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Joshua Kushner

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Joshua Kushner
Born (1985-06-12) June 12, 1985 (age 39)
Livingston, New Jersey, U.S.
EducationHarvard University (BA, MBA)
Occupations
  • Businessman
  • investor
Title
Spouse
​
(m. 2018)​
Children2
ParentCharles Kushner (father)
FamilyKushner family

Joshua Kushner (born June 12, 1985) is an American businessman, heir, and investor. He is the founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, co-founder and vice-chairman of Oscar Health, and the youngest son of real estate developer Charles Kushner. He is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law and former senior advisor to former U.S. President Donald Trump. He is also a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies.

Early life and education

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Joshua Kushner was born on June 12, 1985, in Livingston, New Jersey, where he grew up in a Jewish family to parents Charles and Seryl Kushner.[1][2] Kushner graduated from Harvard College in 2008, and from Harvard Business School in 2011.[3][4][5]

Career

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Early career

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During his sophomore year, Kushner was founding executive editor of Scene, a new pop culture student-publication.[6] The publication was badly received by critics upon release.[7]

In the spring of his junior year he worked with two graduate students to pool $10,000 in order to found social network Vostu,[8] which aimed to "fill a void left by online communities in which English is the lingua franca", like Facebook. According to Kushner, Latin America was a promising market for a Facebook-alternative and new social networking site because "[it was] a place where Internet use is increasing every year, and technology is booming at a rapid pace".[9] Vostu laid off the majority of its employees in 2013 and significantly scaled back its operations after a copyright lawsuit from a competitor accused them of copying games.[10][11]

The year after graduation he co-founded a start-up called Unithrive. Unithrive was inspired by the peer-to-peer loan model of Kiva, but aimed to "ease the crisis in paying for college" by matching "alumni lenders to cash-strapped students ... who [could] post photographs and biographical information and request up to $2,000", interest-free for repayment within five years of graduation.[12] After graduating from Harvard, he started his career in the private equity arm at Goldman Sachs, working for a year on distressed debt.[13]

Thrive Capital

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Main article: Thrive Capital

He founded Thrive Capital in 2010, a venture capital firm that focuses on media and internet investments.[14][15] Since its founding, Thrive has raised over $7.3 billion from institutional investors, including Princeton University.[16] Thrive’s capital funds include: Thrive II, which raised $40 million in 2011; Thrive III, which raised $150 million in 2012; Thrive IV, which raised $400 million in September 2014;[16][17] Thrive V, raising $700 million in 2016; Thrive VI, raising $1 billion in 2018; Thrive VII, raising $2 billion in 2021; and Thrive VIII, raising $3 billion in 2022.[18][19]

As an investor in Instagram, Kushner was the second largest investor in Instagram's Series B fundraising round. Valued at $500 million, Thrive soon doubled its money after Instagram was sold to Facebook.[8]

For his work with Thrive, Kushner was named to Forbes' 30 Under 30,[20] Inc. magazine's 35 Under 35,[21] Crain's 40 Under 40,[22] and Vanity Fair's Next Establishment.[23]

In 2021, it was reported by Bloomberg that Goldman Sachs had invested in Kushner's Thrive Capital at a $3.6 billion valuation.[24] Kushner sold a 3.3% stake in Thrive to a group of investors, including Disney's Bob Iger and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts' Henry Kravis, valuing Thrive at $5.3 billion.[25]

As of September 2024, Forbes estimates his net worth to be $3.8 billion, primarily from his ownership in Thrive.[26] Fortune magazine listed Kushner in its inaugural list of the 100 Most Powerful People in Business in 2024, citing Thrive's early investment in OpenAI.[27][28]

Oscar

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Kushner is a co-founder and vice-chairman of Oscar Health, a health insurance start-up.[29] Founded in 2012, Oscar was valued at $2.7 billion in 2016.[30] Oscar went public in 2021, with Kushner's Thrive Capital owning a stake worth $1.21 billion.[31][32] Oscar reported an $87 million loss in its first quarter as a publicly traded company.[33]

In 2020, it was revealed by The Atlantic that Jared Kushner had contracted Oscar Health to develop a coronavirus testing website that was later scrapped, even though Trump had said publicly that Google was developing the website.[34]

Cadre

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In 2015, Kushner founded a new company called Cadre with his brother Jared and their friend Ryan Williams, with Williams as Cadre's CEO. Cadre is a technology platform designed to help certain types of clients, such as family offices and endowments, invest in real estate.[35][36]

JK2

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See also: Kushner Companies § Controversies

Kushner and his brother, Jared, each own 50% of JK2 (also known as Westminster Management), a real estate management company,[37] but Joshua is not involved with the business.[38][39]

In April 2021, a Judge ruled that JK2 was found to have committed "widespread and numerous" violations of Maryland's consumer protection laws at Baltimore-area properties by collecting debts without the required licenses, charging tenants improper fees, and misrepresenting the condition of rental units.[40][37][41] During the COVID-19 pandemic, JK2 filed a significant number of lawsuits against tenants for debt collection and eviction, despite an eviction moratorium being in place.[42]

Kushner's JK2 was also featured in an episode of Netflix's Dirty Money series titled "Slumlord Millionaire."[43] The episode was based on an expose from ProPublica accusing the company of abusing tenants rights, leaving homes in disrepair, humiliating late-paying renters and suing tenants when they try and move out.[44]

Other activities

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Kushner became a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies after acquiring a 2.5% stake in 2019.[45][46] In 2024, Kushner and his wife's media company, Bedford Media, announced plans to revive Life magazine in an agreement with Dotdash Meredith, with the first print issue scheduled for early 2025.[47][48] He also joined the board of directors of A24 Films that year.[49]

Personal life

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Kushner started dating model Karlie Kloss in 2012.[50] The couple got engaged in July 2018, a month after Kloss' conversion to Judaism (Kushner's faith).[51] They married on October 18, 2018.[52]

Months prior to the Qatar diplomatic crisis, Kushner Companies had attempted to seek financing from the Qataris for their signature 666 Fifth Avenue property, which was facing a massive debt load in April 2017.[53] Joshua's father, Charles Kushner, had met with Qatari finance minister, Ali Shareef Al Emadi, twice to seek financing for the property.[53][54] During the same week that his father was meeting with Ali Shareef Al Emadi, Josh also met with Al Emadi.[39] The deal fell through.[55][56][57]

According to an investigation by The New York Times, in October 2017, Joshua Kushner met with several senior members of the Saudi government and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund at a conference in Riyadh. The day after he left, his brother Jared, along with several other senior members of the Trump administration, met with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.[58] While the meeting was not illegal, it raised potential conflict of interest concerns.[58][59]

In October 2020, it was reported that Kloss and Kushner were expecting their first child.[60] Their first child, a son, was born in March 2021.[61][62] His wife announced her second pregnancy with Kushner during the Met Gala in May 2023.[63] Their second child, also a son, was born in July 2023.[64][65] In December 2020, the couple purchased a home in Miami, Florida, for US$23.5 million.[66] They also bought a 7,200-square-foot (670 m2) penthouse in the Puck Building in Manhattan for $35 million in 2021, and paid $29.5 million for the Wave House in Malibu, California, in August 2024.[67]

Kushner was included in a 2024 Washington Post article about a WhatsApp group chat from October 2023 through early May 2024 where some United States' business leaders discussed "chang[ing] the narrative" in favor of Israel by conveying “the atrocities committed by Hamas…to all Americans,” following Hamas's October 7th attack on Israel.[68] However, a spokesperson of Kushner stated that, “Josh has not participated in [the group chat].”[69]

His brother, Jared, who is Donald Trump's son-in-law, was a senior advisor to the President during Trump's presidency, and is also an investor in Oscar Health.[70]

See also

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References

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