What is Elaine Marshall's net worth?
Elaine Marshall is an American billionaire heiress who has a net worth of $24 billion. That fortune make her one of the wealthiest women in America and the world. Elaine Marshall is a member of the Board of Koch Industries and is the widow of E. Pierce Marshall, from whom she inherited her position and wealth.
Elaine Marshall is currently one of nine members on the Koch Industries board of directors. Koch is one of the most valuable and largest privately held companies in the United States. The value of the business has been estimated at $100 billion. Elaine Marshall is generally understood to own 15-16% of Koch Industries. She is invested in several companies including Georgia-Pacific, Invista, Flint Hills Resources, Koch Fertilizer, Koch Pipelines, Molex, and more.
***In a statement provided to CNW a representative of the Marshall family says "Elaine Marshall did not inherit E. Pierce Marshall's entire estate, does not own 15% of Koch Industries and is not the 68th richest person on the planet***
Biography
Elaine Marshall was born Elaine Tettemer on July 22, 1942. In 1965 she married E. Pierce Marshall. Their marriage produced two sons and several grandchildren.
E. Pierce was the second of two sons born to J. Howard Marshall II. J. Howard was a friend of Fred C. Koch, the founder of Koch Industries. Through a series of his own investments and mergers, J. Howard acquired a 16% stake in Koch Industries in the late in 1960s.
In 1974 J. Howard gifted half of his stake in Koch to his two sons, E. Pierce and older brother J. Howard III. Upon giving them each their 4% stakes, the father told his sons:
"these are the crown jewels. Take care of them."
In the 1980s, Fred Koch's four sons began feuding over the future of the company. J. Howard III sided with two of the brothers and E. Pierce sided with the other two. In the end E. Pierce's faction was victorious. In the aftermath, J. Howard II demanded that J. Howard III give him back the 4% stake. Howard III agreed, but only if his father paid him $8 million. Howard III agreed but was so angry that he cut his son out of his will completely.
In 1991 J. Howard II met a stripper named Vickie Lynn Smith at a strip club in Houston. In 1994 Howard and the stripper, who by now was known as Anna Nicole Smith, married. Their marriage lasted 14 months until his death in 1995.
In the after math of the father's death Anna Nicole sued for a large portion of his estate. The legal war made it all the way up to the United States Supreme Court TWICE.
As these legal battles were being waged, in 2006 E. Pierce Marshall died.
In 2011 the Supreme Court ruled against Anna Nicole Smith and she ultimately did not receive a penny from either J. Howard II's estate or his son Pierce's estate. During the court battles, technically, Anna was Pierce and Elaine Marshall's step-mother and mother-in-law, respectively.
When it was all said and done, Elaine Marshall is believed to have inherited her late husband Pierce Marshall's 15 or 16% stake in Koch. A stake that today makes her one of the richest women in the world and richest people overall.
