Josh Kushner, set to become the incoming owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, has ridden the AI wave to an eleven-digit fortune as his venture firm nearly tripled its assets this year.

Forbes now estimates his net worth at $16.7 billion, up from $5.2 billion just twelve months ago.

What Actually Drove the Fortune Surge

Kushner built much of that wealth through Thrive Capital, the venture firm he founded and still leads today. He grew the firm’s assets to more than $65 billion, nearly triple the $23 billion he managed in December 2024. Much of that surge traces to two specific wins this year.

He first invested in SpaceX at a $38 billion valuation, a bet that grew into a reported $10 billion stake when the rocket maker went public in June.

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Days later, SpaceX announced a $60 billion deal to acquire AI coding startup Cursor, doubling the value of his 7% stake in that company to $4.2 billion.

His position in OpenAI remains more indirect for now. Kushner holds a stake in the AI lab, last valued at $852 billion in March and expected to go public within the year, but that position has not yet converted into the kind of realized windfall SpaceX delivered.

Both bets drove his overall growth, though SpaceX produced the concrete, quantifiable gains so far.

The Lakers Deal Still Awaits NBA Approval

Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger agreed on August 12 to buy the Los Angeles Lakers from current owner Mark Walter for a record $12.5 billion, just months after Walter himself paid $10 billion for the team.

The deal has not closed. It still requires approval from the NBA’s Board of Governors, which is scheduled to meet in September, and industry outlets have described the transaction as still a long way from completion.

Jeanie Buss’s siblings have since agreed to sell their remaining stake in the team as well, expanding Kushner and Iger’s combined ownership to roughly 83%.

Kushner’s own reaction to the Lakers news was notably muted. On the day the sale broke, he posted on X celebrating a different deal entirely, a $2 billion raise for Thrive Holdings at a $12.5 billion valuation, without mentioning basketball at all.

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Beyond SpaceX and OpenAI, his portfolio includes stakes in Databricks, Stripe and Anduril, alongside older wins like Instagram and Spotify. Kushner told investors his funds have averaged 33% annual returns after fees, roughly double the S&P 500’s pace over the same period.

Whether the Lakers deal ultimately closes, Kushner’s wealth now stands at nearly 17x that of his brother Jared, President Trump’s son-in-law, according to Forbes estimates.

Source: BeInCrypto