Ted Leonsis net worth
What is the net worth of Ted Leonsis?
Ted Leonsis is a sports team owner, venture capitalist, film producer, author and philanthropist with a net worth of $2 billion. Ted Leonsis has gained his net worth through numerous investments in sports teams, movies and being the author of the book The Business of Happiness. For over three decades, Ted has proven to be a serial entrepreneur who has built and sold multiple successful businesses.
early life
Theodore John Leonsis was born on January 8, 1957, in Brooklyn, New York, to working-class grandparents who were immigrant Greek mill workers and parents who were waiters and secretaries. Young Ted mows lawns for extra money, and his high school counselor thinks he’s destined to work in a grocery store. But while mowing the lawn for wealthy stockbroker and Georgetown alumnus Jim Shannon, the wheels were set in motion. Shannon was impressed with the boy and helped Ted get into Georgetown University after he graduated from Lowell High School.
The first in his family to attend college, Ted Leonsis majored in American Studies and graduated top of his class in 1977. He then moved back to his parents’ home in Lowell, Massachusetts, and began working at Wang Laboratories as a public relations manager and at Harris Corporation as a marketing executive.
Magazine
Ted left Harris Corporation at the age of 25 and moved to Florida to start his first venture, publishing LIST, a technology magazine focused on personal computing. He eventually raised $1 million in funding with partner Vicente Pica. The first issue, published in 1982, proved a huge success selling $50,000 worth of copies on newsstands. Two years later, Ted sold the company to Thomson Reuters for $40 million, netting him $20 million.
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America Online
Ted Leonsis is perhaps best known as an Internet industry pioneer who was instrumental in turning AOL (formerly known as America Online) into a global phenomenon. In 1994, his early media company, Redgate Communications, was acquired by AOL, and Leonsis spent the next 13 years as a senior executive at AOL.
sports team ownership
As founder, chairman, majority owner and CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, Ted Leonsis owns and operates the Washington Capitals (NHL), Washington Wizards (NBA), Washington Mystics (WNBA) and the Verizon Center. NBC Sports Group has invested as an equity partner in Monumental Network, a digital hub for sports and entertainment news in Washington, D.C.
Other venture capital and philanthropy
During his tenure as a venture capitalist, Ted Leonsis made several personal investments and became a partner in the newly formed “accelerated capital” Revolution Growth Fund II. Additionally, Ted Leonsis is a recognized documentary filmmaker and the founder, chairman and largest shareholder of SnagFilms. He wrote and produced the award-winning documentary Nanking (2007), followed by two documentaries Kicking It (2008) and Fighting Chance (2010). While the number of charities he supports is ever-growing, Ted’s prominent charities include Best Buddies, DC Central Kitchen, See Forever Foundation, Venture Philanthropy Partners, and many more.
personal life
Ted is married to Lynn Leonsis and they have a son and a daughter. The couple married in August 1987.
Ted Leonsis bought a 13-acre property in Potomac, Maryland, for $20 million in 2011 after selling his family homes in McLean, Virginia, and Vero Beach, Fla. manor. The 20,000-square-foot estate was once owned by Joseph P. Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt.
