Glenn Youngkin Net Worth: How Virginia’s Governor Earned $500 Million

Glenn Allen Youngkin is a famous American politician who had been touted as a potential VP pick for Trump (before JD Vance was picked instead). The current Governor of Virginia ultimately didn’t receive the nomination but remains a force in the Republican party. As of 2024, Glenn Youngkin’s net worth is estimated at $500 million.

In addition to being a state governor, Glenn Youngkin is a successful businessman who spent over two decades at The Carlyle Group, where he held a high-level position for two years.

To learn more about the rising star of the GOP, keep reading.

Glenn Youngkin’s Net Worth Breakdown:

In politics, when you run for a high political position such as that of governor, you’re required to submit a statement of economic interests to the state’s Department of Elections. Thanks to this statement, we can gain quit a bit of insight into Youngkin’s investments and assets, as well as his earnings over the years.

After detailed research of Youngkin’s career and earnings, we estimated his net worth at over $500 million, pre-taxation.

Glenn Youngkin Net Worth: Early Life and Education

Glenn Allen Youngkin was born on December 6, 1966, in Richmond, Virginia. His parents are Ellis, a nurse practitioner, professor of nursing, and associate dean at Florida Atlantic University, and Carroll Wayne, who worked in accounting and finance. Youngkin also has a sister, Dorothy Marian Youngkin Kouba.

In Youngkin’s teenage years, the family relocated from Richmond to Virginia Beach, where he attended the private Norfolk Academy, graduating in 1985. While at high school, he played basketball and received several honors.
After his high school graduation, Youngkin enrolled at Rice University in Houston, Texas, studying on a basketball scholarship. He continued to play basketball for four seasons for the Owls in the Southwest Conference, totaling 67 rebounds and 82 points in his career.

In 1990, Youngkin obtained not one, but two degrees from the university:

• Bachelor of Arts in Managerial Studies
• Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

This wasn’t the end of his education, though. With a BA and an engineering degree in hand, he enrolled at Harvard Business School to study for his MBA degree, which he also obtained in 1994.

In 2022, Governor Glenn Youngkin also received an honorary degree from the College of William and Mary.

Glenn Youngkin Net Worth: How He Became the Richest Governor of Virginia

When Glenn Youngkin graduated from Rice University in 1990, he landed his first job at the investment bank First Boston. At the bank, he handled mergers, acquisitions, and capital market financing. When the bank was bought out by Credit Suisse in 1992, Youngkin decided to leave and pursue his MBA at Harvard.

This role marked the beginning of a very successful career that would later expand to political circles. Let’s see how the governor added all those millions to the estimated net worth listed above.

Work at Carlyle Group

After he received his MBA in 1994, Youngkin joined the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. A year later, he started working at the Washington D.C. private equity firm The Carlyle Group as part of their US buyout team.

By 1999, Youngkin was named partner and managing director of the business and, between 2000 and 2005, he managed the UK buyout team. After this, his focus was on the global industrial sector investment team at Carlyle Group, which he managed for three more years, dividing his time between Washington and London.

After his very successful managerial projects at Carlyle, the founders of the company asked Youngkin to focus on the broader strategy of the firm and step back from smaller projects. In 2009, the founders created a committee of seven people, chaired by no other than Youngkin. This committee oversaw the day-to-day operations of the business.

That same year, Youngkin was added to the firm’s executive committee and, when the chief financial officer Peter Nachtwey left the firm in 2010, they made Youngkin interim CFO.

Glenn Youngkin remained in the chief financial officer position until 2011 when Carlyle Group assigned Adena Friedman to it. A year before he departed from the CFO position, Youngkin became a member of the company’s management committee. When he was replaced in the interim CFO position, the company made him chief operating officer, a position he held between March 2011 and June 2014.

When Carlyle decided to go public, it was Glenn Youngkin who supervised the initial public offering. In 2014, he became a co-chief operating officer and co-president of Carlyle, working alongside Michael J. Cavanagh in the position.

When Cavanagh left the firm in May 2015 to work for Comcast, Youngkin remained as the sole president and COO of Carlyle.

Two years later, the Carlyle Group announced that the founders of the business would remain executive chairmen on the board of directors, but they would step down from high managerial positions at the firm. Subsequently, the firm named Youngkin and Kewsong Lee the co-CEOs, effective January 2018. The duo also joined the firm’s board of directors.

In this position, Youngkin was responsible for Carlyle’s infrastructure businesses, real estate, investments, and energy sectors, while Lee oversaw the global credit businesses and corporate private equity.

During Youngkin’s tenure as the co-CEO of the business, the firm transitioned into a corporation, operating as a publicly traded partnership. However, in September 2020, Youngkin announced that he would be retiring from the Carlyle Group, after spending 30 months in the co-CEO role.

When Glenn Youngkin left Carlyle, he decided to pursue a career in politics, announcing that he would run for the Republican Party’s nomination for Governor of Virginia.

In May 2021, Youngkin won the Virginia Republican Party convention, beating six other candidates and becoming their nominee. In the general election, he faced former Governor Terry McAuliffe as the Democrat Party candidate.

At this point, Glenn Youngkin’s net worth counted in the millions, which made it easy to self-fund his candidacy, spending $5.5 million on his primary campaign. During the primary, he was endorsed by Ted Cruz, to whom Youngkin previously donated in his 2018 re-election campaign. After he won the nomination, he was also endorsed by Donald Trump.

To everyone’s surprise, Youngkin declined the invitation for the scheduled debate with Democrat Terry Mcauliffe in July 2021. He explained that he did this as an objection to Judy Woodruff, the moderator, donating money to the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund in 2010.

Fast forward to November, and he beat McAuliffe with a slim margin, winning 50.6% of the vote.

Glenn Youngkin as Governor of Virginia

Following his win in November 2011, Youngkin was sworn in as governor in January 2022. He took office alongside Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares, dubbed a “historically diverse” ticket, according to The Washington Post. Lieutenant Governor Sears was the first woman of color elected in the Virginia statewide office, while Attorney General Miyares was the first Latino elected to the office.

Youngkin’s Net Worth Over Time

When Glenn Youngkin defeated McAuliffe in the Virginia Governor’s race, he became one of the wealthiest governors in the United States (behind North Dakota’s Doug Burgum). According to Forbes, the millionaire governor had loaned $20 million to his campaign by this point, which made up 35% of the total funds he raised throughout the campaign.

For the most part, Youngkin’s fortune comes from his 2% stake in Carlyle, which is worth around $335 million today, considering that Carlyle’s market capitalization is $16.75 billion as of July 2024.

According to public filings from the time he ran for office, Youngkin received $88 million in dividends and has sold around $50 million worth of stock since the company’s IPO in 2012.

As for his gubernatorial salary, Youngkin announced that he would donate the entire sum, $175,000 per year, to charities. In 2022, he donated his salary to the Virginia Law Enforcement Assistance Program and the Virginia Veterans Services Foundation.

What Else Does Glenn Youngkin Invest In?

Now, let’s take a look at Youngkin’s assets and investments over the years.

Investments

According to his statement of economic interests, Youngkin has invested millions of dollars in stocks in companies including Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft. He also has an undisclosed stake in the Professional Fighters League, which is a mixed martial arts competition.

Real Estate

As for real estate, the Governor of Virginia owns at least $18 million worth of personal real estate. This includes his property in Great Falls, Virginia, his estate in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, his ranch just outside San Antonio, and his horse farm in Great Falls.

At one point, he and his wife Suzanne donated $15 million worth of real estate to their private charity The Phos Foundation, which included a building in McLean and a farm in Middleburg.

What Can We Learn from Glenn Youngkin’s Story?

Glenn Youngkin has amassed a substantial net worth, primarily through his career in finance. The bulk of his fortune comes from his tenure at The Carlyle Group, where he rose through the ranks to become co-CEO. Even though he’s left the company, he has accumulated a 2% stake in the business, which makes up most of his wealth these days.

Youngkin’s educational background spans both engineering and business. This diversified skill set likely contributed to his success in business, showing us the value of an educational foundation.

Youngkin transitioned from a successful career in finance to politics, which demonstrates the possibility of leveraging one’s expertise and success in one field to excel in another. This highlights the importance of adaptability, as well as a willingness to take on new challenges and step out of your comfort zone.

Furthermore, the governor’s significant wealth accumulation through investments in firms and diverse stocks underscores the value of making strategic financial decisions and diversifying one’s portfolio for financial stability.

Finally, Youngkin’s commitment to donating his gubernatorial salary and substantial holdings in real estate to charity exemplifies the role of wealth in contributing to society.