Andrew Yang Is Not Nearly As Rich As You'd Think

[redqueen]

Those familiar with the rough outlines of Andrew Yang’s business career would be forgiven for thinking he’s a savvy tech billionaire. A “serial entrepreneur” who has been dubbed “Silicon Valley’s candidate,” Yang quit a prestigious job to launch a tech startup, sold a company for millions and now runs his own nonprofit. All that’s missing from his billionaire résumé is a billionaire bank account. After reviewing Yang’s finances, Forbes estimates his fortune to be about $1 million.

That’s a tidy sum for a 44-year-old second-generation American. But it’s less than the net worth of many of the career politicians Yang is running against. And it’s miles behind his entrepreneurial rivals Michael Bennet ($15 million), John Delaney ($200 million) and Tom Steyer ($1.6 billion).

Yang lives in a two-bedroom rental in midtown Manhattan, but his largest asset is a 2,700-square-foot home on a quiet block in New Paltz, New York (about 70 miles north of New York City), worth about $500,000. The rest of his fortune is largely tied up in an average joe’s investment portfolio—cash accounts and diversified mutual funds. Besides small holdings in Lending Club and Google stock, his financial disclosure form reveals just one Silicon Valley investment: a $15,000 to $50,000 stake in an entity called “Hustle Fund I, LP,” part of a small venture capital fund that invests in “hilariously early startups.”

He’s come a long way. Born in Schenectady, New York, to Taiwanese immigrants (his father, a UC Berkeley Ph.D., grew up on a peanut farm with dirt floors), Yang went from Phillips Exeter Academy to Brown University, where he studied economics, then got a law degree from Columbia. Just five months into a high-paying corporate law career, he quit to launch a startup called Stargiving.com. The site, which helped philanthropic celebrities raise funds for nonprofits, never took off. “My company failed spectacularly,” Yang wrote in his 2014 book Smart People Should Build Things, “but I recovered.”

...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2019/11/19/andrew-yang-is-not-nearly-as-rich-as-youd-think

[The Valley Below]

1. Do those in the Yang Gang generally consider it a postitive that he's not as rich...

as some people believed?

Is limited success now more praiseworthy than spectacular success?

Honest questions. We are living in interesting times with regard to attitudes towards wealth and the nature of "success."

[redqueen]

3. I think we're just tired of people saying he's super rich / a billionaire

It's just incorrect. Whether it's good or bad that he isn't is subjective.

[W_HAMILTON]

2. Has he released his tax returns yet?

[redqueen]

4. Not yet. As soon as it happens you can count on me to post it here.

[W_HAMILTON]

5. Seems strange that it's taking so long, given that he's apparently...

…"not rich" and therefore shouldn't have relatively complicated returns.

[redqueen]

6. Not really, he has to maximize every little thing for publicity

so he's probably going to time it around a debate or some other big event.

[W_HAMILTON]

7. Maybe that is his style, but I think we've all grown weary of turning politics into a reality show.

It would be nice if he could just provide the tax returns so we, the media, etc. can perform the due diligence necessary in vetting him as a candidate. We're getting pretty late into the game now to turn a necessary disclosure into some sort of PR stunt.

[redqueen]

8. LOL - that's funny - as if Yang isn't the one who called out that bullshit to begin with

I think what people are tired of is lying, hypocritical politicians.


I don't see any of Yang's supporters crying about not seeing tax returns yet. And I highly doubt anyone is on the fence about supporting him, but it all hinges on what's in those tax returns

[W_HAMILTON]

9. Just because I do not currently support Yang...

...doesn't mean that it's not in my best interest, as a Democrat, to see him appropriately vetted given that he is one of the remaining few Democratic candidates with a chance to win the nomination. I do not want a candidate representing my party that has skeletons in his tax return closet so to speak nor do I want a candidate that drags this issue out like Trump did.

[redqueen]

12. Well I don't want a liar

But I guess we get what we get.

[crazytown]

10. He's worth less than Bernie?

$1m?

[redqueen]

11. Per open secrets

It's Bernie 729030 and Yang 584047
https://www.opensecrets.org/2020-presidential-race/financial-disclosures-and-net-worth

Forbes has Bernie at 2.5 M and Yang at 1M
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2019/08/14/heres-the-net-worth-of-every-2020-presidential-candidate/

Business insider seems to be using Forbes numbers
https://www.businessinsider.com/estimated-net-worth-wealth-2020-democratic-presidential-candidates-2019-4

[crazytown]

13. I must admit I thought Andrew was loaded.

Thank you for this OP!

[redqueen]

14. It seems to be a pretty common misconception :)

Glad to know my post helped clear that up for at least one person!

[crazytown]

15. I feel a little embarrassed actually

I was carrying around of idea of a stratospherically rich tech entrepreneur here to deliver AI assisted, top down prescriptions for us lab rats. I see his candidacy now as more genuinely philanthropic.

[redqueen]

16. Ha, well you're far from the only person who had that impression!

But yeah he's definitely not a Steyer like guy.

In fact when they sold their private company off, he and his partner gave between 10-20% of the profits to their employees.

Description of the bonus pool starts about 18 minutes in
https://www.builttosell.com/podcast/andrew-yang/

I'm told most people already know this but I figured I'd mention it just in case. I know I find it pretty impressive anyway