Jeff Yass

Jeffrey Yass
Born	Queens, New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Entrepreneur, trader, investor
Known for	Co-founder and managing director of Susquehanna International Group; major political donor; investor in TikTok
Spouse	Janine Coslett
Children	4

Jeffrey Steven Yass (born July 1958) is a billionaire entrepreneur from the United States. As reported by Forbes, his net worth reached US$59 billion in May 2025, a significant rise from $27.6 billion in April 2024. He holds the distinction of being Pennsylvania's wealthiest individual and ranks 25th among the world's richest. A registered member of the Libertarian Party, Yass predominantly supports conservative super-PACs, such as Club for Growth Action and the Protect Freedom Political Action Committee. Together with his wife Janine, he has donated tens of millions toward initiatives promoting school choice.

Yass co-established and serves as managing director of Susquehanna International Group (SIG), a Philadelphia-based firm specializing in trading and technology, and is also a significant backer of TikTok. After a meeting in March 2024 between Yass and former President Donald Trump, Trump reversed his stance on a TikTok ban, moving from support to opposition. Since 2002, Yass has been part of the executive advisory council at the Cato Institute and continues to hold membership. During the 2024 US election cycle, he contributed close to $100 million to Republican campaigns and organizations.

Early life

Born in 1958 in Queens, New York City, Yass grew up in a middle-class Jewish household. His parents were Gerald Yass and Sybil, and he has a sister named Carole. Sybil Yass died in December 2001, while Gerald Yass passed away at age 94 in January 2024 in Boca Raton, Florida.

Yass attended public schools in Queens before graduating from Bayside High School in 1975. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and economics from Binghamton University and pursued graduate-level economics studies at New York University, although he did not complete this program.

Career

During his time at the State University of New York at Binghamton in the 1970s, Yass, along with five classmates, founded Susquehanna International Group (SIG) in 1987. Today, SIG stands as the largest trader of liquid stocks within the United States. Prior to establishing SIG, Yass earned substantial winnings through professional gambling activities involving poker and horse racing.

Billionaire trader Israel Englander facilitated Yass’s acquisition of a seat on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, which was where SIG initially operated. Gerald Yass, Jeffrey’s father and a certified public accountant, was instrumental in developing SIG’s back-office functions and remained engaged with the company for many years. As of 2021, SIG is responsible for nearly one-tenth of all market-making trades involving exchange-traded funds.

US federal and state contributions

Yass has been an active political donor over many years. In 2015, he contributed $2.3 million to a super PAC supporting Rand Paul’s presidential campaign. Alongside his wife, he gave over $5 million during 2016. In 2018, his donations to the Club for Growth amounted to $3.8 million, which surged to $20.7 million by 2020. During the 2020 election cycle, Yass ranked among the top ten political contributors nationwide, providing $25.3 million exclusively to Republican candidates—including support for 47 legislators who sought to challenge the results of that year’s presidential election. In the 2022 primary elections, he invested at least $18 million backing Republican candidate Bill McSwain for governor of Pennsylvania.

Although his contributions mainly favor Republicans, Yass also donated $1 million to the Moderate PAC, an organization focused on protecting centrist Democratic incumbents during the 2024 election cycle. Overall, his donations to Republican campaigns and groups totaled around $100 million during 2024, including $6 million through the Commonwealth Leaders Fund PAC supporting Republican Dave Sunday’s bid for Pennsylvania Attorney General.

In early 2025, Yass made a $16 million donation to MAGA Inc., a super PAC backing Donald Trump—this being the largest contribution recorded during that timeframe.

Foreign contributions

In March 2021, the Israeli publication Haaretz disclosed that Jeff Yass and Arthur Dantchik were key financiers behind a large portion of the funding for the Kohelet Policy Forum, an organization advocating nationalism, authoritarian leadership, reduced taxation, and economic liberalism. This forum played a pivotal role in shaping the 2023 Israeli judicial reform.

Haaretz further highlighted Yass as a prominent backer of right-wing Israeli think tanks. In April 2024, The Guardian reported that Yass contributed $16 million to groups supporting pro-Israel causes and opposing Muslim interests.

School choice

Jeff Yass and his spouse are ardent proponents of school choice. Janine Yass penned an editorial in 2017 for The Washington Examiner endorsing the school choice initiatives championed by then-designated Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. In 2023, the couple jointly authored an opinion piece in The Philadelphia Inquirer advocating for parental control over schooling options in Pennsylvania.

In November 2021, Yass provided $5 million to the School Freedom Fund, a political action committee backing Republican candidates across the United States during the 2022 election cycle. From 2010 through 2022, he donated $41.7 million to Students First, a PAC he helped establish to promote school choice policies.

TikTok

In September 2023, The Wall Street Journal revealed that Yass, an investor in TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, is a significant contributor to American politicians who oppose regulatory measures against TikTok. Following a meeting with Trump at a Club for Growth event in March 2024, Trump altered his stance from supporting a TikTok ban to opposing it. Simultaneously, Yass's firm SIG acquired a notable share in Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC) starting in 2021, which supplied Trump with substantial financial resources amid escalating legal expenses. DWAC merged in 2024 with Trump Media, the company behind the launch of Truth Social in 2022. According to disclosures and coverage by The Philadelphia Inquirer, SIG acted as a market-maker and engaged in short selling of the stock—a standard market practice—without maintaining an economic interest in Trump Media but profiting through managing trades involving shares and derivatives. After Trump Media commenced trading, SIG divested its holdings and closed out its short positions.

Wealth and taxes

From 2022 until 2025, Yass held the distinction of being Pennsylvania's wealthiest individual.

An investigation conducted by ProPublica in 2022, utilizing tax records, court filings, and securities documents, revealed that Yass employed Susquehanna trading techniques that "stretch legal limits" for minimizing tax obligations. ProPublica estimated that had Yass’s tax filings resembled those of contemporaries such as Kenneth C. Griffin, John Overdeck, and David Siegel, he would have incurred approximately $1 billion more in federal income tax payments between 2013 and 2018.

Recognition

In 2001, Philadelphia magazine honored Yass by naming him one of its 76 Revolutionary Minds.

Personal life

Yass is married to Janine Coslett. The couple lives in Haverford, located within Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, and they are parents to four children.

Philanthropy

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, Yass contributed to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's victim assistance fund. His philanthropic efforts extend to several organizations such as Save the Children, the Spirit of Golf Foundation, the Families First building operated by People's Emergency Center, and the Franklin Family Funfest Committee at the Franklin Institute.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jeff and Janine Yass established the Yass Prize for Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding, and Permissionless (STOP) education. This program promotes pioneering educational approaches and awarded more than $20 million in 2022, including a $1 million top prize granted to Arizona Autism Charter Schools for their customized learning initiatives.