Investor Robert F. Smith
Wikimedia CommonsRobert F. Smith’s success as the founder of a private equity firm has made him the richest Black man in America.
At the top of the list of America’s six Black billionaires sits Robert F. Smith. He is the founder and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, one of the most successful private equity firms in the nation. With a net worth of $5 billion, Smith is the richest Black man in America.
Despite his reputation and wealth, Smith has mostly kept a low profile, earning him the nickname “The Quiet Billionaire.”
Smith’s ambitious habits started early on in his youth. With stellar grades under his belt as a junior in high school, he tried to apply for an internship at Bell Labs, but the company told him he was too young.
So he called the company every week for five months, trying to convince them to give him an internship. Finally, after an intern from MIT was a no-show, they were convinced to give Smith a try.
Later, Robert F. Smith graduated from Cornell’s College of Engineering with a chemical engineering degree and went on to work as Goodyear Tire and Rubber, followed by Kraft General Foods. He then switched gears to pursue a master’s degree in business at Columbia University, a decision that puzzled his family.
“When I finished business school and decided to join the tumultuous world of investment banking, my family and friends spoke up with concerns about my sanity,” Smith said jokingly in his 2015 commencement speech at American University.
But the risk paid off. Robert F. Smith went on to work on Wall Street at Goldman Sachs. He eventually became cohead of enterprise systems and storage-investment banking, advising on $50 billion of deals from 1994 to 2000.
In 2000, Smith left Goldman Sachs to build his own private equity firm, Vista Equity Partners, which is now one of the most successful in the U.S.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for RFK Ripple of HopeRobert F. Smith onstage at RFK Human Rights Ripple of Hope Awards in New York City.
With his enormous wealth, Smith has also secured a reputation as a generous philanthropist. In 2017, Smith became the first African American to sign The Giving Pledge, an invite-only alliance of billionaires pledging to give away the majority of their fortunes.
He was also a big donor to the completion of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. And in 2019, he made headlines when he announced a $34 million gift to pay off the student loans of an entire graduating class at Morehouse College, a historically Black college.
Smith said that his active philanthropy work was something that he learned from his parents, who had always been supporters of educational funds in their community.
“Part of what I think about is, I know today the problems that are facing the communities I care about,” Smith said. “If I have the capacity to do something about them, frankly it’s on me to do something about them.”
Next, get to know Mary Ellen Pleasant, the black female millionaire of 19th-century San Francisco and meet Mansa Musa, the 14th-century Malian emperor who may have been the richest person in history.
