Laurene Powell Jobs is the founder and president of Emerson Collective, an impact investing, philanthropy and advocacy firm focused on environmental justice, health, immigration and education.
Powell Jobs inherited her fortune--mostly shares of Walt Disney and Apple--from her late husband, Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, who died in 2011.
Powell Jobs purchased part of The Atlantic in 2017 and has invested in other media outlets and nonprofit newsrooms, including ProPublica.
She owns a minority stake in Monumental Sports, parent of the Wizards (NBA), Capitals (NHL), and Mystics (WNBA) and in 2022 invested in the WNBA's first-ever capital raise.
In 2021 she launched the Waverley Street Foundation and committed to donate $3 billion over a decade to organizations addressing climate change.
Master of Business Administration, Stanford Graduate School of Business; Bachelor of Arts/Science, University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School
Did you know
Laurene Powell Jobs met her late husband Steve Jobs at Stanford U's business school when she attended a guest lecture he gave. He asked her out in the parking lot.
Her son Reed Jobs launched venture capital firm Yosemite in 2023; it is focused on making cancer non-lethal in our lifetimes.
The Honolulu-based nonprofit will rename itself Elemental Impact, and mobilize investors and philanthropists from its network to increase the funding's impact.
The Lady Moura and Venus are vessels owned by Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego and Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
Reed Jobs will head the firm that stems from Emerson Collective, which his mother Laurene Powell Jobs created and largely funded with the Apple founder’s fortune.
The billionaire philanthropist and investor -whose fortune stems from her late husband Steve Jobs’ Apple and Disney stock–has promised to spend $3.5 billion over ten years to address climate change, which she says is the planet’s greatest threat.
Billionaires Michael Dell, Joseph Tsai and Laurene Powell Jobs are among the investors backing the WNBA’s record funding round that reportedly fetched $75 million.
A combination of current WNBA owners, boldface-name outside investors like Laurene Powell Jobs and Condoleezza Rice and even Nike have closed on ownership stakes in the league in a transaction described by the WNBA as “the largest-ever capital raise for a women’s sports property.”
“In times like these, times of hardship and uncertainty, it can feel like the world is conspiring to shrink our sense of possibility...I'm here to say, don't let it.” Those are the words of Laurene Powell Jobs as she addressed her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania 2021 graduation.
Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective is acquiring a majority stake in The Atlantic magazine and will likely take ownership of the whole publication within the next three to five years.
She's the richest woman in Silicon Valley, but most people have no clue who she is.
Research: Kelly Appleton & Kieran Meadows
Script: Kieran Meadows & Cara Cosentino
Producer/Editor: Kieran Meadows
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