Rank #3322
William Franke
Net worth $1.1B
Low-cost airlines · United States
- Born
- Apr 15, 1937
- Age
- 89
- Source
- Low-cost airlines
- Residence
- Houston, Texas
- Citizenship
- United States
- Marital status
- Married
- Children
- 5
- Education
- Bachelor of Arts/Science, Stanford University; LLB, Stanford University
Net worth over time
Biography
- William Franke is the chairman of low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines and the owner of air transport-focused private equity firm Indigo Partners.
- Raised in Latin America, Franke attended law school at Stanford and then worked as an executive at firms including Valley National Bank and Circle K.
- He first got into the airline business as the CEO of America West Airlines from 1993 to 2001, turning the company into a low-cost carrier.
- He was an early investor in Ryanair; since starting Indigo Partners in 2002, he's invested in several airlines including Volaris, Wizz Air, and Spirit.
- He took Frontier public in April 2021; eight months later in February 2022, the firm announced a $6.6 billion merger with its rival Spirit Airlines.
- Spirit and Frontier terminated their merger agreement in July 2022, with Spirit shareholders instead agreeing to a merger with JetBlue three months later.
Financial assets
| Exchange | Ticker | Shares | Price |
|---|