Gavin Newsom's Net Worth Might Surprise You
As there are 50 governors currently in power across the United States, we're guessing you can't name all of them (don't worry, neither can we). Those that immediately jump to mind, include New York's ousted Andrew Cuomo, Texas' Greg Abbott, and of course, Gavin Newsom. Chances are you're already familiar with California's controversial and celebrity-esque governor. Newsom has been steadily rising through the ranks of California politics since he was first appointed to be the traffic and parking commissioner of San Francisco in the mid-'90s. Nearly a decade later, he became the city's mayor, and then went on to become lieutenant governor of the state and eventually governor in 2018, per People.
Newsom's time in office as governor, however, has not been without conflict. Almost immediately after assuming office, his opponents began plotting a recall election, which ultimately took place in 2021. Newsom won easily, but faced an onslaught of criticism and nasty ads from his opponents. Chief among their complaints were Newsom's supposedly massive net worth and easy upbringing. Is that fair, though? Does Newsom deserve to be criticized for his business practices or his connections to some of California's most wealthy and elite families?
We'll let you be the judge, as we dig into the truth about Gavin Newsom's net worth and controversial business practices.
Gavin Newsom is worth millions
As a general rule of thumb, in order to make it big in politics (especially in a state the size of California), you need serious capital. Lucky for Gavin Newsom, that wasn't a problem. Newsom grew up pretty privileged, if not exactly wealthy. According to his own accounts, when his parents divorced, the future politician's mother was his primary guardian, but he benefited enormously from his father's connection with the ultra-wealthy Getty family, often accompanying them on exotic trips around the world, per the Los Angeles Times.
When he grew up, the Getty family seeded Newsom thousands of dollars to start his PlumpJack wine business, which quickly grew from one wine shop into an 800-person corporation with retail stores, hotels, and vineyards across the state. While Newsom was already well on his way to multi-millionaire status thanks to his business, we imagine he was also helped along by his second marriage to Jennifer Siebel, an heir to an investment banking fortune — but more on Newsom's business endeavors, connection to the Gettys, and marriage below.
These days, Newsom is worth an estimated $20 million (via Celebrity Net Worth), with most of that coming from his private investments and family wealth, and very little of it having anything to do with his salary as governor — a reasonable $209,747, per Ballotpedia.
He has been criticized for living large
Gavin Newsom has been criticized for a lot in his career (his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in California, having an admitted affair with a staffer's wife, and the list goes on), but nothing has hit quite as hard as the controversy he faced in 2020 for dining at a fancy restaurant. Alright, to be fair, fancy would be an understatement. Newsom was caught grabbing dinner at The French Laundry, aka one of the most expensive and exclusive eateries in the world.
Now, Newsom is more than welcome to spend his money however he sees fit, but believe us when we tell you that the optics were objectively not good. Newsom was photographed living it up with a large group of people about two hours after he'd publicly asked his constituents not to travel and to abstain from large Thanksgiving celebrations thanks to rising coronavirus case numbers, per Politico.
"It was an outdoor restaurant," Newsom later said at a news conference, per the Los Angeles Times. "As soon as I sat down at the larger table I realized it was a little larger group than I had anticipated. And I made a bad mistake — instead of sitting down, I should have stood up and walked back down to my car and drove back to my house." The governor insisted that everyone wore masks and sat outdoors. However, insiders alleged that no one was wearing a mask and that at many points in the meal, the doors leading to the outside terrace were closed.
Gavin Newsom invests in property
As governor of California, Gavin Newsom gets the added perk of living in the Governor's Mansion in Sacramento. Though it's the "official" residence of the sitting governor, most leaders keep their private residences while in office. Case in point: when Newsom took office, he only lived in the historic Sacramento home for a few weeks before trading up for a swankier private residence in the area, per SFGate.
In 2019, Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel, purchased a $3.7 million home in Fair Oaks. The six-bedroom house, which is about 15 miles from the state capitol, includes a pool, tennis courts, and wine cellar, as well as a guest house. The Newsoms' reasons for ditching the Governor's Mansion were reportedly due to wanting a "more kid-friendly" environment for their young family, the outlet reports.
At the time, the Fair Oaks house was their second private dwelling, as Newsom already owned an enormous house in the Bay Area. Perhaps because he now spends most of his time in Sacramento or traveling the state, Newsom decided to unload the Marin County house in 2021. The former family home was purchased in 2011 for $2.225 million, but Newsom turned a profit on the purchase when he sold it for $5.9 million just 10 years later, per the Los Angeles Times.
The California governor is an entrepreneur
Gavin Newsom didn't jump right into politics when he entered the working world. Like a true Bay Area kid, he opted to go into business for himself first. "I'm proud to have built a number of successful small businesses before my time in public life," Newsom said during a campaign event, per the Los Angeles Times. "Businesses that continue to employ hundreds of Californians."
As previously mentioned, Newsom's first entrepreneurial venture was a small wine store, which he opened in San Francisco in 1992. He named the store PlumpJack based on the title of an opera his friend and financial backer, Gordon Getty, had written. It eventually grew into a multifaceted empire that includes vineyards, restaurants, and retail stores. What's more, through his successful business ventures, Newsom has increased his wealth substantially over the years. In 1996, for example, the businessman-turned-politician was worth an estimated $950,000, but by 2017, he reported a net worth of about $16 million.
These days, Newsom keeps the business in a blind trust, but when he was first elected mayor of San Francisco, he tried to separate himself from his fiduciary interests as completely and ethically as possible by selling his stake in the business to Getty, according to Eater San Francisco. He bought them back when he left office, though. Upon being elected governor, Newsom had lost any interest in parting with his hard-won empire. "These [businesses] are my babies, my life, my family," he said, according to the Associated Press. "I can't do that. I can't sell them."
Gavin Newsom has rich friends
Gavin Newsom definitely raised some eyebrows when his constituents learned that a chunk of the donations to his 2018 gubernatorial campaign came from a small circle of extremely wealthy families in the Bay Area. "He came from their world, and that's why they embraced him without hesitancy and over and above everybody else," former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown told the Los Angeles Times. "They didn't need to interview him. They knew what he stood for."
Those families, while not necessarily his largest donors, have been his most loyal. By now, it should come as no surprise the chief among Newsom's most dedicated supporters are the Gettys, with whom his family has deep ties. Other notable names include the Fishers (who founded the Gap), the Pritzker family (founders of the Hyatt Hotel chain), and the Marcuses (retail moguls).
As his political star continued to rise, Newsom collected an impressive list of billionaire donors, which enabled him to outspend his opponents by leaps and bounds. Case in point: one of Newsom's biggest donors to date has been the co-founder of Netflix, who gifted him a handsome $3.1 million for campaign financing. To be fair, political experts think that Newsom's excessive donations have less to do with the politician himself and more to do with his party's position in California. "Many of California's billionaires come from the technology sector," political science professor Jack Pitney explained to Forbes. "They see Democrats as more sympathetic to science and international trade. They are leery of Republican positions on social issues and immigration."
He has been criticized for his business practices
Think back to the spring of 2020: It's peak COVID, and the country is in a perilous economic position. The government offers PPP loans to help small businesses during these trying times. Fast forward a few months, and a slew of stories criticizing wealthy influencers, politicians, and celebrities for taking PPP loans begin to appear, and California Governor Gavin Newsom finds himself at the center of the storm.
Newsom's PlumpJack corporation reportedly took in around $3 million in federal loans. The total was split among nine subsidiaries. "I'm not sure how the company justifies taking that much money when there were a lot of companies looking to get assistance," the Project on Government Oversight's senior policy analyst, Sean Moulton, told KPBS. Newsom supposedly would not have had anything to do with applying for or receiving the loan, as he put the business in a blind trust upon becoming governor. Regardless, for Newsom, who has also faced criticism over his connections to Bay Area billionaires and his COVID-19 restrictions in California, the optics weren't great.
The $918,720 that went to Villa Encinal Partners Limited Partnership proved to be particularly problematic. Villa Encinal only reported 14 employees, and because 60% of the loan needed to be spent on employee salaries to be forgiven, it would suggest that each employee makes around $160,000 a year — a situation which seems unlikely, or at least "unexpected" and "unfair," as others expressed to ABC News. Still, it's impossible to say exactly what that loan was spent on, or if the government would eventually forgive it.
Gavin Newsom is tight with the Gettys
If you've made it this far, then you already know that among Gavin Newsom's most prominent and powerful political allies are the Getty family. Newsom's ties with the Gettys go way back to his childhood, as previously mentioned. His father, William Newsom, was close friends with Gordan and Paul Getty in school and eventually became the family's attorney. Growing up, Gavin Newsom traveled and spent holidays with the Gettys. As an adult, they have clearly played an immeasurable role in his success, between first backing Newsom's PlumpJack wine store, which grew into an entire corporation, per the Los Angeles Times, to becoming some of his big-time political donors.
The connection has drawn a significant amount of criticism from Newsom's political opponents. "It is safe to say that without the Gettys, there would be no Gavin," one political opponent said in an ad (via the Los Angeles Times). Newsom has attempted to play down the connection in more recent years, stating, "People have made it what they want, because it builds a narrative for them." That's all well and good, but it's hard to distance yourself from someone who volunteered to spend over $100,000 to host your first wedding reception.
When he's not playing down the connection, Newsom has been just as supportive of the Getty family as they have of him. He counts Nats Getty among his godchildren and has referred to Gordan and Anne Getty as his "adoptive parents," according to the Daily Mail.
This politician's wife is rich
Gavin Newsom might not have come from money, but he definitely married into it. Newsom's second wife, Jennifer Siebel, is very well connected. When they met, Siebel was working as a director and actor, per IMDb. The pair was set up on a blind date, and apparently the connection was instantaneous. "We had so much in common," Siebel said of the meeting, per the Daily Mail. "We were blown away — from our love for Africa to our interests in political issues to art and the wine business and college sports." Siebel can probably credit that wealth of knowledge to her enviable education.
See, Siebel was much more than a struggling actor. She previously earned an MBA from Stanford — aka one of the best business schools in the world. One of her more notable projects is "Miss Representation," a documentary about the portrayal of women in the film industry which premiered at Sundance in 2011, per HuffPost.
Siebel's decision to study business seems somewhat predictable, as she comes from a family of smart investors. In 2013, the Siebel family made headlines for purchasing a luxurious Tribeca condo for a cool $5.9 million, per the Observer. Additionally, according to The New York Times, her father, Kenneth Siebel, owns millions of dollars' worth of property in Montana. So, where does all that money come from? It turns out Kenneth runs Private Wealth Partner, a private wealth management firm based in San Francisco, which provides him and his family with a very comfortable lifestyle.
Gavin Newsom has taken some sketchy donations
Rule No. 1 of running a campaign is that you need money. The massive amount of dough it takes to run a campaign in California means that normally gubernatorial hopefuls can't be too picky about where that money comes from. Unfortunately for Gavin Newsom, he probably should have checked the receipts a little more carefully, as he's faced significant criticism for who he's allowed to line his pockets.
It's not just donations from ultra-wealthy families that have left a bad taste in some Californians' mouths. Newsom has also been criticized for his history of accepting donations from, well, some pretty questionable sources, such as accepting around $200,000 worth of donations from Pacific Gas and Electric, the largest provider of electricity in California. While the ethics of receiving donations from corporations is always hotly contested, things looked especially bad for Newsom, considering that PG&E has been convicted of six felonies related to starting wildfires in the state, including "willfully breaking federal gas pipeline safety laws," per ABC News.
The governor allegedly also accepted $30,000 worth of donations from Agustin F. Huneeus, a Napa winemaker best known for his involvement in the college admissions scandal. Newsom did not address the connection, but a spokesperson for his gubernatorial campaign claimed that an equivalent sum was donated to Hispanic Scholarship Fund by the campaign as soon as Huneeus' connection to the college admission scandal became known, according to Press Democrat.