How SpaceX space tourist Jared Isaacman built his fortuneBusiness Insider

Wednesday, September 15, 2021 could be a historic day. Weather permitting, the world’s first private mission, carrying only civilians, is scheduled to take off at 8 p.m. from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will then be 2 a.m. on September 16 in Paris. This flight was made possible by American billionaire Jared Isaacman, who did not hesitate to hire the services of SpaceX, the space company of another high-profile billionaire, Elon Musk. The cost of this mission, called “Inspiration4“, was not disclosed, but would amount to several tens of millions of dollars.

It will allow three tourists and their commander, Jared Isaacman himself, a seasoned pilot, to spend three days in space and to circle the Earth in low orbit. A more ambitious program than the first two billionaire flights carried out this summer in space, Richard Branson on July 11 aboard a vessel of his company Virgin Galactic, then Jeff Bezos on July 20 with Blue Origin. This first mission without a professional astronaut will be done with SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, launched by the Falcon 9 rocket.

Jared Isaacman takes care of everything, offering the three seats by his side to two women – a pediatric cancer survivor who has become a nurse in a hospital and a planetologist who is a former candidate to become an astronaut at NASA – as well as to a man, an air force veteran working in aeronautics.

Here is how the businessman managed to build his fortune, until he could afford a ride in space and around the Earth:

Jared Isaacman’s fortune estimated at $ 2.4 billion by Forbes

He became a billionaire under the age of 40. geralt / Pixabay

At 38, Jared Isaacman is already a multi-billionaire, having made his fortune through two companies he founded, including a company specializing in payment processing. The magazine Forbes estimates his wealth at $ 2.4 billion, or around € 2.03 billion.

His talent was recognized as early as high school, which he quit after being spotted by a payment services company

He only started working at age 16 as an IT consultant. Pxhere

As a teenager, Jared Isaacman spent much of his time fixing computers and building websites with his friend Brendan Lauber. In high school, he sold computers for a summer job, while redirecting clients to his own business. “I was poaching clients,” he told CNBC. One of them was Mario Parisi, the boss of Merchant Services Inc. (MSI), which specializes in payment processing.

Impressed by Jared Isaacman’s work to rid his corporate network of viruses, Mario Parisi offered him an in-house IT consultant position. The 16-year-old then decides to drop out of high school to devote himself to it. However, he obtained a diploma validating his secondary studies, as his parents wished. And he later got a college degree.

He then sets up his own business in the basement of his parentsts, in New Jersey

High Bridge, New Jersey. Halpaugh / Wikimedia Commons

After six months at MSI, Jared Isaacman decided to start his own business in 1999 after coming up with the idea for a payment processor that made it easier to install credit card terminals in shops, reducing the amount of money. paperwork associated with this process.

He then goes into the basement of his parents’ house, with the 10,000 dollars in capital only loaned by his grandfather. “$ 10,000, you know, you had to build a few computers. It wasn’t expensive. And you needed a few phones, and that was enough to get started,” he told CNBC.

Jared Isaacman then named his company United Bank Card, which became Harbortouch in 2012 and then finally Shift4 Payments six years later. The young entrepreneur hired from the start his father, a seasoned salesperson for a home security company, as well as his friend Brendan Lauber, the company’s chief technology officer. The presence of his father, who canvassed local restaurants and small businesses, allowed Jack Isaacman to avoid being in direct contact with potential customers his young age might have turned off.

Shift4 Payments now achieves over $ 1 billion in revenue

Shift4 manages billions of payments in the United States. Tim Robberts / Getty Images

The company has garnered many customers, until it became an imposing American company, which manages up to a third of the payments of American restaurants and hotels today, specifies Forbes. Its approximately 200,000 customers include, for example, the Hilton and Four Seasons hotel chains and KFC and Arby’s restaurant chains. Shift4 Payments processes billions of transactions each year and expects 2021 annual revenue of at least $ 1.3 billion, according to a statement.

After Jared Isaacman’s parents’ home and then High Bridge in New Jersey, the company is now headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It has more than 730 employees in eight offices in the United States, Canada and Lithuania.

The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange in June 2020

The New York stock exchange. Jean-Christophe BENOIST / Wikimedia Commons

In June 2020, Shift4 Payments is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Jared Isaacman, who owns 38% of the company according to Forbes, sees his stake in the company valued at $ 2.3 billion. He then officially becomes a billionaire.

The group’s market capitalization now exceeds $ 6.4 billion.

Jared Isaacman also founded in 2012 the company Draken International, which became the largest private air force.

Draken International fighter jets. Gerard van der Schaaf / Wikimedia Commons

In 2012, at the age of 28, Jared Isaacman created a second company, Draken International, which offers training to pilots in the United States Air Force. With a fleet of more than 70 fighter jets, the company has grown into the largest private air force.

In addition to computers, the young man is indeed passionate about aviation and takes flying lessons from 2004, to establish a record only five years later: a round-the-world jet in just under 62 hours.

In 2019, the businessman sells Draken to the American investment fund Blackstone for a nine-figure amount

A take-off runway of Draken International. Lakelandairport / Wikimedia Commons

In 2019, Jared Isaacman sells a controlling stake in Draken to U.S. investment fund Blackstone, for a nine-figure amount, according to Forbes. The management of this company gave him the opportunity to pilot several combat aircraft. And to gain experience before embarking on your first flight in space.

The Inspiration4 mission also aims to raise $ 200 million for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Ginny / Flickr

In addition to making his childhood dream come true, Jared Isaacman is counting on the Inspiration4 mission to accumulate data for future tourists and private passengers. He hopes that this will enable more people to travel to space in the future.

Finally, this space flight is organized with a view to collecting donations for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, in Memphis, where one of the crew members was treated. which will take off on Wednesday evening aboard the Falcon 9 rocket.

We’re cleared for liftoff! ? The @ Inspiration4x launch window begins at 8:02 pm ET on 9/15. You can still support the mission goal by donating to @stjude here: https://t.co/wGupCQ9mJP

?: @johnkrausphotos # inspiration4 pic.twitter.com/7BvU7uJWxc

– Shift4 Payments (@ Shift4Payments) September 13, 2021

The operation aims to raise 200 million dollars for the health establishment. Jared Isaacman promised on Twitter that it would fund the first $ 100 million, and then add a dollar for every dollar donated, up to a limit of $ 25 million. According to a counter, nearly $ 30.3 million has so far been donated, Tuesday, September 14. Donations may flow in once the four tourists orbit into space.