What is David Tepper's Net Worth?
David Tepper is an American businessman and philanthropist who has a net worth of $21 billion. David Tepper earned his fortune as the founder of the hedge fund Appaloosa Management. He struck out on his own in 1993 after being repeatedly passed over for partnership at Goldman Sachs. In recent years, Appaloosa has been converted into a family office, with roughly $17 billion in assets under management. Approximately 90% of those assets are owned by Tepper and his employees (with Tepper owning the vast majority). During its decades as a more traditional hedge fund open to outsiders, Appaloosa paid out more than $10 billion in dividends to investors. For many years, David was one of the richest people in New Jersey. After relocating to Palm Beach, he became one of the richest people in Florida.
In 2018, David paid a then-record $2.275 billion for the Carolina Panthers NFL team. He also owns the Charlotte FC MLS soccer team.
In 2004, David donated $50 million to Carnegie Mellon University to establish the Tepper School of Business. He later donated an additional $67 million to the school to establish the Tepper Quadrangle and various campus buildings.
Early Life and Education
David Tepper was born on September 11, 1957, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as the second of three children of elementary school teacher Roberta and accountant Harry. He is Jewish. As a teenager, Tepper went to Peabody High School. Subsequently, he attended the University of Pittsburgh, from which he earned his BA in economics. Tepper went on to obtain his MS from Carnegie Mellon University in 1982.
Career Beginnings
Tepper began his financial career while still in college by making small-scale investments in different markets. After graduating from Pittsburgh, he worked as a credit analyst in the treasury department of Equibank. He left that position to study at Carnegie Mellon and then took a job in the treasury department of Republic Steel in Ohio. In 1984, Tepper was recruited by Keystone Mutual Funds in Boston, Massachusetts.
Getty
Goldman Sachs
Tepper left Keystone in 1985 when he was recruited by Goldman Sachs to become a credit analyst. Within six months, he was the company's head trader. Tepper stayed at Goldman Sachs for eight years, during which time he focused mostly on bankruptcies and special situations. Tepper was credited with playing a critical role in the survival of the company in the wake of the 1987 stock market crash.
Despite being a high performer, Tepper felt repeatedly looked over each year when it was time to name new partners.
Appaloosa Management
Frustrated by the rejection, Tepper decided to go his own way.
He subsequently began working at the offices of mutual fund manager and Goldman client Michael Price. Having raised sufficient money by aggressively trading his personal account, Tepper founded his own fund, Appaloosa Management, in early 1993. At first, the firm was known for being a junk bond investment boutique. However, at the start of the new millennium, Appaloosa had established itself as a hedge fund specializing in distressed debt while investing in global public equity and fixed-income markets. The company made especially big profits early on through its investments in Conseco and Marconi.
By the early 2000s, Appaloosa was thriving. In 2001, the firm generated a 61% return, primarily through investing in distressed bonds. Distressed bonds would become a trademark. Tepper made savvy investments in the debt of "dicey" companies.
Having survived the 2007-08 financial crisis, Appaloosa earned around $7 billion in 2009 by profiting from the recovery of distressed financial stocks it had previously purchased. About $4 billion of those profits were pocketed by Tepper himself, making him the top-earning hedge fund manager of the year. He was listed as the top-earning manager again in 2012. Appaloosa has continued to maintain its success via major investments in such companies as Amazon and Alibaba and due to its offshore Palomino Fund.
In 2019 David announced his plan to convert Appaloosa into a family office, meaning the firm would return outside money to investors and would eventually manage his own personal assets alone.
At its peak, Appaloosa had $14 billion in assets under management, roughly 70% of which were Tepper's own money.
David Tepper $100 Million ATM Receipt
Tepper is perhaps most famous for withdrawing $400 from an ATM in the Hamptons and accidentally leaving the receipt. The next person who used the ATM found his receipt and noticed his account balance was close to $100 million! The ATM receipt was posted on the internet and became a sensation:
David Tepper ATM Receipt
Hamptons House Revenge
In 2010 – the year after he earned $4 billion – David paid $43.5 million for an oceanfront mansion in the Hamptons hamlet of Sagaponack. The property is extremely rare in that it spans 6.5-acres, basically unheard-of for the area. The previous owner had been known to rent the property for $900,000 for the summer. The purchase also provided a little bit of revenge for Mr. Tepper. The seller of the home was Joanne Dougherty. Joanne received the house as part of a divorce settlement from a man named Jon Corzine. Joanne and Jon were married from 1969 to 2003. Jon Corzine is notable for two reasons.
#1) He was the governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010
#2) Prior to becoming governor, Jon worked at Goldman Sachs from 1979 to 1999.
Jon was David's boss. He was the one who kept David from becoming a partner all those years. Corzine's partnership stake earned him $400 million on the day Goldman went public in May 1999. At that point David and Appaloosa were still a scrappy upstart. In what must have been the ultimate move of sweet revenge, not only did Tepper buy the Hamptons mansion from Corzine's ex-wife, he quickly moved to raze their mansion to the ground. He then built a mansion twice the size in its place. Tepper and Joanne did the deal without any brokers. It was a simple transaction with no fees or commissions.
You can see the new mansion David Tepper built in the following drone video which was taken a beautiful morning after a major snow dump. You can see the house starting at the 10-second mark through the 40-second mark. You can't miss it:
In 2016, Tepper relocated his business empire from New Jersey to Florida. The move was so devastating in terms of lost state income tax that New Jersey was forced to disclose the loss as a potential budget risk. He had been New Jersey's largest individual taxpayer for several years running.
In 2017, he paid $10.7 million for a condo in Miami, Florida.
In February 2021, Tepper paid $73 million for an oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida.
In October 2020 Tepper indicated he would potentially be moving back to New Jersey.
Sports Ownership
Beyond his lucrative hedge fund, Tepper is substantially involved in the world of professional sports ownership. In 2009, he became part-owner of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers after purchasing a 5% stake in the team. Later, in 2018, Tepper purchased the NFL's Carolina Panthers from the team's founder and original owner, Jerry Richardson, giving up his Steelers shares in the process. His bid of $2.2 billion was the highest in NFL history.
Upon his purchase of the Panthers in 2018, Tepper expressed his desire to bring an MLS franchise to Charlotte. He was successful in his campaign, as the city was awarded the 30th team in the MLS in late 2019, Charlotte FC. Tepper reportedly paid a record $325 million in expansion fees to acquire the franchise, which made its playing debut in 2022.
(Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)
Philanthropy
In his philanthropic work, Tepper has made a number of major donations to his alma maters. He donated $55 million to Carnegie Mellon's business school in 2004, and in 2013 donated $67 million to establish the Tepper Quadrangle and various other buildings and facilities on campus. Elsewhere, Tepper has made several large donations to the University of Pittsburgh, including for endowed undergraduate scholarships, outreach programs, and academic centers.
Among his other philanthropic contributions, Tepper donated $1 million to United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey. In 2012, he and his former colleague Alan Fournier founded the political action group Better Education for Kids. Via his foundations, Tepper has also donated to relief efforts related to Hurricane Ida and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Personal Life
In 1986, Tepper married Marlene Resnick. They had three children named Brian, Randi, and Csey before divorcing in 2016. In 2019, Tepper wed Nicole Bronish.
