Jeff Yass

Early life

Yass was born in 1958 in Queens, New York City, and grew up there in a middle-class Jewish family. He is the son of Gerald and Sybil Yass. He has a sister, Carole.

Sybil Yass died in December 2001. Gerald Yass died on January 6, 2024, aged 94, in Boca Raton, Florida.

Yass attended public schools in Queens, graduating from Bayside High School in 1975. He earned a B.S. in mathematics and economics from Binghamton University. He pursued graduate studies in economics at New York University, but did not graduate.

Career

While at the State University of New York at Binghamton in the 1970s, Yass and five fellow students became friends and in 1987 co-founded Susquehanna International Group (SIG), the largest trader of liquid stocks in the US. In the 1970s and early 1980s, before establishing his trading firm, Yass was a professional gambler, winning sums from poker and horse betting.

Billionaire trader Israel Englander sponsored Yass for a seat on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and SIG was initially run from an office at the Exchange. His father, Gerald Yass, played an integral role in founding the company, contributing his expertise as a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and helping to build SIG’s back-office bookkeeping operations. Gerald remained actively involved with the firm for decades, providing crucial support to its early infrastructure. As of 2021, SIG generates almost one-tenth of the market making trade volume in exchange-traded funds.

Political activities

US federal and state contributions

Yass has contributed significant sums to political efforts. In 2015, Yass donated $2.3 million to a super PAC supporting Rand Paul's presidential candidacy. He and his wife contributed just over $5 million in 2016. In 2018 he donated $3.8 million to the Club for Growth, and $20.7 million in 2020. In the 2020 election cycle, Yass was one of the ten largest political donors in the United States donating $25.3 million, all to Republican candidates including 47 lawmakers who sought to overturn the 2020 US presidential election. During the 2022 primary elections, Yass spent at least $18 million, including contributions in support of Republican Bill McSwain, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor of Pennsylvania.

While primarily donating to Republicans, he also donated $1 million to the Moderate PAC which was set up to support Democratic incumbents against progressive primary challengers during the 2024 election cycle. He donated approximately $100 million during the 2024 US election cycle to Republican groups and campaigns, including $6 million in political contributions via the Commonwealth Leaders Fund PAC, supporting Republican Dave Sunday over Democrat Eugene DePasquale in the 2024 Pennsylvania Attorney General election.

In the first half of 2025, Yass donated $16 million to MAGA Inc., a super PAC that supports Donald Trump, with Yass's donation being the highest record donation during that period.

Foreign contributions

In March 2021, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Jeff Yass and Arthur Dantchik were behind a large portion of the donations to the Kohelet Policy Forum, whose worldview is based on nationalism, low taxes and market freedom. The Kohelet Policy Forum is responsible for the 2023 Israeli judicial reform proposal.

Also according to Haaretz, Yass is a major supporter of Israeli right-wing think tanks. In April 2024, The Guardian reported that Jeff Yass donated $16 million to anti-Muslim and pro-Israel groups.

School choice

Yass and his wife strongly support school choice, and the couple writing an op-ed in The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2023 advocating for parental school choice in Pennsylvania. In November 2021, he donated $5 million to the School Freedom Fund, a PAC that runs ads for Republican candidates running in the 2022 election cycle nationwide. From 2010 to 2022, Yass contributed $41.7 million to Students First political action committee; Yass co-founded the PAC, which supports the school choice movement.

TikTok

In September 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that Yass, an investor in TikTok's parent firm ByteDance, is a major donor to US politicians who have opposed restrictions on TikTok. After Yass and Trump met in March 2024 at a Club for Growth event, Trump went from supporting a ban on TikTok to opposing a ban. At the same time Yass's SIG bought a substantial share in Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC), which it had been acquiring since 2021, providing Trump with a massive influx of money at a time when he faced mounting legal expenses.

Wealth and taxes

Yass is the richest resident of Pennsylvania since 2022.

In 2022, an investigation by ProPublica, based on a review of tax returns it obtained, court documents, and securities filings, found that Yass engaged in tax avoidance, through Susquehanna trading strategies that "push legal boundaries" to reduce tax liability. ProPublica estimated "that if Yass' tax returns had resembled those of his competitors" (specifically, Ken Griffin, John Overdeck, and David Siegel), Yass "would have paid $1 billion more in federal income taxes" during the period 2013 to 2018.

Recognition

In 2001, Yass appeared as one of 76 Revolutionary Minds in Philadelphia magazine.

Personal life

Yass is married to Janine Coslett. They have lived in Haverford in Haverford Township, Pennsylvania, for some years. They have four children, two sons and two daughters.

Philanthropy

In December 2001, following the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, he announced a donation to the charitable fund established by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to assist the victims. He has supported Save the Children, "Spirit of Golf Foundation",{{cite web |url-status=dead |url-status = dead

Jeff and Janine Yass founded the Yass Prize for Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding, and Permissionless (STOP) education, which was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic. This initiative aims to recognize and support innovative, non-traditional education models. In 2022, the Yass Prize awarded over $20 million, including a $1 million grand prize to the Arizona Autism Charter Schools for their individualized learning programs.

In November 2025, Jeff Yass donated $100M to the University of Austin, founded in 2021 by Bari Weiss and others. It was the largest donation the institution received since its founding in 2021. The university's website says it will never charge tuition.

References

References

1. "Jeff Yass". Forbes.
2. Seidman, Andrew. (April 2, 2025). "These local billionaires made the Forbes list for the first time this year".
3. Tindera, Michela. (April 16, 2021). "This Secretive Billionaire Is One Of America's Biggest Conservative Donors".
4. He is a registered [[Libertarian Party of the United States
5. Wolfman-Arent, Avi. (January 26, 2021). "As the Trump era ends, the school choice movement reckons with its conservative ties". [[WHYY-FM.
6. Ulmer, Alexandra. (March 21, 2024). "Republican trading firm owner and TikTok investor Yass emerges as top donor in US election". [[Reuters]].
7. (2025-03-16). "White House seriously considering deal from Oracle to run TikTok".
8. (2006). "Board of Directors". [[Cato Institute]].
9. Segal, Geoffrey F.. (September–October 2002). "News Notes". [[Cato Institute]].
10. "Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives".
11. "Who are the Biggest Donors?".
12. (27 March 2024). "Who Is Jeff Yass, the GOP Billionaire Donor Dominating 2024?". New York Magazine.
13. (August 26, 2009). "Beating the Odds – Susquehanna International – Jeff Yass". Philly Mag.
14. (October 2020). "Susquehanna International Group LLP Stands To Make Billions Off TikTok".
15. (Spring 2018). "LIU Brooklyn Alum Gerald Yass Endows Scholarship for Accounting Majors". LIU Magazine.
16. (December 6, 2001). "Sybil Yass Obituary". New York Times.
17. (January 9, 2024). "GERALD YASS Obituary". New York Times.
18. Bunch, Will. (March 24, 2015). "It's the libertarianism, stupid".
19. Gara, Antoine. (April 10, 2021). "How Trader Jeff Yass Parlayed Poker And Horse Race Handicapping Into A $12 Billion Fortune". [[Forbes]].
20. "Bloomberg profile: Jeff Yass".
21. "MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference Speaker | Jeffrey Yass".
22. Hahn, Avital Louria. (October 10, 2005). "Susquehanna's Big Bet: Can an options and market-making powerhouse become a middle-market investment bank as well?". The Investment Dealers' Digest.
23. Gara, Antoine. "How Trader Jeff Yass Parlayed Poker And Horse Race Handicapping Into A $12 Billion Fortune".
24. (August 25, 2015). "Million-Dollar Donors in the 2016 Presidential Race". New York Times.
25. (January 15, 2021). "Billionaires backed Republicans who sought to reverse US election results".
26. (November 5, 2020). "Bala CEO's $25 Million Contribution to Republican Candidates and Groups Makes Him One of America's Top Political Donors". MontCo Today.
27. (January 25, 2023). "Centrist Democratic PAC's Sole Funder Is a Republican Megadonor". The Intercept.
28. "Who are the Biggest Donors?".
29. McGoldrick, Gillian. (September 16, 2024). "Pa.'s richest man, Jeff Yass, is spending millions to elect the Republican AG candidate in November". [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]].
30. Kamisar, Ben. (2025-07-31). "Trump's super PAC raises a massive $177 million, bolstering his political influence".
31. Avriel, Eytan. (January 15, 2023). "The American Billionaires Behind the Far-right Attempt to Destroy Liberal Israel". [[Haaretz]].
32. Slyomovics, Nettanel. (March 11, 2021). "The U.S. billionaires secretly funding the right-wing effort to reshape Israel". [[Haaretz]].
33. Clifton, Eli. (2024-04-24). "Billionaire Jeff Yass linked to $16m in donations to anti-Muslim and pro-Israel groups". The Guardian.
34. (February 7, 2017). "DeVos isn't opposed to public education, she opposes failing schools".
35. (July 15, 2023). "Jeff and Janine Yass: Educational freedom is the right thing to do". [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]].
36. "School Freedom Fund PAC Donors".
37. (2023-09-20). "The Billionaire Keeping TikTok on Phones in the U.S.".
38. Terruso, Julia. (2024-03-22). "Pa. billionaire Jeffrey Yass' firm has a large holding in company that merged with Trump's Truth Social".
39. DiStefano, Joseph N.. (April 10, 2024). "How Jeff Yass' firm makes money from companies like Trump's Truth Social". [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]].
40. Justin Elliott, Jesse Eisinger, Paul Kiel, Jeff Ernsthausen and Doris Burke. (2022). "Meet the Billionaire and Rising GOP Mega-Donor Who's Gaming the Tax System". [[ProPublica]].
41. Jordan, Sarah. (November 2001). "76 Revolutionary Minds".
42. "Margaret Coslett Obituary (2015) - Times Leader".
43. "Class of 1981".
44. "2009 Men's Water Polo: Robbie Yass".
45. (September 29, 2001). "Port authority establishes world trade center memorial fund to aid victims and their families". [[Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
46. "Protecting Children in a Time of Crisis - Annual Report 2008".
47. "Revitalizing Newborn and Child Survival - Annual Report 2009".
48. Haines, Erica. (2023-03-01). "Excellence and Empowerment: A Philanthropic Approach to Education Reform".
49. (2023-01-26). "Janine Yass "Yass Prize" Highlights New Education Models".
50. Bruell, Alexandra. (November 5, 2025). "Trader Jeff Yass Is Giving $100 Million to ‘Anti-Woke’ University of Austin {{!}} CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss co-founded the Texas school, which describes its mission as ‘the fearless pursuit of truth’".
51. "UATX is Ending Tuition Forever".