Thomas Peterffy Net Worth

What is Thomas Peterffy's Net Worth?

Thomas Peterffy is a businessman who has a net worth of $65 billion. Thomas Peterffy founded, chairs, and serves as the largest shareholder of the online brokerage firm Interactive Brokers. Having immigrated to the United States from Hungary in the 1960s, he worked as an architectural draftsman and then as a computer programmer before helping to develop the world's first electronic trading platform for securities. A Republican, Peterffy has donated substantial amounts of money to the various campaigns of Donald Trump.

Early Life

Thomas Peterffy was born on September 30, 1944 in Budapest, Hungary in a hospital basement during a Russian air raid. After the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1956, his father immigrated to the United States. Peterffy followed suit in 1965, joining his father in New York City. However, unable to secure accommodations with his father, who was living with his second wife at the time, Peterffy was given $100 from his father and told to "make something of himself."

Career Beginnings

Although he did not speak English after immigrating to the United States, Peterffy became an architectural draftsman for an engineering firm working on highway projects. At the firm, he volunteered to program a new computer, and eventually began a career designing financial modeling software. Peterffy designed software for Mocatta Metals.

Timber Hill and Interactive Brokers

In 1977, Peterffy left his career designing commodity trading software and purchased a seat on the American Stock Exchange to trade equity options. He went on to found the market maker T.P. & Co., which was the first firm to use daily printed fair value pricing sheets. In 1982, the firm was renamed Timber Hill Inc., and in 1983 it became the first entity to use handheld computers for trading. The battery-powered units featured touchscreens for the user to input a stock price, with the units then yielding the recommended option prices. Peterffy's computerization of the options market caused a major stir, and he was banned from the Chicago Board Options Exchange. He subsequently started trading on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and in 1985 he introduced his computer system to the New York Stock Exchange.

By 1987, Timber Hill had nearly 70 employees and had become self-clearing in equities. That year, Peterffy created the first fully automated algorithmic trading system, which consisted of an IBM computer that pulled data from a Nasdaq terminal to carry out trades on a fully automated basis. In 1993, Interactive Brokers was created to provide Timber Hill's technology to customers. The company expanded internationally over the ensuing years, with branches in Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, and Australia. In 2001, the corporate name of Timber Hill was changed to Interactive Brokers. Since then, the company has gone public, and has become the largest foreign exchange market broker as well as one of the largest prime brokers servicing commodity brokers. In 2021, Interactive Brokers began trading in cryptocurrencies.

Political Activities

In 2012, Peterffy launched political ads supporting the Republican Party. He bought millions of dollars of airtime on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg, among other networks, warning about a supposed rise of socialism in the United States. The ads were heavily criticized for their ignorance. Later, in 2016, Peterffy donated $100,000 to a political group supporting Donald Trump, although he did not vote for the candidate in that year's presidential primaries. However, he ended up voting for him in the general election. In 2020, Peterffy donated $250,000 to Trump's failed reelection campaign. A few years later, he distanced himself from the twice-impeached former president and said he would not support his continued campaign. However, like other Republicans, Peterffy ended up caving and donating to his campaign.

Personal Life

With his ex-wife Dale McDonald, Peterffy had two daughters and a son.

For several decades, Thomas was the richest person in Connecticut. Today, Peterffy resides in Palm Beach, Florida and is an avid equestrian. He previously had an 80-acre estate in Connecticut that he sold for $21 million in 2020.