These 10 Billionaires Earned Their Fortunes Thanks To Wall Street’s Latest Craze: The SPAC

ByAmy Lamareon May 14, 2021inArticles›Billionaire News

In the last few months you may have heard someone mention the term “SPAC.” As in, “WeWork may try to go public in the coming months through a SPAC.” So, what is a SPAC? Also known as a “special purpose acquisition company”. In short, it’s a new way to get a company listed on a public stock exchange without going through the rigamarole of a traditional IPO process. With a SPAC, a group of investors create a shell company and raise a bunch from an IPO. Then after the money is raised, they find a company to buy.

SPACs have been around for decades but they’ve blown up in recent years. In 2019, SPACs raised a total of $13 billion. In 2020 that number jumped to $82 billion.

By March of 2021, SPACs had already raised $90 billion.

Between 2020 and 201, SPAC IPOs have launched at least 10 people into billionaire territory.

Here are the 10 we know about:

#10. Chamath Palihapitiya Net Worth: $1 billion

#9. (tie) Henrik Fisker Net Worth: $1.6 billion each

#8. (tie) Geeta Gupta-Fisker

Henrik Fisker ran the electric vehicle company, Fisker Automotive, which was a rival to Tesla before it went bankrupt in 2013. Fisker and his wife are trying to relaunch his company with the Fisker Ocean SUV, due in late 2022. Fisker cashed in with an October 2020 SPAC merger with Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp., making both him and his wife billionaires.

#7. Shalom Meckenzie Net Worth: $1.7 billion

Shalom Meckenzie built the gambling technology platform, SBTech, which merged with DraftKings through a SPAC in April. Meckenzie sits on the board of DraftKings, which saw its shares surge in the early months of the pandemic.

#6. William Foley Net Worth: $1.9 billion

These 10 Billionaires Earned Their Fortunes Thanks To Wall Street's Latest Craze: The SPAC - 1

Bill Foley (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

#5. Andrew Paradise Net Worth: $2.3 billion

Andrew Paradise founded Skillz in 2012 with Casey Chafkin. It is the first publicly traded mobile esports platform. It made its debut in December 2020 in a SPAC merger with Flying Eagle Acquisition Corp. Skillz hosts five million esports tournaments daily.

#4. Austin Russell Net Worth: $2.4 billion

#3. (tie) Trevor Milton Net Worth: $3 billion

Trevor Milton is the co-founder of electric truck manufacturer, Nikola. The value of Nikola soared in June following a SPAC merger, pushing Milton’s net worth (temporarily) north of $8 billion. Milton resigned from the company in September 2020 amid allegations of investor fraud.

#2. (tie) Justin Ishbia Net Worth: $3 billion

#1. Mat Ishbia Net Worth: $9.7 billion

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