Joshua Kushner

During his sophomore year, Kushner was founding executive editor of Scene, a new pop culture student-publication.[9] The publication was badly received by critics upon release.[10]

In the spring of his junior year he worked with two graduate students to pool $10,000 in order to found social network Vostu,[11] which aimed to "fill a void left by online communities in which English is the lingua franca", like Facebook. According to Kushner, Latin America was a promising market for a Facebook-alternative and new social networking site because "[it was] a place where Internet use is increasing every year, and technology is booming at a rapid pace".[12] Vostu laid off the majority of its employees in 2013 and significantly scaled back its operations after a copyright lawsuit from a competitor accused them of copying games.[13][14]

The year after graduation he co-founded a start-up called Unithrive. Unithrive was inspired by the peer-to-peer loan model of Kiva, but aimed to "ease the crisis in paying for college" by matching "alumni lenders to cash-strapped students ... who [could] post photographs and biographical information and request up to $2,000", interest-free for repayment within five years of graduation.[15] After graduating from Harvard, he started his career in the private equity arm at Goldman Sachs, working for a year on distressed debt.[16]

He founded Thrive Capital in 2010, a venture capital firm that focuses on media and internet investments.[17][18] Since its founding, Thrive has raised over $7.3 billion from institutional investors, including Princeton University.[19] Thrive’s capital funds include: Thrive II, which raised $40 million in 2011; Thrive III, which raised $150 million in 2012; Thrive IV, which raised $400 million in September 2014;[19][20] Thrive V, raising $700 million in 2016; Thrive VI, raising $1 billion in 2018; Thrive VII, raising $2 billion in 2021; and Thrive VIII, raising $3 billion in 2022.[21][22]

As an investor in Instagram, Kushner was the second largest investor in Instagram's Series B fundraising round. Valued at $500 million, Thrive soon doubled its money after Instagram was sold to Facebook.[11]

For his work with Thrive, Kushner was named to Forbes' 30 Under 30,[23] Inc. Magazine's 35 Under 35,[24] Crain's 40 Under 40,[25] and Vanity Fair's Next Establishment.[26]

In 2021 it was reported by Bloomberg that Goldman Sachs had invested in Kushner's Thrive Capital at a $3.6 billion valuation.[27]

Kushner is a co-founder of Oscar Health, a health insurance start-up. Founded in 2012, Oscar was valued at $2.7 billion in 2016.[28] Oscar went public in 2021, with Kushner's Thrive Capital owning a stake worth $1.21 billion.[29][30] Oscar reported an $87 million loss in its first quarter as a publicly traded company.[31]

In 2020, it was revealed by The Atlantic that Jared Kushner had contracted Oscar Health to develop a coronavirus testing website that was later scrapped, even though Trump had said publicly that Google was developing the website.[32]

In 2015, Kushner founded a new company called Cadre with his brother Jared and their friend Ryan Williams, with Williams as Cadre's CEO. Cadre is a technology platform designed to help certain types of clients, such as family offices and endowments, invest in real estate.[33][34]

Kushner owns 50% of JK2 (also known as Westminster Management), a real estate management company, his brother Jared owns the other 50%. In April 2021, a Judge ruled that JK2 was found to have committed "widespread and numerous" violations of Maryland's consumer protection laws at Baltimore-area properties by collecting debts without the required licenses, charging tenants improper fees, and misrepresenting the condition of rental units.[35][36][37]

Kushner's JK2 was also featured in an episode of Netflix's Dirty Money series titled "Slumlord Millionaire."[38] The episode was based on an expose from ProPublica accusing the company of abusing tenants rights, leaving homes in disrepair, humiliating late-paying renters and suing tenants when they try and move out.[39]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, JK2 filed a significant number of lawsuits against tenants for debt collection and eviction, despite an eviction moratorium being in place.[40]

According to an investigation by the NY Times, in October 2017, Joshua Kushner met with several senior members of the Saudi government and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund at a conference in Riyadh. The day after he left, his brother Jared, along with several other senior members of the Trump administration, met with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.[48] While the meeting was not illegal, it raised potential conflict of interest concerns.[48][49]

Months prior to the Qatar diplomatic crisis, Kushner Companies had attempted to seek financing from the Qataris for their signature 666 Fifth Avenue property, which was facing a massive debt load in April 2017.[50] Joshua's father, Charles Kushner, had met with Qatari finance minister, Ali Shareef Al Emadi, twice to seek financing for the property.[50][51] During the same week that his father was meeting with Ali Shareef Al Emadi, Josh also met with Al Emadi.[52] The deal fell through.[53][54][55][56]