Rank #706
Jim Davis & family
Net worth $5.9B
New Balance · United States
- Born
- May 17, 1943
- Age
- 82
- Source
- New Balance
- Residence
- Newton, Massachusetts
- Citizenship
- United States
- Marital status
- Married
- Children
- 2
- Education
- Bachelor of Arts/Science, Middlebury College
Net worth over time
Biography
- Jim Davis bought a small Boston shoemaker in 1972 and turned it into $6.5 billion (sales) New Balance Athletics.
- Davis is the chairman of New Balance, and his wife Anna, who joined the company in 1977, is the vice chairman.
- He and his family own an estimated 95% of the company, which is private.
- New Balance is known for its running shoes but also makes footwear, clothing and equipment for baseball, lacrosse, and soccer as well as lifestyle fashion.
- He got his start working for his father's restaurants as a "lumper" carrying trays.
- At college he studied biology and chemistry, thinking he'd work in medicine, until one of his professors suggested his talent might be in sales.
- In 2015 New Balance moved into a $500 million development in Boston that also houses practice arenas for the Boston Bruins and the Celtics.
- Davis was an early investor in fleet electrification company XL Fleet and owns 9% of the company, which went public via a SPAC merger in late 2020.