Fred Eshelman Net Worth $600 Million

What is Fred Eshelman’s net worth?

Fred Eshelman is an American businessman and CEO who has a net worth of $600 million. He founded Eshelman Ventures LLC, a large healthcare investment company.

Although Eshelman once served as CEO and executive chairman of the publicly traded PPDI, not much is known about him.

Eshelman is incredibly secretive, with no information on his family, siblings, or much of his life having been revealed.

Even his birthday is unknown to all but his friends and family.

Even still, Eshelman finds himself very oftentimes within the public’s spotlight, whether thanks to his investment company, multiple leadership roles, or other headline-worthy affiliations.

Surprisingly, Eshelman is a heavy donator to charitable causes, although he remains secretive and humble in the meantime.

Having received a doctorate in pharmaceuticals, Eshelman now uses his business and science-oriented mind to lead multiple pharma companies.

Additionally, he operates Eshelman Ventures, the namesake investment company focused on similarly-sized healthcare companies.

The Origin Story

Eshelman was born in 1960, with his specific birthdate being unknown.

The CEO was born and raised in the city of High Point, North Carolina.

We don’t know much about his childhood or his family, with their names and the names of his friends being unknown.

As a child, Eshelman was raised quickly to understand the importance of education.

While nothing is known about his pre-university days, Eshelman is known to have attended the University of North Carolina’s pharmaceutical school.

The school named the “UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy” is now ranked the #1 pharmaceutical school in the United States.

Following his graduation from UNC’s bachelor program with a B.S. in pharmacy, Eshelman quickly attended graduate school at Harvard Business School.

From Harvard, he received a graduate degree in the school’s Management Program.

Yet again, Eshelman went to work, attending the University of Cincinnati, where he finally earned the title of “Doctor,” following his receiving of a Doctor of Pharmacy.

Eshelman later served his residency at Cincinnati General Hospital before moving to join his first job in the outside world.

Career

July 1985 started Eshelman’s first experience as a businessman, with the founding of PPD (Pharmaceutical Product Development) in his home in Maryland.

In 1986, Eshelman moved the company back to his home state of North Carolina, relocating the company’s operation to Wilmington before its 1989 incorporation.

In January of 1989, a now 29-year-old Fred Eshelman served his first known position within a public company.

Hired as the Senior Vice President of Development for Glaxo Inc, Eshelman served his first year and a half looking into potential commercial pharmaceutical products for the company.

He also served on the company’s board until his departure in July 1990.

PPD – Pharmaceutical Product Development

Eshelman had decided that PPD was the future of his career, moving to officially become the company’s Founder and CEO in that same month.

Not much happened for a few years until he joined the board as Vice Chairman in July 1993.

There is yet another gap in his story, which picks back up in 1996 with PPD’s NASDAQ public stock offering.

With the company now flush with cash from its IPO, Eshelman focused on researching and development, where PPD looked into clinical development and laboratory-level equipment.

Throughout the majority of Eshelman’s period as CEO of PPD, the company focused exclusively on the development and passing growing profits to its shareholders through dividends.

There is no information on PPD’s product pipeline during the late 90s and early 00s, although there was more than enough for the company to pay out profits and Eshelman.

By 2010, PPD was the third-largest CRO, with nearly $1.5 billion in annual revenue.

With the company growing larger but holding back a higher-growth compound partnering division, Eshelman spun off Furiex Pharmaceuticals, where he became Chairman and CEO.

The next year, PPD happened to be acquired by affiliates of The Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman.

By this time, PPD had grown to encompass over 11,000 employees under Eshelman’s leadership.

With a buyout of $3.9 billion, Eshelman left PPD as its Chairman and CEO, taking a temporary leave from the pharmaceutical industry.

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Furiex, Eshelman Ventures, and Forwards

For the next few years, Eshelman grew Furiex Pharmaceuticals under his leadership before its acquisition in 2014 — this acquisition is thought to have netted Eshelman up to $350 million in profit.

With Eshelman left with no new companies or spin-offs from his previously public companies, he turned to investments.

Around this time, it was revealed that Eshelman was a part of the University of North Carolina System’s board, with the tenure ending in June 2014.

That coincided with his foundation of Eshelman Ventures.

Eshelman decided to invest in private healthcare rather than rebuild again.

The company has built up investment in fourteen smaller pharmaceutical companies over the years, giving Eshelman a great portfolio built from potential future winners.

However, sitting back and investing didn’t cut it for Eshelman, after all. In 2017, he founded and chaired Innocrin Pharmaceuticals, which is currently investing in treatments for prostate cancer and breast cancer.

In addition, Eshelman quickly took up board memberships in Bausch Health, Medicines Company, G1 Therapeutics, Amplitude Healthcare Acquisition Corp, North Carolina Biotechnology, Eyenovia, and Aravive Inc.

Throughout his tenure across these companies and their boards, Eshelman earned many awards, from the Davie and Distinguished Service Awards from UNC and the University of Cincinnati to the NC Entrepreneur Hall of Fame Award.

He has donated millions to multiple charitable causes and his alma mater within the UNC system since.

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Wife

Eshelman is married to a woman, although there is no information on who she is.

He is believed to not have children, although as he has been married for years, there is the potential for the couple to have had children in the meantime.

It is unknown whether Eshelman has maintained contact with his friends or family as well, as their identities and information are under wraps.

Net Worth 2024

So, how much is Fred Eshelman worth? Eshelman earned most of his wealth from founding and managing Eshelman Ventures LLC.

Eshelman donated $100 million to the UNC system in one donation.

Estimates divide his fortune ($530 million to above $670 million) into:

• $270 million from Furiex Pharmaceuticals
• $160 million to $300 million from the privatization of PPD
• $100 million from assorted leadership compensations.

Therefore, American businessman Fred Eshelman has an estimated net worth of $600 million.

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