Product Code Database
Thomas Peterffy (born September 30, 1944) is a Hungarian-born American billionaire businessman. He is the founder, chairman and the largest shareholder of Interactive Brokers. Peterffy worked as an architectural draftsman after emigrating to the United States, and later became a computer programmer. In 1977, he purchased a seat on the American Stock Exchange and played a role in developing the first electronic trading platform for securities. As of October 2025, his estimated net worth is US$82.8 billion, making him the 22nd richest person in the world. Forbes October 04, 2025
https://www.forbes.com/profile/thomas-peterffy/
Peterffy left his career designing financial modeling software and bought a seat on the American Stock Exchange to trade equity options. During his career in finance, he has consistently pushed to replace manual processes with more efficient automated ones. He wrote code in his head during the trading day and then applied his ideas to computerized trading models after hours. Peterffy created a stir among traders by introducing handheld computers onto the trading floor in the early 1980s. His business related to his AMEX seat eventually developed into Interactive Brokers. He stepped down as chief executive in 2019.
In 2021, Interactive Brokers moved its European headquarters in London and outsourced its operations to two new continental centers. Thereafter, their Western European clients were served by a subsidiary in Ireland, while their operations were based in Budapest. According to Peterffy, he chose Budapest because he was convinced that the Hungarian language and the “unique Hungarian logic” would result in above-average profitability; he also wanted to pay off the debt he owed to his native Hungary. The Budapest-based subsidiary, Interactive Brokers Central Europe Zrt., was established in Hungary and became a member of the Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) upon its incorporation.
Peterffy, alongside Mark Penn, Victor Ganzi, Josh Harris, and James Tisch, contributed to a $50 million investment fund in The Messenger, a news website that launched in May 2023.
During the 2012 United States presidential campaign, Peterffy created political ads supporting the Republican Party. Peterffy bought millions of dollars of air time on networks such as CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. The ads consisted of a minute-long spot narrated by Peterffy, warning against creeping socialism in the United States. The ads were out of the ordinary, because Peterffy was not a candidate and did not buy the ads through a 527 group, but instead paid for them directly.
In the spot, Peterffy said, "America's wealth comes from the efforts of people striving for success. Take away their incentive with badmouthing success and you take away the wealth that helps us take care of the needy. Yes, in socialism the rich will be poorer, but the poor will also be poorer. People will lose interest in really working hard and creating jobs."
Peterffy's ad received mixed responses. Joshua Green, writing for Bloomberg Businessweek, said "The ad, while slightly ridiculous, is deeply sincere and also quite affecting." Green also asked Peterffy whether the comparison between the United States and Hungary made in the ad was a fair one: "Peterffy couldn't really think that the U.S. was turning into socialist Hungary, could he? The government isn't suppressing speech and throwing political opponents in jail. No, he conceded, it wasn't. But it sure feels like that's the path we're on." Politico said that it could have been influential in Ohio due to its large Hungarian American population.
Voter registration records in Connecticut show that Peterffy has been registered as an independent voter. He donated over $60,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2011 and $100,000 to a pro-Donald Trump political group during the 2016 United States presidential election.
Peterffy contributed $250,000 to Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign.
In late 2023, Peterffy, as well as other wealthy Republican donors, distanced themselves from Trump. Peterffy said in December 2023 that, “the street still hopes for somebody else", and expressed hope for a brokered convention. Peterffy said at that time that he will not donate to support Trump's campaign. In November 2022, Peterffy had said that Trump, "can't get elected" and that, even if as a citizen he would vote for him as the GOP nominee, that he, "will do whatever I can to make sure he is not."
Nevertheless, Peterffy supported Trump in the 2024 election. Peterffy attended a fundraising dinner for Trump on August 10, 2024, in Aspen, Colorado at the home of John and Amy Phelan, in which attendees donated between $25,000 and $500,000 to Trump's campaign. Federal records show that Peterffy donated $500,000 to the Trump 47 Committee, Inc. on August 5, 2024, and likewise $344,660 to the same committee on August 12, 2024. Prior to that point he hadn't donated at all to Trump's campaign while still donating about $7 million to Republican causes and candidates.
On December 11, 2024, in the aftermath of the election, Peterffy sat down for an interview with Bloomberg's Sonali Basak at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. conference. Basak mentioned at the beginning of the interview that Peterffy had donated to Trump both in 2020 and in 2024, and Peterffy stated that, "having grown up in a socialist country I came to a conviction early on in my life that a free market economy is the only way to efficiently run a society", and, "I've always been a Republican all my life." He said that, "I'm very happy that this is the outcome that we had this election time." However, Peterffy also pointed out that he has donated collectively more to other Republicans than to Trump.
He is an avid Equestrianism. He lives in Palm Beach, Florida. In 2020, he sold his 80-acre Connecticut estate for $21 million after originally listing it for $65M in 2015.
|
|
