Biography & Early Wealth Journey

Jared Kushner spent much of his early career working at his family's real estate business, Kushner Companies, before becoming internationally known during the first presidential administration of his father-in-law, Donald Trump. From 2017 to 2021, Kushner served as a senior adviser to the president and worked on issues including Middle East diplomacy, criminal justice reform, government modernization, and the administration's response to COVID-19. He played a significant role in negotiations that produced the Abraham Accords, through which Israel established or expanded formal relations with several Arab countries.

After leaving the White House, Kushner founded the Miami-based investment firm Affinity Partners. The firm attracted billions of dollars from investors including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, and Abu Dhabi-based Lunate, and its assets under management eventually surpassed $6 billion. Kushner has also retained a substantial interest in Kushner Companies and co-founded an artificial intelligence company called Brain Co. Although he initially remained outside the second Trump administration, he later returned to diplomatic work as an unofficial presidential envoy involved in negotiations concerning Gaza, Iran, Russia, and Ukraine.

Early Life and Education

Jared Corey Kushner was born on January 10, 1981, in Livingston, New Jersey. He is the eldest son of real estate developer Charles Kushner and Seryl Kushner and grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family alongside siblings Joshua, Nicole, and Dara. His father built Kushner Companies into a substantial real estate operation focused initially on apartments in New Jersey before expanding into New York and other markets.

Primary Income Streams & Multi-Million Contracts

Kushner enrolled at Harvard University in 1999 and graduated in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in government. His admission later attracted attention because his father had pledged millions of dollars to Harvard around the time Jared applied, although Kushner graduated on schedule and was active in business while attending school. He subsequently enrolled in a joint program at New York University, earning both a Juris Doctor from NYU School of Law and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business in 2007.

While still a student, Kushner began buying and selling real estate. He reportedly assembled a portfolio of rental properties and completed millions of dollars worth of transactions before graduating. Real estate would remain the primary source of his wealth for the next decade.

New York Observer

In 2006, at age 25, Kushner purchased the "New York Observer" newspaper for approximately $10 million. The weekly publication was known for its coverage of New York politics, media, culture, and real estate, and the purchase gave Kushner a high-profile position in the city's media world even before he became a major Manhattan developer. He served as publisher while simultaneously expanding his family's real estate business.

Real Estate, Luxury Assets & Personal Investments

Under Kushner, the publication increasingly shifted its emphasis toward digital media. The print edition was discontinued in 2016, and the publication continued online under the shortened name "Observer." Kushner stepped away from the company before joining the White House in 2017.

Jared Kushner net worth

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Kushner Companies

Wealth Trajectory & Future Earnings Projections

Jared assumed a larger role at Kushner Companies after his father was sentenced to federal prison in 2005 following convictions for tax evasion, making illegal campaign contributions, and witness tampering. Charles served roughly 14 months before his release in 2006 and was later pardoned by Donald Trump in 2020. Jared became CEO of the family company and led an aggressive expansion from its traditional New Jersey apartment portfolio into Manhattan real estate.

The most famous deal of that period came in 2007, when Kushner Companies purchased the office building at 666 Fifth Avenue for $1.8 billion. The purchase was extraordinarily leveraged and occurred shortly before the global financial crisis, creating years of financial pressure for the company as the building struggled to generate enough income to support its debt. Kushner Companies subsequently sold interests in the property and pursued multiple refinancing and redevelopment strategies.

In 2018, Brookfield Asset Management acquired a 99-year leasehold interest in the office portion of the building for approximately $1.3 billion. The deal allowed Kushner Companies to address the property's debt and transferred control of the office space to Brookfield. Contrary to some descriptions of the transaction, Brookfield itself, rather than the Qatari government, was the purchaser.

Kushner Companies continued expanding after Jared entered government, although he resigned from management before joining the White House. The company increased its emphasis on apartments, particularly in suburban and Sun Belt markets, and eventually grew to control billions of dollars of real estate. Jared retained a substantial economic interest in the family business even after leaving its day-to-day operations.

Cadre

Kushner was also an early co-founder and investor in Cadre, a technology platform designed to give investors access to commercial real estate deals. The company was founded with entrepreneur Ryan Williams and received backing from major investors including Goldman Sachs and venture capital firms. Cadre eventually oversaw hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate assets and transactions.

Kushner retained his interest in Cadre after entering government, which prompted questions from ethics groups about potential conflicts involving the company's investments and federal Opportunity Zone tax incentives. He began divesting his stake in 2020. Public financial disclosures had previously valued his interest in the company at tens of millions of dollars.

White House Career

Kushner became heavily involved in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, working particularly on digital strategy, fundraising, data operations, and outreach. After Trump won the election, Kushner was appointed Senior Adviser to the President. His position gave him an unusually broad portfolio that at various points included Middle East policy, government technology, criminal justice reform, trade, immigration, and internal White House initiatives.

His appointment generated scrutiny because he was both the president's son-in-law and the holder of substantial private business interests. Kushner resigned from executive positions at Kushner Companies and the Observer before joining the government but retained economic interests in numerous family assets. He served in the White House throughout Trump's first term, from January 2017 until January 2021.

One of Kushner's major domestic policy projects was criminal justice reform. He worked with Republicans, Democrats, advocacy organizations, and law-enforcement groups in support of the First Step Act, which Congress passed with large bipartisan majorities in 2018. The legislation changed some federal sentencing rules and expanded programs intended to reduce recidivism among federal prisoners.

Abraham Accords

Foreign policy became the area most closely associated with Kushner's government service. He was given a central role in the administration's efforts to negotiate agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors, despite having no prior diplomatic experience. Kushner and his team spent several years developing relationships with political leaders throughout the Middle East, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In 2020, the United States helped broker agreements under which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain established diplomatic relations with Israel. Morocco and Sudan also announced normalization agreements with Israel during the final months of the administration, although implementation varied among the countries. The agreements became collectively known as the Abraham Accords, and Kushner and several other administration officials received National Security Medals for their roles in the negotiations.

Kushner was also involved in efforts to end the diplomatic blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt. That dispute was formally resolved shortly before the first Trump administration ended. His Middle East relationships later became important to his post-government investment career.

Affinity Partners

Soon after leaving Washington in 2021, Kushner founded Affinity Partners, a private investment firm headquartered in the Miami area. The company initially raised more than $3 billion, including a $2 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. Additional investors included sovereign and institutional investors from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

The Saudi investment drew significant scrutiny because Kushner had worked closely with Saudi leaders while serving in government. Congressional Democrats and ethics critics raised questions about whether his government relationships had contributed to the investment, while Kushner has maintained that Affinity's investors were making commercial investments and that he had made clear they should not expect political favors. Affinity's backers subsequently committed billions of dollars of additional capital to the firm.

Affinity expanded rapidly into investments spanning financial services, technology, real estate, consumer businesses, and infrastructure. Its portfolio has included a significant investment in Israeli financial company Phoenix Financial, along with interests in companies in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. The firm also joined Silver Lake and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund in the massive acquisition of video game publisher Electronic Arts.

By 2026, Affinity reported more than $6 billion under management. Kushner owns the investment management company behind Affinity, meaning the growth of the business has become an increasingly important component of his personal fortune. His transition from family real estate executive to private equity manager ultimately helped push his net worth into billionaire territory.

Brain Co.

Kushner expanded into artificial intelligence by helping establish Brain Co., an AI software company founded with technology investor Elad Gil and former Mexican finance and foreign minister Luis Videgaray, among others. The company emerged publicly in 2025 after raising a $30 million financing round led by Affinity Partners and Gil Capital. Brain Co. develops software intended to help large corporations and government institutions incorporate artificial intelligence into their operations.

The company's early investors also included a number of prominent technology executives and venture investors. Brain Co. formed a strategic relationship with OpenAI and began working with clients in industries ranging from finance and energy to hospitality and government services. Kushner has remained closely involved with the business while continuing to run Affinity.

Return to Diplomacy

Kushner and Ivanka Trump did not initially return to formal White House jobs when Donald Trump began his second presidential term. Kushner continued running Affinity Partners but remained in contact with the administration and advised on Middle Eastern affairs. His role subsequently became considerably more active as the administration relied on him for sensitive diplomatic negotiations.

Kushner participated alongside presidential envoy Steve Witkoff in negotiations involving Gaza and Iran and later traveled as a U.S. envoy to Russia and Ukraine as part of efforts to negotiate an end to the war between those countries. He was also appointed to the executive board of the White House's Board of Peace, which was created as part of the administration's plan concerning Gaza. Although he did not hold a conventional Cabinet or State Department position, he again became an important participant in the administration's foreign-policy efforts.

Personal Life

Jared married Ivanka Trump in October 2009 after several years of dating. Ivanka converted to Judaism before their marriage, and the couple married in a Jewish ceremony. They have three children: Arabella, Joseph, and Theodore.

Jared's younger brother, Josh Kushner, built a separate multibillion-dollar fortune as the founder of venture capital firm Thrive Capital. The brothers pursued largely independent business careers, with Josh concentrating heavily on technology investments while Jared focused initially on real estate and later on private equity.

In his 2022 memoir, "Breaking History," Jared revealed that he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer while serving in the White House in 2019. He underwent surgery shortly before Thanksgiving that year and kept the diagnosis largely private while continuing to work. In 2022, he underwent a second thyroid operation and was expected to make a full recovery.

Jared Kushner

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Indian Creek Real Estate

After leaving Washington, Jared and Ivanka established their primary residence in South Florida. In December 2020, they paid approximately $32 million for a roughly 1.8-acre waterfront property on Indian Creek Island near Miami. The seller was singer Julio Iglesias, who had assembled the site from neighboring parcels.

The couple subsequently acquired an existing mansion on the island for approximately $24 million and undertook a substantial renovation. Indian Creek has become one of the most expensive residential enclaves in the United States, with residents and property owners including Jeff Bezos and Tom Brady. Rising property values on the island have dramatically increased the value of Jared and Ivanka's real estate holdings since their original purchases.

The island contains only a few dozen residential properties and maintains its own police force, guarded entrance, and extensive security. Comparable land sales have exceeded $100 million, making the couple's Indian Creek holdings one of their most valuable personal assets outside their business interests.

Art and Other Assets

Jared and Ivanka have also accumulated a substantial art collection. Their holdings have included work by younger contemporary artists and have been valued in the tens of millions of dollars. Financial disclosures filed during their years in government showed that the couple owned interests in hundreds of business entities, investment funds, real estate partnerships, and other assets.

A large portion of Jared's current wealth is connected to his interest in Kushner Companies, his ownership of Affinity Partners, and the appreciation of his South Florida real estate. Those assets, combined with cash, investments, artwork, and other holdings accumulated during his business career, have made him one of the wealthiest former White House advisers in modern American history.

Jared Kushner Net Worth

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Ivanka Trump Net Worth

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