What is Dennis Tito's net worth?
Dennis Tito is an American engineer and entrepreneur who has a net worth of $1 billion. Dennis Tito is known for being the world's first space tourist. In 2021 Dennis paid $20 million to travel up to the International Space Station EP-1, where he spent eight days living and working alongside the astronauts. He earned his fortune as the founder of financial giant Wilshire Associates which pioneered using algorithms and index funds to make out-sized gains in the stock market.
Early Life
Dennis Tito was born in Queens, New York in August 1940. Dennis Tito graduated from New York University and earned his MS from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
He began his career at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California as an aerospace engineer. He designed computer algorithms that helped choose trajectories for NASA missions to Mars and Venus. He would eventually use similar algorithms in the business world, applying complex mathematics to the stock market.
Wilshire Associates
Dennis Tito earned his fortune as the founder of the financial firm Wilshire Associates. The company, which was launched in 1972, provides management, consulting, and technology services. The company directly manages $71 billion in client assets and provides advice for $1 trillion worth of pension fund assets through its Wilshire 5000 stock index.
In October 2020 Dennis sold his interest in Wilshire Associates two two private equity firms for an undisclosed amount.
(Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Westside Children's Center)
2001 Space Trip
He first dreamed of traveling to space as a child when he saw a satellite blinking overhead. He dreamed of traveling to space but never thought he'd qualify without being a very strictly trained fighter pilot, which he did not want to become. So he did the next best thing. He became a billionaire and used his fortune to buy a ticket to space!
Tito spent nearly eight days aboard the ISIS EP-1 in mid-2001. He spent $20 million on his ticket to space, roughly $30 million in today's dollars. The mission was launched by the spacecraft Soyuz TM-32 before being landed by Soyuz TM-31.
In 2013 he announced his intention to send a privately financed spaceflight to Mars by the year 2018, although it did not happen.
Pacific Palisades Mansion
Dennis lives in one of the most impressive mansions in all of Los Angeles. The 30,000 square-foot home is located in the Pacific Palisades at the very top of a mountain, high above Brentwood, Santa Monica and the the rest of west Los Angeles. It is one of the largest homes in Los Angeles and potentially has the best views of any home in the county. The value of this home is nearly impossible to estimate due to its uniqueness. The home is easily worth north of $100 million.
SpaceX Flight
In October 2022 Dennis and his wife Akiko Tito announced that they had purchased two seats on a future SpaceX passenger flight around the moon.
Personal Life
Dennis first marriage to Suzanne Tito lasted from the 1970s to the early 2000s. In 2011 he married Russian investor Elizabeth Pavlova. At some point they divorced and at some point thereafter he married his current wife Akiko Tito.
