retail’s unsexy new Francisco com- in 2020. Newly public Poshmark has remained trend: used clothes. Secondhand products rep- pany remarkets hands-off, happy to let its 32 million active users resent a $28 billion business that’s expected to clothing, watches, traffic in $15 striped J.Crew tees, $300 handbags more than double to $64 billion by 2024, accord- jewelry and even from Tory Burch and everything in between. ing to ThredUp, a San Francisco–based online home décor. Sell- consignment company. It’s also where the next ers ship their items Trove is far smaller but moving fast. The com- generation of shoppers are: Most Gen Z consum- to The RealReal pany tripled the number of items it processed last ers see no stigma in buying secondhand, and for authentication year to 600,000. It has raised $45 million from 40% have bought used clothing, shoes or acces- and marketing sustainability-minded investors such as Prelude sories, double that of Gen X and Boomers. in exchange for Ventures and DBL Partners, as well as Hermès. a consignment If apparel companies’ sudden embrace of used fee. Despite the “The distinction between new and used is an goods sounds like an about-face from an indus- weak economy, the old-school distinction that will be erased,” says try that has long promulgated, and profited from, company reported Ruben, who before Trove was spearheading the idea that shoppers must have the latest fash- third-quarter rev- sustainability issues for Walmart when it was a ions, that’s right. “It made them nervous until enue of $78.1 mil- punching bag for environmentalists. they realized they could get into the business too. lion, down only 4% They don’t always have to sell new, new, new,” from a year ago. He had plenty of success, enough to win the says Dana Thomas, author of Fashionopolis: The Shares are lever- company’s top accolade, the Sam M. Walton En- Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes. aged to economic trepreneur of the Year award, in 2008, but he growth and should began to feel his efforts were futile. Walmart re- The trend has even spawned its own market- trade to $40 as the moved 13% of the resin from a plastic fork, for ing-friendly new word: re-commerce. “In a lot of pandemic fades, a instance, but then sold twice as many. ways, our re-commerce business checks all the gain of 44% from boxes around what we are hoping to achieve, the current $26.97 “We were high-fiving and celebrating wins as which is providing products to more and more a company but losing ground as a society,” says customers while lowering our environmental stock price. Ruben, who left to start Trove (then called Yerdle) impact,” says Ken Voeller, who manages second- in 2012 with Adam Werbach, who was just 23 hand sales for REI, noting that the segment Jon D. Markman when he became the Sierra Club’s youngest presi- doubled for the recreation cooperative last year— is president of dent in 1996, and Carl Tashian, an early employee fueled by customers 10 or 20 years younger than at car-sharing company Zipcar. It started as a its traditional member base and twice as valuable. Markman Capital peer-to-peer marketplace for secondhand items Insight and editor where consumers could list stuff they didn’t want One of them is Kevin Griffen, a 25-year-old leg- anymore and browse for preowned items. They islative intern from Indianapolis. While shopping of Fast Forward grew to a couple million users but spent heavily for Black Friday deals last year, Griffen went to Investing. on social-media ads and struggled to get high- Patagonia’s site hoping for a sale that might make quality goods. Ruben noticed customers got most PATRICK WELSH FOR FORBES the normally costly items more affordable. What excited when they were able to sort through the he found was a banner on the homepage urging junk and locate brand names. shoppers to buy used versions of their clothing and gear. He paid $80 for a zip-up blue sweater He closed down the marketplace in 2016, ced- that costs $140 new. He received it within a week, ing the terrain to Poshmark, ThredUp and The unblemished by rips, tears or stains. RealReal to focus on building a white-label ser- vice that would enable brands and retailers to “It’s nice to contribute to recycling efforts and sell used versions of their products themselves. also spend less money than [on] something that’s Tashian left in 2015; Werbach, who now leads new,” Griffen says. Used clothing has been a fast- FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 FORBES.COM
In With the Old Cont. 42 CONTRARIAN • ENTREPRENEURS sustainable shopping at Amazon, left a year later. Take Two $225 online, down from $440 at retail. A pair of Ruben’s first customer was Patagonia, which ex- used hiking boots from REI goes for $89, almost Trove employs more half the $170 you’d pay new. As of October, shop- panded its “Worn Wear” program online with Trove than 300 people to pers can march into a Levi’s store and earn $30 in 2017, inviting customers to return used items in sift through thousands for decades-old jeans that haven’t fit since col- exchange for a gift card. It was immediately flooded of one-of-a-kind items lege, then put the cash toward a new pair. Mar- with inventory, which went straight to a warehouse and prepare them for gins aren’t bad either, with retailers that have in California (operated by Trove) and was then list- resale. Average selling been at it for a year making net profits on used ed for sale on a website (built by Trove). items that are just shy of those for new ones. “In price: over $60. the end, it’s not something you can ignore,” says Others followed. Shoppers can now purchase Flavio Cereda, a retail analyst at Jefferies. “It’s a gently worn quilted coat from Eileen Fisher for not something you can fight.” Little Big Picture America is drowning in garbage. We throw away three times Ruben predicts brands and retailers will as much stuff as we did 60 years ago, despite population quickly dwarf the online marketplaces in resale TRASHION growth of just 85% over that span—and much of the increase volume, a bold vision that’s far from a sure thing. is plastic waste, some of which will stick around for centuries. Trends, though, are on his side. And reselling But cheaper clothing has also meant more disposable cloth- is a headache that big companies will happily ing: Textile trash has grown ninefold since 1960. offload. “We’re no longer having conversations with brands about how important this is,” says 80k Ruben, whose incoming calls have gone from a handful a year to hundreds today. “We’re having THOUSANDS OF TONS 60k conversations, given its importance, about how to think about this.” 40k MCNAIR EVANS FOR FORBES 20k 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2018 FINAL THOUGHT 0k Rubber and Wood Metals Paper and Other “THE FUTURE IS TRASH. 1960 Leather Glass Food Paperboard RECYCLING IT, REARRANGING IT. Textiles MAKING IT BEAUTIFUL AGAIN.” Plastics —Chris Campanioni FORBES.COM Source: Environmental Protection Agency FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION JAPAN 2021: BOUNCING BACK After a year of unprecedented worldwide turmoil, Japan is positioned for strong economic growth on track with a global recovery. Last year should have been a banner year will be upon Tokyo once again in July for the innovating in sectors such as diagnostic imag- for Japan, with the Tokyo Olympic Games rescheduled Olympic Games. ing equipment and nanoimprint lithography, set to follow the country's successful host- and plans to invest heavily in OLED display ing of Asia's first Rugby World Cup and the Overcoming adversity to achieve success manufacturing equipment for smartphones enthronement of its new emperor in 2019. is nothing new for Japanese industry, and and TVs. While the pandemic did force the postpone- leading companies such as Canon and Kik- ment of the prestigious sporting competition koman have once again displayed their abil- Yuzaburo Mogi, Honorary CEO and Chair- amid a slumping global economy, Japan is ity to adapt and innovate during periods of man of the Board of Kikkoman Corporation, poised to make up for lost time in 2021. volatility. is another corporate leader adept at adapting to changing conditions. Since he made the Japan’s GDP returned to growth in the Canon Chairman and CEO Fujio Mitarai, then-revolutionary decision to build a fac- third quarter last year as foreign demand for who has led the company since 1995, is help- tory for the soy sauce maker in the U.S. in the Japanese goods fueled a trade surplus. This ing the company weather short-term uncer- 1970s, he has embraced innovative thinking to rebound, which represents the fastest pace tainty by focusing on strategies for positive ensure Kikkoman’s continuing success. of growth in more than 50 years, is expected transformation and long-term growth. While to continue; in October, the IMF predicted the pandemic posed challenges for Canon’s Resolute in his belief that the most resilient Japan’s economy will expand by 2.3% this businesses—technicians have had to quaran- firms are those that learn from experience to year. tine for weeks when travelling overseas, for become stronger and smarter, Mogi sees the example—Mitarai has kept the firm’s historic current environment as a time for strong lead- Japan’s exports received an additional evolution into a strategically diversified imag- ership to leverage the company’s collective boost in November with the signing of the ing solutions provider on course. wisdom to achieve the best results. Regional Comprehensive Economic Partner- ship, a free trade deal between ASEAN coun- While growing its traditional camera and As the world attempts to adapt to the new tries and Japan, South Korea, China, Australia printer businesses, Mitarai has also signifi- normal, companies—and leaders—such as and New Zealand. And the eyes of the world cantly expanded Canon’s medical and indus- these are well placed to face challenges head trial equipment arms. The company is also on and drive Japan’s future success. Japan 1
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION CANON: VISIONARY RESILIENCE Despite the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canon is continuing to reinvent itself into a diversified solutions provider under the leadership of Chairman and CEO Fujio Mitarai. The year 2020 was very challenging for busi- nesses around the world, and global manu- facturers were no exception. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted life in public spheres— from retail outlets to offices and factories— as well as supply chains and distribution. Canon, however, has been engaged in a historic transformation into a strategically diversified imaging solutions provider that is well-positioned to weather the crisis. A steady, experienced hand can guide businesses in uncertain times. Chairman and CEO Fujio Mitarai has led Canon since 1995, navigating it through other chal- lenges such as the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2008. Canon’s business portfolio has adapted to enormous changes over the past few decades, not least of which has been the shrinking of the traditional camera market with the advancement of smartphones. However, Mitarai’s vision has led the company through five consecutive five-year phases of the medium-to-long- term Excellent Global Corporation Plan, with Phase V completed in 2020. Canon is now more efficient, nimble and responsive to markets, making it as close to future-proof as possible. Weathering the Storm when traveling overseas to install steppers— has continued its long-term transformation. essential equipment for semiconductor Mitarai follows three principles when enter- “Since we are truly a global company—with production. Meanwhile, with offices locked ing a new business: it must be sustainable, 25% of sales in Europe, 29% in the U.S., 22% down, companies were not using office mul- it must have a vast market, and it must have in Asia and Oceania, and 24% in Japan—we tifunction devices, printers and consumables affinity with Canon’s existing businesses are greatly affected by global developments, such as toner. But the flipside is that with so and technologies. For example, Canon has and this pandemic has been no exception,” many people working from home, Canon applied optical technology cultivated by says Mitarai. “The global economy was has seen favorable sales of personal printers. its camera business to other industries. The already quite divided even before it began, Meanwhile, as global businesses resumed company entered the network camera busi- with antiglobalization movements such as normal operations in the third quarter of ness and expanded its presence by acquir- Brexit and “America First” policies. When the 2020, Canon’s own business recovered. ing Sweden’s Axis Communications, a lead- coronavirus spread, the whole world hit the ing company in the field, in 2015. The firm’s pause button.” Unlocking Vast New Markets expertise in network cameras resonates with Canon’s extensive experience in professional With the pandemic affecting so many Despite the economic disruption, Canon countries, the second quarter of 2020 saw record drops in economic output. But this was followed by the lifting of lockdowns and large-scale economic stimulus pack- ages, leading to recoveries in employment and spending in the United States. The pan- demic also had unexpected effects: Canon technicians had to quarantine for weeks 2 Japan
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION Canon is further improving the performance of diagnostic imaging equipment. Industrial printing including labels and packaging is a vast new market. and consumer cameras. Once limited mainly equipment even better—one such example Powering Future Innovation to these areas, cameras are now a key part is the Aquilion Exceed LB CT system, which of industrial businesses, with applications uses artificial intelligence technologies to As Canon turns to the future after complet- ranging from network cameras in smart improve the clarity of images. In the field of ing Phase V of its Excellent Global Corpora- cities to computer vision for collaborative healthcare IT, AI can help address discrepan- tion Plan, Mitarai is determined to continue robots. Canon has continued to innovate cies in how radiologists interpret images, going all out to transform the company’s with developments such as the world’s first facilitating quick and accurate diagnosis. camera and printer businesses while also 1-megapixel single photon avalanche diode expanding its medical and industrial equip- (SPAD) image sensor, which will enable cam- In addition to these new businesses, ment businesses. His goal is to have these eras in vehicles and robots to capture high- Canon has transformed itself by continuing businesses account for at least 50% of Can- resolution imagery in three dimensions. By to build upon its traditional strengths. For on’s total business by 2025. leveraging the lens, image sensor and image instance, Canon has been a leading semi- processor technologies developed through conductor lithography equipment maker for “I truly believe every company has to its camera business, Canon is expanding 50 years, producing reliable machines with grow by meeting the demands of society in further into the vast market of the optical a 99% operating rate. While it was believed which it operates,” says Mitarai. “The worth industry. that circuit miniaturization had reached its and capabilities of a company depend on technological limit, Canon has developed factors such as the market, economic policy Other examples of change include Can- nanoimprint lithography, which is consid- and innovation. In terms of innovation, we’ve on’s entry into commercial and industrial ered the most advanced technology for the seen great advancements in digital transfor- printing with the acquisition of Dutch print- miniaturization of circuit patterns on semi- mation, and we’re continuously searching ing company Océ, now Canon Production conductor chips. With nanoimprint, circuit for and making large investments in new Printing, in 2010. Not only did this build on patterns can be produced with higher reso- technologies. But this process is really about Canon’s existing home and office printer lution and more uniform results than con- transforming ourselves. We must continue lineup, it gave the company access to the ventional optical lithographic approaches. to change, because only by transforming enormous market of industrial printing, In addition, nanoimprint semiconductor ourselves can we evolve and move forward.” including labels and packaging. Similarly, in production equipment does not require 2016, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation the use of a light source or high-aperture was welcomed into the Canon Group. Since lens elements, thus making possible simple renamed Canon Medical Systems Corpora- configurations and compact designs that tion, the company is a leading provider of enable users to install a cluster of systems for diagnostic imaging systems such as X-ray, increased productivity. Meanwhile, Canon magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) and plans to intensively invest in and develop computed tomography (CT). Canon has OLED display manufacturing equipment for been striving to make its diagnostic imaging smartphones and TVs. A native of Kyushu, Japan, Mitarai decided not to follow his father and brothers into medical Fujio Mitarai school, but instead joined Canon, where his uncle served as the first president. Five years Chairman and CEO, Canon Inc. later, he was posted to Canon’s U.S. headquarters, where he stayed for 23 years, eventually becoming President of Canon U.S.A. Back in Japan, he was later appointed President of Canon Inc. before becoming Chairman and CEO. global.canon Japan 3
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION UNMASKING THE NEW NORMAL Kikkoman’s Chairman Yuzaburo Mogi reflects on how the food giant is adapting to pandemic realities to emerge stronger and more resilient. The year 2020 will long be remembered for management. That means leaders listen to “One thing I can say for certain is that the havoc that Covid-19 wreaked on the ideas from every department, consult with things will not go back to the way they were global economy. Restaurants were among their senior strategy staff, and then determine before. For example, each company handled the hardest hit, either closing or shifting to the best way forward.” telework differently, so their responses in the takeout only. Even today, the food service post-pandemic era will also vary from com- business in general is facing serious trouble. That sounds reasonable, but errors in judg- pany to company. When the pandemic ends, Yet certain strong brands seem to have fared ment are inevitable. What if top management we will not give up telework, but we will better than others. A good case in point is makes a serious mistake? need to seriously consider how many of our global food giant Kikkoman Corporation. staff should be in our offices and how many Mogi’s response is simple and direct: “It should be working remotely. “Of course, the pandemic seriously affected happens. In that case, you sit down with your restaurant sales, which especially impacted strategy team, look at the situation objec- “What is the ideal ratio? I don’t know, but I our wholesale business,” says Chairman of tively, and adjust your plan quickly.” do know that telework is here to stay.” the Board and Honorary CEO Yuzaburo Mogi. “As people shifted to eating at home, con- He goes on to discuss a number of What else will change? sumers naturally turned to brands that they changes that the “corona shock” has brought “The new normal will look a lot like pre- know and trust. Thanks to support from indi- to Japanese companies. corona days, but with important differences. vidual customers worldwide, our sales figures One of the biggest is the way that we think remained relatively solid.” “How should we train our staff now?” he about risk,” he says. asks rhetorically. “Before Covid-19, everyone After more than 300 years in business, Kik- The always-affable Mogi seems to have learned about their job, and about business koman has dealt with almost every external taken the coronavirus crisis in stride, but in in general, through informal, one-on-one risk a company can face, so what is he get- fact he is quite concerned about its long- talks with a mentoring superior. Now, there ting at? Mogi replies that resilient firms learn term implications: “The pandemic has put is much less direct communication. People from experience and become stronger and us in a unique position. No one really knows are meeting virtually, not going out drinking smarter. what the future will look like. Employees with their mentors. So now we have to for- “Covid one day may be gone, but some- don’t know what to expect, so they look to malize something that was never formal, and thing like it could appear again. Every few management for guidance. This is a time create a new structure to handle ‘informal’ years some new virus might sweep across for strong leadership. Senior management training. I’m not sure the new approach will the globe. While that was always a possibility shouldn’t make unilateral decisions, but be as effective.” before, now it is a reality. All business entails should leverage the wisdom of the company risk, so strong, resilient companies will learn as a whole. In Japan, we trust in bottom-up Companies everywhere are struggling to to adapt and deal with it. The new normal anticipate the post-pandemic “new normal.” will be different from the past, but business What does Mogi think will happen when the will go on.” crisis is over? Yuzaburo Mogi Honorary CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Kikkoman Corporation Japan 5
CONTRARIAN MONEY & INVESTING By Chris Helman Photograph by Tim Pannell for Forbes Oil Vulture 48 CONTRARIAN • MONEY & INVESTING Even if demand never recovers from Covid-19, billionaire JOHN GOFF sees the pandemic as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invest in distressed frackers willing to follow Big Tobacco’s declining-business playbook. J buildings for pennies on the dollar in the wake Texas Style John Goff made his first of the S&L crisis that began in the late 1980s. fortune more than a decade ago, teaming up They went on to sell Crescent Real Estate for John Goff in the lobby with his mentor, legendary investor Richard $6.5 billion at the 2007 peak and then scooped of the glass-faced, Rainwater, to buy up empty “see-through” office it up again a few years later at a discount amid 20-story McKinney the wreckage of the financial crisis. Goff, based & Olive office tower in Fort Worth, Texas, is now chairman of $3.4 in Dallas, which his billion (assets) Crescent, and personally owns Crescent Real Estate the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Dallas and the Canyon built and still mana- Ranch spa chain founded in Tucson, Arizona. He ges. The lip-shaped sofa is by Cassina. FORBES.COM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
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