The 19th richest person in the world might not be a household name to everyone, but his impact on the finance world is felt by many investors today.
Thanks to the soaring value of the company he founded, his wealth is increasing, and he is about to pass Bill Gates, one of the most well-known financial figures of all time.
• Interactive Brokers Group stock is challenging resistance. What’s driving IBKR to record levels?
Who Is Thomas Peterffy?
Thomas Peterffy is the chairman of Interactive Brokers (NASDAQ:IBKR), the digital brokerage company he founded that is one of the largest brokerages in the world today.
Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1944 during a World War II bombing raid, Peterffy would leave the country years later and eventually emigrate to the U.S.
Peterffy once said that learning computer programming was easier than learning the English language. With a love for programming, the executive would work various jobs in the finance and commodities, including trading options on the American Stock Exchange, as reported by Bloomberg.
The future billionaire worked on automating the options trading process. This led to the eventual creation of what is now Interactive Brokers, a company that could facilitate trades for individual investors electronically.
Known to some as the "father of digital trading," the contributions to automating trading for investors are felt today by many.
Thomas Peterffy's Net Worth
Today, Peterffy is worth an estimated $101 billion, ranking 19th in the world. Peterffy's net worth has jumped $23.5 billion in 2026 thanks to a surging stock price for Interactive Brokers shares.
In 2007, Interactive Brokers went public.
Peterffy maintains 96.1% ownership of IBG Holdings, the controlling company that owns around 75% of Interactive Brokers.
Of his $101 billion in net worth, an estimated $98 billion is tied to his stake in IBG Holdings.
Ranking just ahead of the 81-year-old Peterffy is Gates, who is worth $102 billion.
While Peterffy has gained $23.5 billion in net worth thanks to Interactive Brokers stock being up over 30% year-to-date in 2026, Gates is down $15.2 billion with Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) down 13.4% year-to-date.
With Interactive Brokers’ stock hitting new all-time highs on Thursday, Peterffy could pass Gates any day. In 2026, to date, the $23.5 billion net worth gain by Peterffy is the third largest gain outside of anyone in the top 10 richest people in the world.
Photo: Piotr Swat/Shutterstock
Login to comment