What Is Gary Vaynerchuk's Net Worth and Salary?
Gary Vaynerchuk is a Russian-born entrepreneur, consultant, and CEO who has a net worth of $200 million. Gary Vaynerchuk, also known as Gary Vee, is a renowned entrepreneur, internet personality, and digital marketing expert. He started his career by working at his family's wine business, transforming it from a $3 million to a $60 million company through e-commerce. In 2006, Gary launched WineLibrary TV, a daily video blog about wine, which gained a significant following and established him as an early YouTube celebrity.
Vaynerchuk then co-founded VaynerMedia, a full-service digital agency, with his brother in 2009. The company has worked with major brands such as PepsiCo, GE, and Toyota. He is also a prolific angel investor and venture capitalist, investing in companies like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Uber early on.
Gary Vee is known for his powerful speeches, motivational content, and his ability to predict and capitalize on social media trends. He has authored several books, including "Crush It!," "Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook," and "AskGaryVee," which have become bestsellers.
Early Life
Gary Vaynerchuk was born on November 14, 1975, in Babruysk, Belarus, at that time part of the Soviet Union. He is the son of Tamara and Sasha Vaynerchuk. He has one sibling, a younger brother known as AJ Vaynerchuk, who is also a businessman. Vaynerchuk's family immigrated to the U.S. in 1978 when he was just three, and they lived in the New York borough of Queens. Gary later moved with his family to Edison, New Jersey. At age 14, Vaynerchuk joined his family's retail wine business. He graduated from North Hunterdon High School in 1993.
Wine Career
After graduating from Mount Ida College in Newton, Massachusetts, in 1998, he transformed his father's New Jersey liquor store, Shopper's Discount Liquors, into a retail wine store named Wine Library. He launched sales online and started a daily webcast on YouTube Covering wine called "Wine Library TV." Vaynerchuk successfully grew the business from $3 million a year in revenue to $60 million by 2003. He is also the co-founder of Empathy Wines, which was acquired by Constellation Brands in 2020.
From 2006 to 2011, Vaynerchuk hosted a video blog on YouTube called "Wine Library TV (WLTV)." The show featured wine reviews, tastings, and advice on wine. It was produced daily at the Wine Library store in Springfield, New Jersey. After 1,000 episodes, Gary retired the show in 2011 and replaced it with a podcast called "The Daily Grape." In 2010, Vaynerchuk launched "Wine & Web" on Sirius XM satellite radio. The show paired new wine tastings in a "Wine of the Week" segment as well as featured trends, start-ups, and coverage of new gadgets in its "Web of the Week" segment.
Media Companies
In August 2011, Gary announced he was stepping down from the wine business to build VaynerMedia, a digital ad agency he founded with his brother in 2009. VaynerMedia is a social media-focused digital ad agency. Its goal is to provide social media strategy services to big Fortune 500 companies such as GE, Anheuser-Busch, and Pepsi. They were named one of Ad Age's A-List agencies in 2015. In 2016, VaynerMedia had 600 employees and grossed $100 million in revenue. They partner with Vimeo to connect brands and filmmakers for digital content.
Vaynerchuk is also the chairman of VaynerX, a communications company that holds media properties and technology companies, including Tracer, a media and creative agency. In 2017, Gary founded The Gallery Media Group, a VaynerX subsidiary company that houses PureWow, following its acquisition by Gary and RSE Ventures, and ONE37 pm.com, a male-oriented news outlet. By 2019 VaynerX employed 800 people and was generating $130 million per year in revenue. VaynerMedia has worked with some of the largest brands in the world, including GE, Mondelez, and JP Morgan Chase.
(Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Other Ventures
In February 2017, Apple announced the launch of a reality television series called "Planet of the Apps," with a recurring cast that includes Vaynerchuk, will.i.am, and Gwyneth Paltrow. It has been described as "Shark Tank" meets "American Idol." In the show, the team evaluates pitches from app developers who are competing for investment. The series went on tour to Austin, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York.
In 2014, Gary launched a YouTube show called "#AskGaryVee" with his personal content production team. In the show, he canvasses questions from Twitter and Instagram and responds in an improvised manner.
Vaynerchuk started "DailyVee," a daily video documentary series on YouTube that chronicles his life as a businessman, in 2015. He records live and interviews others, and broadcasts investor meetings and strategy sessions at VaynerMedia. He discusses his social media strategies through Snapchat and Instagram at length and offers demonstrations.
In 2019, Gary co-founded Resy, a restaurant reservation app. Resy was acquired by American Express in 2019.
Vaynerchuk has written several books: "Gary Vaynerchuk's 101 Wines: Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World" (2008), "Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion" (2009), "The Thank You Economy" (2011), "Jab, Jab, Jab Right Hook" (2013), "#AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur's Take on Leadership, Social Media, and Self-Awareness" (2016), "Crushing It! How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence—and How You Can, Too" (2018), and "Twelve and a Half: Leveraging the Emotional Ingredients Necessary for Business Success" (2021).
Vaynerchuk has been featured in "The New York Times," "The Wall Street Journal," "GQ," and "Time," and appeared on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "Ellen." In the July 2009 Decanter publication of "The Power List" ranking of the wine industry's individuals of influence, Gary placed at #40, citing that he "represents the power of blogging." In November 2019, he appeared on Jimmy Fallon's "Tonight Show" to coach the host on wine-drinking tips.
Personal Life
Gary has been married to Lizzie Vaynerchuk since 2004. The couple has two children together, a daughter named Misha Eva Vaynerchuk and a son named Xander Avi Vaynerchuk, born in 2009 and 2012, respectively. While there was no official announcement, it appears the couple is no longer together as of February 2022, when Vee took to Instagram and posted about a new relationship with nutrition and health coach Mona Vand.
Gary is very active on Twitter and Instagram, boasting over 10 million followers (many of whom are celebrities) on the latter platform.
