Abigail Johnson, the current CEO and president of investment giant Fidelity, is one of the richest women in the world.

As of 2024, Abigail Johnson’s net worth exceeds $28 billion.

The successful woman entrepreneur is the granddaughter of Edwards C. Johnson III, the founder of Fidelity Investments.

But she wasn’t just handed all of that wealth.

She worked incredibly hard to get to where she is now. Because of her determination and business acumen, her net worth has grown at a whirlwind pace since she took over as the CEO of the company in 2014.

What is Avigail Johnson’s, Fidelity CEO Net Worth in 2024?

  • Abigail Johnson’s net worth exceeds $28 billion as of 2024.
  • She owns 28.5% of Fidelity Investments, which manages $4.5 trillion in assets.
  • Johnson became the CEO of Fidelity in 2014, succeeding her father.
  • She is a proponent of cryptocurrency and introduced crypto investments at Fidelity.
  • Johnson is actively involved in philanthropy, particularly through the Fidelity Foundation.

Abigail Johnson’s Net Worth: Full Breakdown

The Johnson family is known as pathologically private, and Abigail hasn’t been any different. Most people wouldn’t recognize her if they saw her on the street, even though she is in charge of $4.5 trillion at the head of a multibillion-dollar firm.

Johnson rarely shares private details surrounding her wealth, assets, or investments. This makes it hard to pinpoint exactly how much she earns (and how much she spends) since, according to Boston Magazine, she is just a regular suburban mom.

However, we did manage to find enough information to help us explore the main assets that contribute to her hefty net worth, which, for the most part, comes from her stake in Fidelity.

Asset or Income Source  Contribution to Net Worth
Stake in Fidelity 28.5%
Fidelity’s assets under management $4.5 trillion
CEO Salary at Fidelity Unknown
Real estate investments $9.7+ million
Car collection $500,000+
Total Net Worth $28+ billion

5 Fun Facts about Abigail Johnson, the Richest Woman in Finance

  1. Abigail Johnson holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
  2. She is known for her privacy, rarely appearing in public or media.
  3. Johnson was the first woman to serve on the Financial Services Forum board.
  4. She reportedly owns a luxurious home in Nantucket worth $9.7 million.
  5. Johnson’s car collection includes two Rolls-Royce vehicles.

Latest Updates & News about Abigail Johnson

As of 2024, Abigail Johnson continues to hold a prominent position as CEO of Fidelity Investments, with a net worth of over $28 billion. Under her leadership, Fidelity manages assets worth approximately $4.5 trillion. In recent updates, Johnson’s influence in the financial sector continues to grow, and she remains actively involved in expanding Fidelity’s portfolio into emerging markets, including cryptocurrency, where she has been a significant proponent.

In May 2024, Johnson attended a high-profile fundraiser in Boston for President Joe Biden, reflecting her involvement in both finance and political spheres. This shows her continued influence beyond the financial world as she engages with political fundraising and policy discussions​.

In terms of corporate governance, Johnson’s leadership remains forward-looking as Fidelity explores deeper involvement in the digital asset space. In 2023, Fidelity filed several trademark applications related to NFTs and the metaverse, showing the company’s commitment to future-facing investments

Abigail Johnson’s Early Days: Born to Rule

Abigail Pierrepont Johnson was born on December 19, 1961, in Boston, Massachusetts, as the eldest of three children.

Her siblings are Edward C. Johnson IV and Elizabeth Johnson. Even though they grew up in a rather famous and influential family, the siblings weren’t pressured to join the family business. Even so, Abigail was attracted to it from a young age.

After graduating from university at the Cambridge private school Buckingham Browne & Nickols, she completed her Bachelor’s degree with majors in art history at Hobart and William Smith College.

Following her graduation, Johnson worked as a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton before she enrolled in Harvard Business School, where she obtained her MBA degree.

At this point, she was ready to join her family business, so upon graduating from Harvard Business School in 1988, Johnson joined Fidelity Investments as an analyst and portfolio manager.

Abigail Johnson has been married to Christopher J. McKown since 1988 and has two children from the marriage.

Abigail Johnson Net Worth: Trailblazing as the Richest Woman in Finance

Interestingly, despite her interest in the family business, Abigail Johnson didn’t join Fidelity Investments after graduating from Hobart and William Smith. Instead, she tried working as a consultant in a different company to gain some experience and perspective.

She then studied for an MBA at Harvard Business School for good measure.

Johnson finally leaped when she obtained all the necessary education and experience to join the Johnson family company.

She wasn’t ever handed the position just because she was in the family. She was just as qualified (if not more so) than her peers.

Johnson rose the ranks in no time, becoming the richest person in America’s 50 largest cities in 2016, only two years after getting the CEO position, and the sixth richest person on the Forbes Magazine “Powerful Woman” list.

Let’s see how the American billionaire businesswoman built her fame and fortune at Fidelity.

Fidelity Investments

Back in 1946, Johnson’s grandfather, Edward C. Johnson II, founded Fidelity Investments.

Her father, Edward Johnson III, was the company’s CEO when Abigail joined the company in the role of an analyst. She remained in this role between 1988 and 2001, when she was promoted to President of Fidelity Asset Management.

abigail johnson and her father
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While she was in this position, Abigail Johnson attempted to orchestrate a vote to remove her father from the CEO position because of disagreements about his leadership, but without success. This period of her life was closer to an episode of the famed business drama Succession than anything else.

Four years after she took the role of President of the business branch, she was promoted to Head of Retail, Workplace, and Institutional Business. It didn’t take her long to land another promotion, and in 2012, she was named President of the entire company.

Two years later, Abigail Johnson replaced her father as the CEO of Fidelity. In 2016, she became chairman of Fidelity International, Fidelity’s parent company and former sister company, which gave her control of the business and its 45,000 employees worldwide.

abigail johnson
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After his retirement, her father remained working as chairman emeritus of FMR LLC (Fidelity’s parent company) until his death in March 2022.

Stake and Position in Fidelity International

Abigail Johnson has served as the head of Fidelity Management since 2014, when she took over for her father. As of 2013, the Johnson family owned a common stake of 49% in the business, which they most likely still own to date. The rest is reportedly owned by Fidelity employees.

Abigail Johnson reportedly owns 28.5% of the business. As of 2023, Fidelity manages discretionary assets of around $4.5 trillion.

abigail johnson
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Involvement in Politics

As one of the world’s wealthiest women, Abigail Johnson has invested in many things, including politics. In 2015, she donated $2,700, which is the maximum legal amount to donate to presidential primary campaigns, to the Republican candidate Jeb Bush.

A year later, she donated $330,000 to Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, using common loopholes that circumvent the maximum donation threshold.

Awards and Accolades

Over the years, Johnson has been invited to serve on several boards including:

  • A member of the Financial Services Forum board. Johnson is the first and only woman to serve on this board. FSF is a non-partisan financial services and economic policy organization that gathers the CEOs of financial services businesses in the US.
  • A board member of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulations
  • A member of the board of directors of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association
  • A member of the board of directors at MIT

Thanks to her success in the financial field, Johnson was frequently mentioned in top lists. In 2022, for instance, Forbes ranked her as the fifth most powerful woman in the world. A year later, she held the 68th place in their billionaire list.

Philanthropy

Abigail Johnson is the wealthiest person in Massachusetts. However, she would be significantly more wealthy if she wasn’t such a generous philanthropist. For years, she has been focused on helping female investors and millennials.

“Asset management is a great career for women,” she said. “We have a real need right now to recruit more women because when women customers come into our branches very often the first thing they say is ‘I want to work with a woman’. We don’t have enough women who are customer-facing.”

In 2015, Johnson set up Fidelity’s Boundless program, designed to encourage more young females to consider a career in the financial sector.

Through her role at the Fidelity business, she also manages the foundation that her grandfather established back in 1965, the Fidelity Foundation. According to their official page, the Fidelity Foundation has distributed over half a billion dollars to nonprofit organizations across the US and Canada. Abigail is one of the foundation trustees.

Abigail Johnson Net Worth: Other Investments

Except for the investments she makes through Fidelity, there is very little known about what Johnson invests her money in. She is a fierce proponent of cryptocurrency. Back in 2018, Johnson introduced crypto investments in the business, making it possible for investors to trade coins like Ethereum and Bitcoin. Fidelity launched a platform where institutional investors could trade coins.

In 2023, Fidelity Investments filed trademark applications related to NFTs, crypto, and the metaverse, demonstrating an even stronger interest in this field. It was also one of the first to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF, FBTC.

Even so, we couldn’t find any information about digital coin investments from Johnson herself.

abigail johnson with a Bitcoin coin in the background
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What we do know, though, is that she has invested in real estate and has a rich car collection in her garage.

Real Estate

Johnson owns several properties including a luxurious Nantucket home that she bought for $9.7 million from Wayne Huizenga in 2002.

Her primary residence is reportedly in Milton, Massachusetts, though its value isn’t public knowledge. She is also rumored to own a vacation home in New Hampshire and a home in Naples, Florida.

Car Collection

Johnson is reportedly a big fan of Rolls-Royce vehicles and has at least two of them in her collection: a Rolls-Royce Cullinan and a Rolls-Royce Wraith, worth over half a million dollars combined.

Rolls-Royce Cullinan
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What Can We Learn from Abigail Johnson’s Story?

Abigail Johnson has had an impressive career in the financial services industry. Her dedication, determination, and talent helped make her one of the richest people in the world.

We have much to learn from her entrepreneurial spirit.

Johnson made sure to get more than enough credentials and experience before joining the family business to hush any perception of nepotism.

Once she finally started working for Fidelity, Johnson became entirely committed to the family business. She started her career there from scratch, despite being a close family member, and worked her way up through the ranks, demonstrating dedication and loyalty.

Johnson’s willingness to continuously grow and learn is evident from her career progression.

She held various positions to gain diverse experience, a method that helped her become the skilled CEO she is today. This teaches us the importance of lifelong learning and adaptability in career advancement.

During her leadership, Johnson has emphasized the importance of innovation in driving business growth. Her decision to lead the company in the crypto investment market turned out to be very profitable. Decisions like these helped Fidelity’s growth and competitiveness.

Lastly, Abigail Johnson has been a fierce advocate for diversity and inclusion in the workplace, constantly working to help females find their voice in the financial industry.