Daymond John is an American entrepreneur and investor worth an estimated $350 million. Learn more about his portfolio and the principles that go into building and investing his wealth.
Updated Jul 11, 2023
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Daymond Garfield John is an American businessman, investor, TV personality, and motivational speaker. He is best known as one of the stars of ABC’s Shark Tank, where he has earned the nickname “the People’s Shark” due to his wholesome investment style.
His first professional success was his brand For Us By Us (FUBU), a clothing company focused on creating fashionable, affordable streetwear for young people. FUBU crossed the $6 billion annual sales mark in 2016. John also runs a highly-regarded consulting firm, the Shark Group, is a brand ambassador for Shopify and Audible, and authored four books.
It may not be surprising that John's net worth is an estimated $350 million.
But how did he go from a Catholic school in Hollis, Queens to one of President Obama’s presidential ambassadors for global entrepreneurship? Let’s break down Daymond John's net worth and find out how he amassed his wealth.
Net worth | $350 million |
Born | February 23, 1969 |
Became a millionaire at | 29 |
Occupations | Entrepreneur, Motivational Speaker, TV Personality |
Sources of wealth | FUBU, The Shark Group |
Asset classes | Startups, Stocks, Real Estate, Cryptocurrency |
John was born on February 23, 1969 in Brooklyn, New York and spent his early years in the rough neighborhood of Hollins, Queens. Growing up, he worked odd jobs to help support his mom.
From a very young age, Daymond was a massive fan of hip-hop and rap.
While working a full-time job at Red Lobster and selling homemade hats on the side, Daymond saw a gap in the market: fashionable clothing wasn't affordable to kids like him who lived in urban communities. That’s how the idea for FUBU was born.
In 1992, when Daymond had barely any money himself, his mother pulled through and risked it all for him. She mortgaged her house and lent him $100,000 to start up the business.
The stakes couldn’t have been higher. FUBU was Daymond’s one shot at building his brand into a business, and giving up wasn't an option.
John founded FUBU with his friends Alexander Martin, Carlton Brown, and Keith Perrin.
They began making and selling things like hockey jerseys and screen-printed t-shirts out of Mrs. John's basement. The brand quickly gained popularity.
The FUBU brand grew into a successful clothing company in just a few years. He has a niche-but-loyal customer base and a strong presence in the urban fashion market.
The team was also able to secure product placement in 30 music videos, which gave the FUBU brand much-needed exposure to grow the business. From 1992 to 1998, FUBU transitioned from being a small home business to a national brand.
At its peak in 1998, FUBU pulled in $350 million in sales. But Daymond John's net worth rise was just getting started.
While FUBU was doing better than ever before, Daymond took the opportunity to scale other ventures. John leveraged his newfound exposure and net worth to write a series of bestsellers on business, marketing, and mindset. He has published four books so far:
These publications have earned him best-selling author accolades from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.
These days, he's dedicated to giving back and passing his knowledge of business, sales, and marketing on to the next generation. After building an impeccable personal brand as a globally recognized entrepreneur, John uses his platform to inspire and educate aspiring entrepreneurs worldwide.
“The People’s Shark” is well known for his conservative and wholesome investing style.
Daymond John has publicly stated that he maintains a diverse portfolio across asset classes such as startups, stocks, real estate, cryptocurrencies, and more. He has also mentioned his larger investments have been in apparel brands.
The television personality is not upfront about any particular investment, but has a few public ventures from which you may learn more about his portfolio and investment style.
Daymond John has invested a total of $8.5 million across 61 deals on Shark Tank. Most often, he likes to invest in private clothing and technology companies.
Without going into every single deal Daymond has made on Shark Tank, here are some of his highest-performing acquisitions to date:
But you don’t need to be a shark to get in early on the next high-performing startup.
With platforms such as Dizraptor, you can invest in private companies just as easily as you can buy stock on the stock market. Sign up for Dizraptor, and you can get started for as little as a thousand dollars.
Startups
Chart tracking the performance of Daymond John's Shark Tank deals.
Source: inc.com
Even though Daymond John invests in a variety of startups, it’s unclear how much the Shark has invested in stocks.
One thing we know based on his investment philosophy is that he prefers investing in industries he’s already comfortable in—retail, clothing, accessories, recreational goods, technology, and more.
John stated that he invests in stocks and maintains a diverse portfolio. And according to online data, some of his biggest investments are in the retail, clothing, and MedTech industries.
Since the TV star has close to $130 million invested in startups, collectibles, and real estate, it's safe to assume he has between 10% and 20% of his remaining portfolio in stocks.
For the sake of creating a Daymond John-inspired portfolio, assume he invests about 40% of his combined investments in other asset classes. This leaves us with total stock holdings of about $52 million.
Daymond John juggles his daily life between Manhattan and other counties of New York. The television star lives in a beautiful apartment in Midtown Manhattan, just across from the Empire State Building. A reasonable assumption for the value of his New York apartment, based on its area and the value of neighboring apartments, would be about $5.2 million.
He also owns an estate in Dutchess County and hundreds of acres of land in New York. On that estate, he has a farm with animals, fruit garden, and keeps over 1 million bees. Listings of neighboring estates start at $6 million and go up to $45 million. Since Daymond’s estate is on the water and covers hundreds of acres of land, a value of $15 million is fit for the size and quality of this asset.
But while not everyone will own a penthouse in New York, owning a fraction of commercial real estate (and generating income from it) is something anyone can do for as little as $100. Platforms like Elevate Money let you acquire fractionalized ownership of the land that commercial real estate is built on.
Use Elevate Money to earn passive income from your real estate investments without ever having to deal with owners and tenants.
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John isn’t compelled to disclose any of his personal net worth or financial information and doesn't own a company that issues stock publicly.
However, tracking the performance of each of his Shark Tank investments can give you insights into how much of his net worth is invested in startups. Out of his estimated $350 million net worth, more than 30% is derived from his investments in private companies.
By determining the total cost of his real estate holdings based on similar listings for neighboring estates, you’ll come to the conclusion real estate makes up about 10% of his portfolio.
And assuming he invests about 40% of his combined other investments into stocks, his total stock holdings may be worth close to $50 million, or about 15% of his portfolio.
Daymond has also publicly stated he owns several cryptocurrencies. But being a conservative investor who likes to do his homework before he invests, he most likely invests no more than 50% of what he invests in stocks. This might also mean he’s likely to go for popular cryptocurrency options such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. With that said, it’s safe to assume cryptocurrencies make up no more than 12% of Daymond’s total portfolio.
The TV star also owns several luxury watches, including a Devon 1G and a gold Breitling Emergency. Brought together, these two collectibles may resell for anywhere between $35,000 and $45,000.
Here’s how a Daymond John-inspired portfolio performs against a standard 60-40 portfolio:
Daymond’s approach to investing has always been more personal as if he’s investing in a team or a person rather than a business. With that said, he remains a conservative investor interested in the facts and metrics that truly matter in a business.
When you’ve heard as many pitches as John, you learn that only the people who are conscientious enough to do their due diligence are the ones that get ahead.
Daymond isn’t an idealist when it comes to investing in businesses. He understands business is, at its core, solving a problem and providing supply where there is a demand.
A young boy named Moziah Bridges went on Shark Tank to get $50 thousand for 20% of his bowtie manufacturing company, Mo's Bows. John, however, turned down the offer and insisted on giving the aspiring entrepreneur free mentoring instead. Bridges eventually gave in and ended up making a fortune from a licensing agreement to use NBA team logos on his bowtie creations.
Find companies that have a solid customer base and the potential for growth. This is key for any successful investment. You want to invest in companies that are already making money, not ones that are trying to build from scratch.
John wants to see that the founding team has put in the effort to try their idea out and see if it works. He doesn't want to invest in an idea that hasn't been tested yet. The team needs to be knowledgeable and confident in the idea they're presenting. It's important to him that the team has put in the effort to learn from any mistakes they have made and be diligent in their efforts.