How Jared Kushner's Dad Really Got So Rich

Jared Kushner may have become a household name because of his relationship with Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, but it turns out the businessman had plenty going for him before he and Ivanka became an item back in 2005. In fact, their initial meeting itself was all about business, as the two were actually introduced by a mutual friend real-estate broker who wanted the two to meet so they could potentially do business together, per The New Yorker. Of course, we know their relationship stretched far beyond business!

But while there's no doubting the Trump family have to be a little careful about who they let in their inner circle due to their astonishing wealth and influence (Ivanka alone is thought to be worth a whopping $800 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth!) Donald's daughter probably didn't have money to worry about with her now husband. Per Celebrity Net Worth, Jared is worth actually matches his wife's net worth with his own $800 million in the bank. Ka-Ching!

Just like Ivanka, Jared also came from a family of wealth, with his dad, Charles Kushner, and his grandfather, Joseph Kushner, being the main players to thank for the cushy lifestyle the Kushner clan enjoy today. But how did Charles make his millions?

To find out how Charles Kushner got his money, we have to go way back to his father, Joseph Kushner. Joseph immigrated to the U.S. and began earning money as a construction worker in New Jersey, per City File New York. The hard worker became hugely successful and worked on thousands of apartments across the state, before managing around 4,000 of the apartments he had helped to build, per Forbes.

Charles saw all that success and decided he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps in a similar industry, and, in 1985, he became CEO of the business he named Kushner Companies, which began with real estate in New Jersey. He then began branching out by doing business in other states and spent around 20 years buying apartments. "In '85, I was the chairman, I was the manager, I was the dishwasher," he told The Real Deal in 2007, noting the company, which had over 800 employees that year, only had one secretary at the time.

Charles went on to expand Kusher Companies beyond the real estate game, with interests in the insurance, banking, and telecoms words. The company secured a massive $1.8 billion deal in 2007, which Charles was pretty proud of. "We still hold the record for the most money paid for a single asset. Every day I want to see somebody break that record. I'd rather be the guy that loses that contest, not who wins it," he said.

With such massive deals on the line, it's no surprise that the Kushner family have made some serious bank over the years. According to Forbes, Jared Kushner and his famous family have a combined wealth of a minimum of $1.8 billion — and it's been a family affair to get where they are today.

Jared Kushner was ready to take over his father's business in 2007 after Charles spent two years in prison, as he was famously incarcerated for illegally contributing to campaigns, witness tampering, and tax evasion. The $1.8 billion deal didn't exactly stand the test of time though, as the Kushner family eventually split the building, selling it as smaller properties for $525 million and $1.05 billion. As of 2018, the Kushners had around 20,000 different apartments spread across six states.

And it sounds like Charles has no regrets — well except maybe one, and it relates to family business. When asked by The Real Deal if there was anything he would do differently if he could do it all over again, he responded, "I don't think I would change much. I probably would have heeded my father's advice not to take my brother [Murray Kushner] in as a business partner, which my father always urged me to do."