John Arnold | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | John Douglas Arnold 1974 (age 51–52) |
| Education | Vanderbilt University (BS) |
| Occupations | Philanthropist and Co-Founder ofArnold Ventures LLC |
| Spouse | Laura Muñoz |
| Children | 3 |
John Douglas Arnold (born 1974[1]) is an American billionaire. In 2007, Arnold became the youngest billionaire in the U.S.[2] His firm, Centaurus Advisors, LLC, was aHouston-based hedge fund specializing in trading energy products that closed in 2012.[3][4][5][6][7][8] He now focuses onphilanthropy through Arnold Ventures LLC. Arnold is a board member ofBreakthrough Energy and since February 2024, is a member of the board of directors ofMeta.[9]
Arnold was raised inDallas, Texas, and he was the younger of two sons. His mother was a teacher and would later work as an accountant at Centaurus.[4][10] His father was a corporate lawyer and died when Arnold was 18.[4][10] At 14, he started his first company selling collectiblesports cards called Blue Chip Cards.[2] He completed high school atHillcrest High School in 1992.[1]
A 1995 graduate ofVanderbilt University, he completed a degree in mathematics and economics in three years.[10] He is a member ofLambda Chi Alpha.[11]
After college, he began his career atEnron as an oil analyst.[10] In 1996, less than a year after starting at Enron,[10] he moved to oversee the trading of natural gas derivatives.[12] His trading book is credited with making $750 million for Enron in 2001 and he was rewarded with the largest bonus in Enron history, some $8 million.[10][13] His former colleagues dubbed him "king of natural gas."[14][15] Arnold was deposed in May 2005 by Antara Resources regarding his possible manipulation of information used for gas price indexes.[16][17][18]
He then founded Centaurus, a hedge fund, with his previous year's bonus and two other investors in 2002. He was widely quoted for his viewpoints on the industry by a government commission.[19][better source needed]
During the collapse ofAmaranth Advisors, Centaurus is widely credited as being one of the major players on the other side of their position, returning as much as 150% in 2005.[20] August 2008, Centaurus acquired around 10% of the shares of National Coal Corporation (NCOC).[21][22]
In 2009, Arnold gave a public speech to the U.S.Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), in which he opposed limits on financially settled trading positions but supported limits in the physical energy futures as they near expiration.[23][24] Arnold announced his retirement from running the hedge fund on May 2, 2012.[4][5][6][7][8] Centaurus had an average annualized return in excess of 100% across this 10 year run.[25][better source needed]
In 2019, Arnold became the chairman of Houston's 2026 bid for theFIFA World Cup.[26]
Arnold started donating to theKnowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) in 2004 with a gift of $30,000 which was then based in Houston, and two years later he and his wife pledged $10 million to help KIPP expand to other cities.[27] Other multi-million gifts followed to other education programs, for example toWashington, D.C. city schools formerit pay, toTeach for America, and toStudentsFirst.[27] Arnold has also given to The City Fund, an organization focused on growing the number ofcharter schools in the USA, and its political arm, Public School Allies.[28]
TheLaura and John Arnold Foundation was aprivate foundation founded by Arnold and his wife Laura.[29][2] The organization was founded in 2008.[30] In 2010, the Arnolds were original signatories of theGiving Pledge,[31] a pledge by somehigh-net-worth individuals to donate the majority of their income to philanthropic causes during their lifetimes.[32] From 2010–2013, the Arnolds were heavily involved in theInnocence Project which led to their interest in criminal reform.[33] The Foundation is focused on evidence-backed giving for systematic change.[34][35]
In 2013, the Arnolds donated $10 million as a private donation to the National Head Start Association after the United States federal government shutdown of 2013 had closed the pre-K Head Start programs.[36]
In October 2018, it was reported that Arnold had spent more than $100 million in health-care related grants since 2014, with a particular focus on reducing pharmaceutical drug costs.[37] Arnold fundsInstitute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), a nonprofit that created a formula to price drugs. Those who support ICER’s formula believe it could lower prices while critics argue that the formula is discriminator toward the elderly and those with disabilities or rare diseases.[38] Arnold also has been an influential supporter of Democrats’ efforts to pass a drug-price reform bill.[39]
In 2019, the organization was transformed into a limited-liability company composed of the former foundation, a donor-advised fund, and the Action Now Initiative advocacy organization, effectively combining philanthropy, research, policy, and advocacy efforts.[34] The new entity is known asArnold Ventures LLC with the charter "to remove barriers between data and decisive action, working swiftly across the policy-change spectrum."[40]
In 2019, Arnold spoke out againstdonor-advised funds (DAF), criticizing them for delaying charitable giving and promoting giving to institutions that are less likely to need the money.[41] He proposed that foundations and DAFs should spend at least 7% annually, which would result in billions of dollars more being given to charities,[34] and that DAFs should be legally held to an annual minimum distribution.[42]
Arnold Ventures LLC has invited criticism with its involvement in many controversial areas. They are on record as agreeing with some of the critiques and focus on partnering with organizations to maximize their impact without undue influence.[34] The former foundation was sued over a pre-trial web tool by the family of a victim who was murdered, but the District Court and a U.S. Appellate Court dismissed the complaint.[43][44]
Arnold Ventures' 2020 grant to trial aerial surveillance hardware by theBaltimore Police Department was subject to legal challenges but in November 2020, a federal appeals court ruled that the program was constitutional and did not invade the rights and privacy of city residents.[45]
Arnold’s foundation, Arnold Ventures, created a Public Safety Assessment which gave recently arrested individuals a score to determine their flight risk and potential bail. TheNAACP andACLU have criticized the Arnold PSA because they believe risk assessment tools actually increased the number of prisoners under the guise of criminal justice reform.[46]
John received an $8 million dollar bonus fromEnron just before the company filed for bankruptcy. It was the largest cash bonus ever distributed by the company. Arnold was described as "unapologetic" for his success in Enron’s final days. Arnold was not criminally charged with any wrongdoing at Enron, but he was named in a bankruptcy lawsuit by other Enron staff.[47][48]
Arnold has been accused of pushing for pension reform in response to a lawsuit the California state pension system,CalPERS, filed againstEnron.[49] Through his foundation, Arnold has aggressively promoted pension reform in the state of California based on a study his foundation conducted with Pew that failed to mention that Enron or the overall financial crisis contributed to the shortfall.[50]
John Arnold and his brother Matthew[51] tore down historical homes in theRiver Oaks neighborhood of Houston which led to criticism by architectural conservationists.[52]
Arnold is married toLaura Elena (Muñoz) Arnold, aYale graduate who had worked as a mergers-and-acquisitions attorney and had co-founded an oil exploration company inHouston.[53] They have three children.[54]
