Chair, Chief Executive
The Gores Group

For almost 40 years Gores has led The Gores Group, a Beverly Hills-based investment firm that amassed its fortune through leveraged buyouts. According to last year’s Business Journal Wealthiest Angelenos rankings, Gores is worth approximately $3.2 billion. He was born to working class, immigrant parents and started his career selling computers to small businesses. He sold that company when he was 33, then used the funds to transition into private equity. After minting new public companies with a special purpose acquisition company investment spree a few years ago, the private equity firm has slowed its sponsoring of initial public offerings amid the market slowdown. The last public deal announced was J.M Smucker’s acquisition of Hostess, the latter of which went public in 2016 with the backing of Gores.

YEARS ON LA500: 9