Joshua Kushner is his family’s first billionaire – not Jared: how Karlie Kloss’ husband and Ivanka Trump’s brother-in-law earned his wealth – with a little help from Kim Kardashian
- The husband of ex-Victoria’s Secret model Karlie Kloss has a US$2 billion net worth from investing in Skims, Spotify, Instagram and even NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies team
- Kushner is still close to Jared and Ivanka Trump despite differing political views; he even bought a home with Kloss near his brother and sister-in-law in Miami
The entire Kushner family had a net worth of US$1.8 billion in 2016, according to Forbes. Celebrity Net Worth reported that Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner currently have an estimated net worth of US$800 million – but it was actually Joshua, 36, who became the family’s first billionaire in 2022, with his net worth of US$2 billion.
Joshua – who is married to supermodel Karlie Kloss and has liberal political views – achieved the feat while remaining relatively unknown as his brother and sister-in-law took on public-facing government roles as senior advisers in former US President Donald Trump’s administration. Despite their differing politics, Joshua is said to be so close with Ivanka that he simply refers to her as his sister.
But how exactly did Joshua Kushner make all his money?
Thriving investments
Kushner was just 24 years old when he founded his venture capital firm Thrive Capital in 2009. In 2022, Thrive was reported to have US$16 billion in assets under management, according to TechCrunch. Thrive was an early investor in companies including Instagram (worth US$100 billion), Kickstarter (valued at up to US$50 billion) and ClassPass (US$1 billion).
Just two years after launch, Kushner had already raised US$40 million from investors, including Princeton University and venture capitalist Peter Thiel – known for investments in tech companies including Facebook and for supporting Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. But that year, a Thrive representative told Esquire that “Josh is a lifelong Democrat and will not be voting for Donald Trump in November”.
Avoiding politics?
When it comes to politics, Kushner distances himself from his Republican family members … to an extent. He attended the Women’s March in Washington DC on the weekend of Trump’s inauguration but, as many protested against derogatory comments Trump had made about women, he shared a photograph of himself and his brother Jared at the White House that same weekend.
“It is no secret that liberal values have guided my life and that I have supported political leaders that share similar values,” Kushner told Forbes. “But neither political party has a monopoly on the truth or on constructive ideas for our country. It’s important to be open-minded and learn from differing opinions.”
He also went as far as having one-on-one meetings with nearly 100 employees at Thrive and two start-ups he was incubating to explain his stance and reassure them, Forbes reported.
