Laurene Powell Jobs

Laurene Powell Jobs
Powell Jobs in 2012
Born
Laurene Powell

(1963-11-06) November 6, 1963
West Milford, New Jersey, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Pennsylvania (BA, BS)
Stanford University (MBA)
OrganizationEmerson Collective
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1991; died 2011)​
Children3, including Reed and Eve
RelativesMona Simpson (sister-in-law)

Laurene Powell Jobs (née Powell; born November 6, 1963)[1][2] is an American entrepreneur, business executive and philanthropist.[3] She is the founder and president of Emerson Collective, lead investor and chair of The Atlantic and co-founder and chair of XQ Institute.[3][4] Powell Jobs also sits on the boards of the Ford Foundation, Council on Foreign Relations, Chicago CRED, College Track and Elemental Impact.[5][6][7] She was married to Steve Jobs, who was the co-founder and former chief executive of Apple Inc, for more than 20 years.[8][9]

Early life and education

Powell Jobs was raised in West Milford, New Jersey.[10] She earned a B.A. in political science from the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences and a B.S. degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1985.[3][11][12] She received her MBA degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1991.[3][12][13]

Career

Before business school, Powell Jobs worked for Merrill Lynch Asset Management and spent three years at Goldman Sachs as a fixed-income trading strategist.[3][14] In the 1990s, after her MBA, Powell Jobs co-founded Terravera, a natural foods company that sold to retailers throughout Northern California.[3][14]

In 2011, Powell Jobs founded Emerson Collective, a company that invests in entrepreneurs and innovators working in education and immigration reform, media, journalism and conservation using a combination of venture investing and philanthropy.[3][15] In an interview with the Financial Times in June 2025, Powell Jobs said the company "invests in entrepreneurs and innovators driven by purpose and a sense of possibility".[16] Through Emerson, Powell Jobs owns The Atlantic.[17]

In 2013, Powell Jobs was an investor in Ozy Media and resigned from the board in 2017.[18][19]

In 2017, Powell Jobs purchased a 20 per cent stake in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NBA's Washington Wizards, NHL's Washington Capitals, and Capital One Arena. She was the second-largest shareholder behind chairman Ted Leonsis.[20][21]

As of 2023, she is an investor in California Forever, a company building a planned sustainable city in Solano County, California.[22] The project has purchased over 66,000 acres in Solano County with the goal of bringing good paying jobs, new energy infrastructure, new homes, walkable neighborhoods, parks and cultural venues.[23]

In May 2025, Chiba Institute of Technology conferred an honorary doctorate to Powell Jobs along with Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Reid Hoffman in recognition of their contributions to society.[24]

In March 2025, Daniel Lurie, Mayor of San Francisco, appointed Powell Jobs as co-chair of 'The Partnership for San Francisco' alongside Ruth Porat.[25]

Philanthropy

In 1997, Powell Jobs co-founded College Track, a non-profit organization in East Palo Alto to improve high school graduation, college enrollment, and college graduation rates for students from under-resourced communities.[26][27][28][29]

Of College Track's high school graduates, many of whom are first-generation college students, about 90 percent attend four-year colleges, and 70 percent finish college in six years, whereas the national average for first-generation college students is 24 percent.[28] College Track has facilities in East Palo Alto; Sacramento; San Francisco; Oakland; Watts; Boyle Heights; Crenshaw; New Orleans; Aurora, Colorado; Denver; Prince George's County, Maryland; Washington, D.C., and Baltimore in 2026.[27][28][30][31] "We have a wait list of five cities where we'd like to open up centers," Powell Jobs has said.

In September 2015, Powell Jobs launched a $50 million project to create high schools with new approaches to education. Called XQ: The Super School Project, the initiative aims to inspire teams of educators, students, and community leaders to create and implement new plans for high schools. Efforts include altering school schedules, curriculums and technologies in order to replace the country's century-old high school education model. Funding for XQ comes from Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective. Following an initial $50 million financial contribution,[32][33] XQ announced an additional contribution, awarding ten schools $10 million each, for a total financial contribution of $100 million.[34][35][36] The schools were chosen from approximately 700 submissions nationwide.[37][38] Powell Jobs' team of advisors is led by Russlynn H. Ali.[32][33]

Powell Jobs' philanthropy has been described as of limited "transparency and accountability."[39] In 2019, Powell Jobs was designated the "Least Transparent Mega-Giver" by Inside Philanthropy.[40][41][42] In an interview with Bloomberg in 2022, Powell Jobs’s said her philanthropy operates almost entirely anonymously to give "greater emphasis" to the charities themselves rather than the donors.[43]

In 2021, Powell Jobs announced the creation of a new climate philanthropic organization called the Waverley Street Foundation, with an initial investment of $3.5 billion to be spent over 10 years.[44] The foundation focuses on regenerative agriculture, renewable energy and community resiliency.[45]

Political activity

Powell Jobs has made donations to various Democratic Party politicians over the last 20 years.[46][47][48]

In the 2016 US presidential election, Powell Jobs donated $2 million to Hillary Clinton and raised another $4 million for her campaign.[49][50]

In 2017, it was reported that Powell Jobs provided funding to the political organization ACRONYM.[51][52]

Personal life

In October 1989, Steve Jobs gave a "View from the Top" lecture at Stanford Business School. Laurene Powell was a new MBA student and started up a conversation with Jobs, who was seated next to her. They subsequently had dinner together that night.[53] A year and a half later, on March 18, 1991, they married in a traditional Buddhist wedding ceremony at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park.[54][55] Presiding over the wedding was Kōbun Chino Otogawa, a Zen Buddhist monk.[54][56]

Powell Jobs resides in Palo Alto, California.[14] In 2024, it was reported she purchased a residential property in San Francisco worth $70 million.[57] She and Steve Jobs had three children together: son Reed (born September 1991) and daughters Erin (born 1995) and Eve (born 1998). Laurene is also the stepmother of Lisa Brennan-Jobs (born 1978), Steve's daughter from a previous relationship. In 2018, she stated that the book Small Fry by her stepdaughter Lisa Brennan contains false information about Steve Jobs as a father.[58]

In 2023, she was ranked as the 25th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.[59]

In 2025, she visited India for Maha Kumbh Mela 2025.[60][61]

As of July 2025, Powell Jobs was ranked 244th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with an estimated net worth of $11.9 billion.[62]

Powell Jobs (left) receiving Medal of Freedom on behalf of Steve Jobs from Joe Biden in July 2022

Steve Jobs' death

On October 5, 2011, at the age of 56, Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, died due to complications from a relapse of islet cell neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer.[63][64] At the time, Powell Jobs inherited the Steven P. Jobs Trust, which as of May 2013 had a 7.3 per cent stake in The Walt Disney Company worth about $12.1 billion, and 38.5 million shares of Apple Inc.[9][10][12]

Honors

References

  1. ^ Isaacson, Walter (2011). "Family Man". Steve Jobs (First ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 269. ISBN 978-1-4516-4853-9. Lauren Powell had been born in New Jersey in 1963 and learned to be self-sufficient at an early age.
  2. ^ United States birth records
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Laurene Powell Jobs". Emerson Collective. Archived from the original on August 11, 2015. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
  4. ^ Harris, Elizabeth A. (September 14, 2016). "$100 Million Awarded in Contest to Rethink U.S. High Schools". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  5. ^ "Laurene Powell Jobs". Ford Foundation. December 6, 2023. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
  6. ^ "Laurene Powell Jobs | Council on Foreign Relations". www.cfr.org. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
  7. ^ "From Our Co-Founder and CEO". College Track. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
  8. ^ "Laurene Powell Jobs & family". Forbes. November 2014. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
  9. ^ a b Golum, Rob (November 24, 2011). "Jobs's 7.7% Disney Stake Transfers to Trust Led by Widow Laurene". Bloomberg News. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  10. ^ a b Peter Lattman; Claire Cain Miller (May 17, 2013). "Steve Jobs's Widow Steps Onto Philanthropic Stage". The New York Times. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  11. ^ "Trustees' Council of Penn Women". University of Pennsylvania. Laurene Powell Jobs, CW'85
  12. ^ a b c "Laurene Powell Jobs". Forbes. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
  13. ^ "President Obama Announces Members of the White House Council for Community Solutions". whitehouse.gov. December 14, 2010 – via National Archives.
  14. ^ a b c "Laurene Powell Jobs". Parsa. Archived from the original on September 14, 2010. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
  15. ^ "Steve Jobs' Widow Debuts Philanthropic". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
  16. ^ Garrahan, Matthew (June 2, 2025). "'Humanity deserves better': Jony Ive and Laurene Powell Jobs on tech's next chapter". www.ft.com. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  17. ^ Calderone, Michael (November 20, 2019). "Laurene Powell Jobs solidifies control of The Atlantic as Bradley relinquishes duties". Politico. Retrieved September 6, 2020. Emerson has invested in media start-ups such as Axios
  18. ^ Smith, Ben (September 27, 2021). "Goldman Sachs, Ozy Media and a $40 Million Conference Call Gone Wrong". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 27, 2021. Laurene Powell Jobs, who had co-founded a college prep nonprofit with Mr. Watson in 1997, invested and joined the Ozy board
  19. ^ "Ozy Media raises $5.3M in seed round". Venture Capital Post. December 28, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2020. Laurene Powell, the widow of former Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs, backed the startup
  20. ^ Zucker, Joseph. "Steve Jobs' Widow, Laurene, Reportedly Purchased 20% Stake in Wizards, Capitals". Bleacher Report. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  21. ^ Heath, Thomas (October 3, 2017). "Laurene Powell Jobs is buying a big stake in Wizards, Capitals sports empire". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  22. ^ "Billionaires want to build a new city in rural California. They must convince voters first". ABC News. Retrieved September 24, 2023.
  23. ^ "Bay Area group says California Forever's new city could help Solano County grow jobs, housing". San Francisco Chronicle. July 11, 2024.
  24. ^ a b "Chiba Institute of Technology Awards Honorary Doctorates to His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Ms. Laurene Powell Jobs, and Mr. Reid Garrett Hoffman". June 16, 2025. Retrieved June 16, 2025.
  25. ^ "San Francisco's Ultra-Rich Join Forces to Revive Struggling City". Bloomberg. March 20, 2025.
  26. ^ Peter, Lattman; Miller, Claire Cain (May 17, 2013). "Steve Jobs's Widow Steps Onto Philanthropic Stage". The New York Times. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  27. ^ a b "Our Vision". collegetrack.org. College Track. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  28. ^ a b c Sparks, Evan (Spring 2010). "The Old College Try". Philanthropy. Archived from the original on April 7, 2018. Retrieved February 8, 2023 – via philanthropyroundtable.org.
  29. ^ Brow, Jason (July 28, 2017). "Laurene Powell Jobs: 5 Things About Steve Jobs' Widow & New Owner Of 'The Atlantic'". Hollywood Life. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  30. ^ "2013 Global Conference Speakers". milkeninstitute.org. Milken Institute. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
  31. ^ "Southeast D.C." College Track. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  32. ^ a b Medina, Jennifer (September 14, 2015). "Laurene Powell Jobs Commits $50 Million to Create New High Schools". The New York Times. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  33. ^ a b Scott, Monica (November 16, 2015). "How Grand Rapids could get $10M for Museum School". Michigan Live. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
  34. ^ Reilly, Katie (September 15, 2016). "These 10 Ideas Are Each Getting $10 Million to Change High School". Time.
  35. ^ Toppo, Greg (September 16, 2016). "$100M from Laurene Powell Jobs to remake schools for high tech age". USA Today.
  36. ^ Harris, Elizabeth A. (September 14, 2016). "$100 Million Awarded in Contest to Rethink U.S. High Schools". The New York Times.
  37. ^ "Ten U.S. "Super Schools" awarded $10M each for reimagining education". CBS News. September 15, 2016.
  38. ^ Spencer, Saranac Hale (September 15, 2016). "Delaware school's $10 million innovation". Delaware Online.
  39. ^ Schleifer, Theodore (February 28, 2020). "Laurene Powell Jobs's charitable group is going to give away almost all of its money". Vox.
  40. ^ "How Laurene Powell Jobs Is Putting Her Wealth to Work". Worth.com. Worth Acquisition Group. February 19, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  41. ^ "Emerson Collective". influencewatch.org.
  42. ^ "Philanthropy Awards, 2019". Inside Philanthropy. December 31, 2019.
  43. ^ Rubenstein, David (December 1, 2022). "The David Rubenstein Show: Laurene Powell Jobs". Bloomberg.
  44. ^ "Can $3.5 billion help fix climate change? Laurene Powell Jobs wants to find out". Los Angeles Times. September 1, 2022. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  45. ^ "Who will get Powell Jobs' $3.5B gift for climate work?". AP News. October 19, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  46. ^ Tindera, Michela. "Here Are The Billionaires Funding The Democratic Presidential Candidates, As Of September 2019". Forbes.
  47. ^ Schleifer, Theodore (July 16, 2020). "Silicon Valley pours money into Biden's campaign – and snubs Trump's". Vox.
  48. ^ Goldmacher, Shane (July 16, 2020). "Biden Banks $242 Million as Big-Name Donors Write Huge Checks". The New York Times.
  49. ^ Canales, Áine Cain, Taylor Nicole Rogers, Katie. "Meet billionaire investor Laurene Powell Jobs, who spends much of her $21 billion on charity and says her kids won't inherit the fortune". Business Insider. Archived from the original on September 12, 2021. Retrieved September 27, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  50. ^ Megan Henney (February 27, 2020). "Steve Jobs' widow vows Apple co-founder's fortune will be given away". Fox Business. Retrieved September 5, 2020. In 2016, she backed Hillary Clinton, donating $2 million to her super PAC via her nonprofit and hosting a $200,000-a-plate fundraiser that raised more than $4 million
  51. ^ Jim Rutenberg; Matthew Rosenberg (March 30, 2020). "Trump Won the Internet. Democrats Are Scrambling to Take It Back". The New York Times. Retrieved August 31, 2020. Another initiative went more smoothly, at least at first. It was called Acronym; among its backers were the Dollar Shave Club founder Michael Dubin, Mr. Hoffman and Ms. Powell Jobs.
  52. ^ Thompson, Alex (July 14, 2020). "Newsroom or PAC? Liberal group muddies online information wars". Politico. Retrieved September 5, 2020. Acronym – a sprawling digital organization whose programs include millions of dollars in traditional political advertising and voter engagement efforts, with financing from some of the deepest pockets in progressive politics, such as liberal billionaires Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, and Laurene Powell Jobs, the majority owner of The Atlantic – has stirred outrage and provoked debate about the ethics of such political tactics
  53. ^ Love, Dylan. "Steve Jobs Skipped A Business Meeting To Take His Wife On Their First Date". Business Insider. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  54. ^ a b Linzmayer, Owen W. (2004). Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World's Most Colorful. No Starch Press. ISBN 9781593270100. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
  55. ^ Milian, Mark (October 6, 2011). "The spiritual side of Steve Jobs | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
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  58. ^ Valinsky, Jordan (August 28, 2018). "Steve Jobs' widow pushes back on her stepdaughter's memoir". CNN.com. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  59. ^ "The World's Most Powerful Women 2023". Forbes.
  60. ^ "Laurene Powell Jobs faces health issues at Maha Kumbh, recovering after 'Ganga snan'". The Hindu. January 14, 2025.
  61. ^ "Laurene Powell Jobs, Amitabh Bachchan And More | Celebs Flock To UP For Maha Kumbh 2025". Outlook India. January 14, 2025.
  62. ^ "Bloomberg Billionaires Index". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2025. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
  63. ^ "Rare Pancreatic Cancer Caused Steve Jobs' Death" (Press release). Voice of America. October 7, 2011. Archived from the original on January 24, 2012. Retrieved October 7, 2011.
  64. ^ "Apple Co-Founder Steve Jobs Dies At Age 56". Forbes. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
  65. ^ "Laurene Powell Jobs | American Academy of Arts and Sciences". www.amacad.org. July 2, 2025. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  66. ^ "Ernest C. Arbuckle Award". Stanford Graduate School of Business. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  67. ^ La familia real de Bután inaugura sus medallas a la felicidad con la viuda de Steve Jobs, Laurene Powell
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