Jeff Yass | |
---|---|
Born | 1958 (age 65–66) New York City, US |
Education |
Binghamton University (
BA) New York University |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Janine Coslett |
Children | 4 |
Jeffrey S. Yass (born 1958) is an American billionaire businessman. According to Forbes, Yass had a net worth of $28.5 billion in 2023. [1]
He is the co-founder and managing director of the Philadelphia-based trading and technology firm Susquehanna International Group (SIG) and a major investor in TikTok. [2] In 2002, he joined the executive advisory council of the Cato Institute.
As of March 2024, he is the largest donor in the 2024 US election cycle, having donated $46 million to Republican groups and campaigns, primarily to rivals of Donald Trump. [2] After Yass and Trump met in March 2024, Trump went from supporting a ban on TikTok to opposing a ban. [2] At the same time, Yass's SIG bought a substantial share in Trump's company Truth Social, providing Trump with a massive influx of money at a time when he faced mountainous legal expenses. [3]
According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Yass is a major supporter of Israeli right-wing think tanks. [4]
Yass was born in 1958 in Queens, New York City, and grew up there in a middle-class Jewish family. [5] [6] He is the son of Gerald Yass, and his "childhood sweetheart" Sybil, who was at his bar mitzvah. [7] [8] He has a sister, Carole. [9]
Gerald Yass died on January 6, 2024, aged 94, in Boca Raton, Florida (his wife Syblil pre-deceased him). [9]
Yass was educated at public schools in Queens. [10] He earned a B.S. in mathematics and economics from Binghamton University. [11] [12] He pursued graduate studies in economics at New York University, [12] but did not graduate.
While at the State University of New York at Binghamton in the 1970s, Yass and five fellow students became friends and later co-founded Susquehanna International Group (SIG), the largest trader of liquid stocks in the US. [7] [13] In the 1970s and early 1980s, before establishing his trading firm, Yass was a professional gambler, winning sums from poker and horse betting. [13]
The billionaire trader Israel Englander sponsored Yass for a seat on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and SIG was initially run from an office at the Exchange. [7] His father, Gerald Yass, also helped to found the company. [7] As of 2021, SIG generates almost one-tenth of the market making trade volume in exchange-traded funds. [13]
Yass became a member of the board of directors of the libertarian Cato Institute in 2002 [14] [15] and now is a member of the executive advisory council. [16]
Yass has contributed significant sums to political efforts, including campaigns for election denying candidates. [17] [18] In 2015, Yass donated $2.3 million to a super PAC supporting Rand Paul's presidential candidacy. [19] In 2018 he donated $3.8 million to the Club for Growth, and $20.7 million in 2020. [18]
Yass and his wife, Janine Coslett, support school choice, with Coslett writing a 2017 opinion piece for The Washington Examiner in support of then-incoming Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos's views at school choice. [20] In November 2021, he donated $5 million to the School Freedom Fund, a PAC that runs ads for Republican candidates running in the 2022 election cycle nationwide. [21] From 2010 to 2022, Yass contributed $41.7 million to Students First political action committee; Yass co-founded the PAC, which supports the school choice movement. [22]
In the 2020 election cycle, Yass was one of the ten largest political donors in the United States. [23] During that cycle, Yass donated $25.3 million, all to Republican candidates. [23] He is registered as a member of the Libertarian Party. [22]
During the 2022 primary elections, Yass spent at least $18 million, including contributions in support of Republican Bill McSwain, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor of Pennsylvania. [22]
In March 2021, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Jeff Yass and Arthur Dantchik were behind a large portion of the donations to the Kohelet Policy Forum in Israel. [4]
In September 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that Yass, an investor in TikTok's parent firm ByteDance, is a major donor to US politicians who have opposed restrictions on TikTok. [24]
As of 2022–2023, Yass was the richest resident of Pennsylvania. [22] [25]
In 2022, an investigation by ProPublica, based on a review of tax returns it obtained, court documents, and securities filings, found that Yass engaged in tax avoidance, through Susquehanna trading strategies that "push legal boundaries" to reduce tax liability. [17] ProPublica estimated "that if Yass' tax returns had resembled those of his competitors" (specifically, Ken Griffin, John Overdeck, and David Siegel), Yass "would have paid $1 billion more in federal income taxes" during the period 2013 to 2018. [17]
In 2001, Yass appeared as one of 76 Revolutionary Minds in Philadelphia magazine. [26]
Yass is married to Janine Coslett. [27] [28] They have lived in Haverford in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, for some years. [23] They have four children, two sons and two daughters. [29]
In December 2001, following the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, he announced a donation to the charitable fund established by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to assist the victims. [30] He has supported Save the Children, [31] [32] "Spirit of Golf Foundation", [33] People's Emergency Center Families First building, [34] and the Franklin Institute's Franklin Family Funfest Committee. [35]
Jeff and Janine Yass founded the Yass Prize for Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding, and Permissionless (STOP) education, which was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic. This initiative aims to recognize and support innovative, non-traditional education models. In 2022, the Yass Prize awarded over $20 million, including a $1 million grand prize to the Arizona Autism Charter Schools for their individualized learning programs. [36] [37]
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