Fifa boss Gianni Infantino has prompted outrage among football fans and governing bodies alike after suggesting his organisation could sell off stakes in prestige tournaments like the World Cup to private investors.
The idea has met with resistance from Uefa, which governs European football, and fans, who suggest it could create undue commercial pressure on the game’s decision-makers.
But, should Fifa go ahead with the plan, a Jewish billionaire with links to the Trump administration has already been tipped to lead the negotiations.
Joshua Kushner, whose brother Jared is married to President Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, is reportedly in line to take a leading role in facilitating private investment in Fifa events.
How much is Joshua Kushner worth?
Born in Livingston, New Jersey, Kushner attended Yeshivat Reishit, a Modern Orthodox yeshiva located in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh, before going on to Harvard, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in government in 2008.
He subsequently worked for Goldman Sachs for a year before returning to Harvard to study for an MBA at Harvard Business School, graduating in 2011.
Whilst an undergraduate, Kushner co-founded Vostu, a social network which later became a gaming platform based in Brazil.
As a student at Harvard Business School he founded Thrive Capital, a venture capital firm, through which he made his fortune.
Thrive has invested in major companies such as OpenAI, GitHub, Instagram, and Spotify, which have brought significant returns, as well as Israeli companies including cybersecurity startup Wiz, Melio, and Lemonade.
As a businessman and venture capitalist, Kushner has taken the title as the richest member of his family, with a net worth of $5.2 billion (£3.9 billion).
By comparison, his brother, Jared, who is currently the US’ special envoy for peace, is worth just over $1 billion.
Their parents, Charles and Seryl Kushner (née Stadtmauer), are worth $3.2 (£2.4) billion through their ownership of a 20 per cent stake in the real estate company, Kushner Companies, which Charles founded in 1985. The remaining 80 per cent of the shares of Kushner Companies are divided equally between their children, Jared, Joshua, Nicole, and Dara.
Charles is the son of Jewish Holocaust survivors, Joseph Berkowitz – himself a real estate developer – and Rae Kushner. Kushner and Berkowitz, who were born in eastern Poland, moved to the US from the USSR in 1949.
In addition to working in real estate, Charles is a former attorney and the current US Ambassador to France and Monaco. He was disbarred from his legal career in 2005, following a felony conviction for 18 counts of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering.
His witness tampering charge related to an incident in which he hired a woman to lure his brother-in-law, William Schulder, into a hotel room and secretly record their intimate encounter.
He subsequently mailed the tape to his sister, following William Schulder’s cooperation with federal authorities investigating Kushner for illegal campaign contributions and tax evasion.
Nevertheless, he was pardoned by President Trump, Jared’s father-in-law, in 2020.
In 2025, Charles made headlines for being summoned by the French government after levelling criticism at its handling of the torrent of French antisemitism in recent years.
Who is Joshua Kushner’s wife?
Joshua Kushner is married to media executive, entrepreneur, and former supermodel Karlie Kloss, who converted to Judaism before their wedding.
Kloss is currently chair of the Bedford Media Portfolio, and manages several brands, including i-D Magazine – where she serves as CEO – as well as LIFE Magazine Kloss has also run W Magazine under the company W Media since before she launched Bedford Media.
However, Kushner’s marriage to Kloss was reportedly frowned upon, by both his father and brother.
Charles is reported to have said that she was “not the right person”, with sources saying that her not being Jewish at the time contributed to his misgivings.
Both Kloss and Joshua are registered Democrats, in spite of their familial connections to the Trump administration.
Kushner donated $250,000 (£188,187) to the Growth Democrats PAC in 2024.
He and Kloss donated $50,000 (£37,634) to the March for Our Lives gun control rally. He was also spotted at the anti-Trump Women's March in Washington, DC, in January 2017.
However, Kushner is a staunch supporter of Israel. Aside from attending an Israeli yeshiva, he has travelled to Israel alongside Kloss.
After the October 7 attacks, Kushner was reportedly a member of a WhatsApp group of prominent American billionaires and business leaders, in which changing the narrative about the way Israel is spoken about in America was discussed.
He and Kloss currently own residences in New York, Florida, and California.
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