Thomas Peterffy
Thomas Peterffy | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 30, 1944 Budapest, Hungary |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, businessman |
| Known for | Founder and largest shareholder of Interactive Brokers |
Thomas Peterffy (born September 30, 1944) is an American billionaire entrepreneur originally from Hungary. He established, chairs, and holds the largest stake in Interactive Brokers. After emigrating to the United States, Peterffy initially worked as an architectural draftsman before shifting to computer programming. In 1977, he acquired a seat on the American Stock Exchange and played a key role in creating the first electronic trading platform for securities. As of July 2025, his estimated net worth stands at US$71.5 billion, placing him as the 23rd wealthiest individual worldwide.
Early life
Born in Budapest, Hungary, on September 30, 1944, during a Russian bombing raid, Peterffy experienced significant upheaval early on. Following the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, his father moved to the U.S. Peterffy discontinued his engineering studies in Hungary and joined his father in New York in 1965. Upon arrival, despite limited resources and no proficiency in English, his father entrusted him with $100 to "make something of himself."
Career
Peterffy’s professional journey in America began as an architectural draftsman, where he took the initiative to program a newly introduced computer system. He has expressed that "business consists of processes, and my role is to automate them for optimal efficiency."
Shifting focus from financial modeling software development, he ventured into trading equity options on the American Stock Exchange. Throughout his finance career, Peterffy was a strong advocate for automation, pioneering computerized trading systems and introducing handheld computers on trading floors during the early 1980s. His business operations connected to his AMEX seat eventually grew into Interactive Brokers, where he held the CEO position until his resignation in 2019.
In 2021, Interactive Brokers moved its European headquarters to London and delegated operations to two centers on the continent: Western European clients are managed through an Irish subsidiary, while Central European activities operate out of Budapest. Peterffy selected Budapest based on its "distinct Hungarian logic," which he believed would yield above-average profitability and serve as a means to repay Hungary. The Budapest subsidiary, Interactive Brokers Central Europe Zrt., became a member of the Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) upon its establishment.
Additionally, Peterffy partnered with investors such as Mark Penn, Victor Ganzi, Josh Harris, and James Tisch to contribute $50 million toward a fund supporting The Messenger, a news outlet launched in May 2023.
Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IB) stands as a prominent online discount brokerage firm within the United States. Founded by Peterffy in 1977—initially functioning as an individual market maker on the American Stock Exchange—the company evolved from T.P. & Co. IB maintains subsidiaries across major global stock, futures, bonds, forex, and options markets. It went public on May 4, 2007, with shares listed on Nasdaq under the ticker . On October 5, 2018, Interactive Brokers shifted its listing to IEX, becoming that exchange’s inaugural issuer. Barron's Magazine named IB "the least expensive trading venue for investors" in 2009 and later honored it as both the lowest cost broker and Best Online Broker in 2019.
OneChicago
OneChicago functioned as a fully electronic trading platform co-owned by Interactive Brokers' IB Exchange Group, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and CME Group. This privately held entity, headquartered in Chicago’s financial district, was regulated jointly by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The exchange listed approximately 2,272 single-stock futures (SSF) contracts, covering prominent corporations such as IBM, Apple, and Google. All transactions were settled through the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). At that time, it stood as the sole securities futures exchange based in the United States.
Regulatory influence and political views
In 1999, Peterffy played a pivotal role in convincing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to permit electronic linkage among U.S. options markets, thereby improving investor access to more favorable options pricing. He has also provided testimony before the United States Senate Banking Subcommittee concerning banking regulatory matters.
During the 2012 United States presidential election, Peterffy personally financed political advertisements endorsing the Republican Party, investing millions of dollars in airtime across networks such as CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. Narrated by Peterffy himself, these commercials cautioned about socialism’s detrimental effects on economic motivation and employment growth. Significantly, he funded these ads directly rather than channeling support through a 527 group.
Peterffy remarked, "The nation’s prosperity stems from individuals striving for achievement. Undermining their motivation by disparaging success diminishes the wealth necessary to support those in need... Without incentives, people will lose interest in working diligently and generating jobs."
The advertisements received varied responses. Bloomberg Businessweek characterized them as "genuinely heartfelt and quite moving," while questioning the analogy drawn between socialism in the U.S. and Hungary. Politico highlighted their potential impact in Ohio, given its significant Hungarian American demographic.
Connecticut voter registrations list Peterffy as an independent. He contributed over $60,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2011 and donated $100,000 to a pro-Donald Trump organization during the 2016 election cycle.
Views on Donald Trump and the Republican Party
By 2021, Peterffy expressed that he was "not a Trump fan" and hoped Trump would refrain from running again, describing the Republican Party as "completely adrift." Although he did not support Trump during the 2016 primaries, he endorsed Trump's administration due to its stance against socialism and collectivism. Peterffy lives near Mar-a-Lago and holds membership at the Mar-a-Lago Club.
He contributed $250,000 to Trump's 2020 presidential campaign. However, by late 2023, Peterffy along with other affluent Republican donors distanced themselves from Trump, anticipating a brokered convention and opting not to fund Trump’s campaign directly. In November 2022, Peterffy stated that Trump "can't get elected" and pledged opposition despite his personal voting choices.
Nonetheless, as Trump retained considerable voter support, many Republican donors including Peterffy reassessed their positions, viewing Trump as a preferable alternative to Democratic leadership. In August 2024, Peterffy participated in a Trump fundraising event in Aspen where contributions ranged between $25,000 and $500,000. Federal filings indicate he donated $844,660 to the Trump 47 Committee in August 2024 after previously giving approximately $7 million to other Republican causes but not directly to Trump himself.
Following the 2024 election, Peterffy reaffirmed his lifelong allegiance to the Republican Party and his belief in free-market principles shaped by his upbringing under socialist regimes. He expressed contentment with the election results while noting that most of his contributions favored Republicans other than Trump.
Personal life
He was formerly wed to Dale McDonald, with whom he fathered three children, among them his son William Peterffy. The couple eventually divorced. An enthusiastic horse rider, he currently lives in Palm Beach, Florida. In 2020, he sold his 80-acre estate in Connecticut for $21 million, having initially put it on the market in 2015 with an asking price of $65 million.
Award
- Hungarian Order of Merit (2017)