What is Brad Gerstner’s net worth?
Brad Gerstner is an analyst, entrepreneur, owner, and investor who has a net worth of $1 billion. He spent his childhood admiring US tycoons and philanthropists like Warren Buffet.
Bloomberg has referred to him as the “Online Travel King” due to his vast travel investment portfolio, including Booking.com, Uber, Airbnb, and Expedia.
But how did Gerstner grow from a small-town boy into one of the most influential technology-focused investors in America?
He was born on May 4, 1971, in Indiana, to his parents Martha Burt and Thomas Gerstner.
Brad was raised in Goshen in the heart of Elkhart County, Indiana, with his siblings Douglas, William, and Lynne Vandy.
Gerstner’s father passed away, leaving his mother, Martha, to remarry Robert Burt, who passed away in 2016.
Gerstner’s drive to succeed started with his successful years of study.
He attended Wabash College between 1989 and 1993, where he obtained an undergraduate degree.
Gerstner ranked within the top 10% of his graduating class, qualifying for the Lilly Scholarship, one of the best scholarships available in higher education.
This scholarship, designed to support improving levels of attainment within Indiana, helped Gerstner earn a BA in Economics and Political Science.
During his junior year, Gerstner studied at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford; this time abroad helped him expand his perspective greatly.
Brad then went on to study at Indiana University School of Law – Bloomington between 1993 and 1996.
Here he qualified as a Jump scholar due to his high academic ability.
This scholarship aimed to support law students to develop prosperous law careers and support future law students.
He credits this time of his life with developing “lifelong friends and lifelong learnings.”
Gerstner continued his education by achieving an MBA in 2000 whilst studying at Harvard Business School.
The Businessman
Gerstner’s interest in becoming a business owner started at a young age when he started his first company Wawasee Boat Care in 1986 before he started college.
This initial glimpse into running a business taught him many crucial lessons regarding the business world.
He worked as an associate lawyer in securities law between college and university at a local firm in Indianapolis.
He also served as the Indiana Deputy Secretary of State for a term.
Once Gerstner left Harvard, he became the co-founder of three start-up internet search businesses.
He was the principal founding member of General Catalyst, an online travel investment platform; he sold this to Interactive Corp in 2001.
Gerstner became the co-CEO of the National Leisure Group, an early online travel start-up, where he worked until 2003.
Gerstner then co-founded and was CEO of Openlist.com, a vertical search and advertising platform; he successfully sold this business to Marchex in 2006.
The fact that lucrative companies successfully acquired these businesses demonstrates Gerstner’s ability to build thriving businesses.
Between 2005 and 2008, Gerstner worked at PAR Capital in Boston as an Investment Portfolio Manager.
He focused on technology investments and guided the business into financing Venture Capital deals with Zillow, ITA Software, and Farecast.
In 2008, during an economic downturn, Gerstner took a risk and founded his most notable and successful business venture, Altimeter, with less than $5 million.
People in the business world doubted that Gerstner’s vision would become fruitful, but it has earned the title of the leading technology-focused investment firm.
Altimeter Growth Corp is based in Silicon Valley and Boston, where Gerstner serves as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President.
Gerstner’s vision for Altimeter was to build iconic companies, disrupt markets and improve lives.
It manages over $15 billion of investments in public equity funds and venture capital funds.
Room 77
In 2011, he launched his metasearch site, Room 77, due to his passion for finding quality hotels for his business trips.
The platform aimed to focus solely on hotel searches and do it better than any other platform.
Room 77 was in direct competition with other established sites like Google, Expedia, Booking.com, and Kayak; this led to the start-up company closing in 2014.
READ MORE: Grey’s Anatomy: Why did Patrick Dempsey leave the series?
Give Forward
Gerstner and his family set up the Give Forward family foundation in 2018.
The foundation was put in place to support low-income schools in East Palo Alto to improve education.
They also help undocumented immigrants in the Bay Area, California, with the legal services they require.
Gerstner became a Director of iHeartMedia, an American mass media corporation, in 2019.
In partnership with Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, the Founder and Chair of theBoardlist and Guy Primus, the CEO of Valence Community, Gerstner founded The Board Challenge. Their goal is to improve diversity within the corporate Boardrooms drastically.
His business ventures follow the same mantra: that successful companies are built from small teams with strong cultures of excellence, integrity, impact, and fun.
Wife
Brad Gerstner met his future wife, Michelle Boyers, whilst they were both MBA students at Harvard. It was here that their relationship blossomed; they tied the knot in 2007 during a lavish ceremony at the famous Martha’s Vineyard.
Michelle, herself has forged her own successful career.
She worked for the Boston Public School as the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources.
She then worked at the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation as the Director of Education.
Michelle then moved on to the family’s Give Forward Foundation in 2018, taking on the role of CEO.
READ MORE: Bill Hutchinson Net Worth
Children
Gerstner and Michelle are parents to two boys, Lincoln and Jack; they live in Woodside, California, where they cherish time running, biking, skiing, and surfing as a family.
Gerstner loves to travel for business and pleasure and follows his two-stamp rule, whereby his passport should have two new passport stamps each year.
Net Worth 2024
So, how much is Brad Gerstner worth? Gerstner earned most of his wealth from considerable investment profits on Priceline, Expedia, Uber, Twilio, and HubSpot. Therefore, Brad Gerstner has an estimated net worth of $1 billion.
Brad currently holds investments in dot.LA, a digital newsroom, Relativity Space, aerospace company, and HotelTonight, a mobile hotel booking application.
Gerstner also serves as Director at iHeartMedia.
In 2008, Gerstner founded Altimeter Capital.
READ THIS NEXT: Who is Billy Tolley?
I am Bulgarea Candin Stefan, and I founded FamousPeopleToday.com in 2018. I’m using my bachelor’s degree in economics and 9 years of experience in blogging to guide millions of people through the incredibly complex world of celebrity net worths.
STANFORD THOMPSON
Friday 19th of May 2023
HAVE KNOWN BRAD SINCE OCTOBER 1973, WHEN HIS DAD, TOM GERSTNER HIRED ME TO WORK FOR HIM AS PERSONNEL MANAGER AT A MACHINING PLANT, WEATHERHEAD COMPANY, IN SYRACUSE, INDIANA!!! HIS DAD GRADUATED FROM BRADLEY UNIVERSITY AND THAT'S WHERE BRADLEY GOT HIS NAME; HIS MIDDLE NAME THOMAS COMES FROM HIS DAD!!!
LAST TIME I SAW HIM WAS AT HIS DAD'S VIEWING!!!
I ONLY KNOW HIM AS A CHILD; BUT I AM EXTREMELY HAPPY FOR HIS SUCCESS AND WISH THE BEST FOR HIM AND HIS FAMILY == GOD BLESS THEM == AMEN AND AMEN 🙏🏻 😊 ☺️ ❤️ 💖 ♥️ 🙏🏻