Cathie Wood’s Net Worth Has Been Steadily Increasing

Key Takeaways:

• Cathie Wood owns approximately 400 BTC – possibly more – with an average buy price of $250.
• Wood founded ARK Invest, an innovation-focused investment fund that picks up assets like autonomous cars and cryptocurrency projects.
• Cathie Wood’s net worth is estimated to be between $140 and $250 million, depending on several factors.

Cathie Wood is an esteemed investor, entrepreneur, and economist from the United States. She is one of the most prestigious and richest women associated with cryptocurrency, although her ties to the sector aren’t as strong as some of her contemporaries. Rather, Cathie Wood invests in all things innovation-related – whether that’s digital assets like Bitcoin, self-driving Tesla, or genomic studies.

Cathie Wood's Networth Explained

As of late 2023, Cathie Wood’s net worth is estimated to sit between US $140 and $250 million. There are several different sources that claim her 2024 fortune to be around $250 million, based on the successful performance of her ARK Innovation Fund. Her most recent acknowledgment from a reputable source like Forbes was in 2022, which suggested Wood’s net worth was approximately $140 million. As she has not publicly disclosed her asset portfolio, it is difficult to pin down exactly what Wood’s fortune entails.

Estimations of her owning $250 million in 2024 are exactly that—speculation—and it’s likely her wealth lies somewhere between the 2022 and 2023 figures.

Cathie Wood’s Net Worth Over Time

Cathie Wood has been a successful investor and money manager for quite some time. Due to her proficiency as a trader, she is likely to have boasted a net worth of over a million dollars since the early days of her career in the 1980s-90s.

Wood is renowned for identifying talent and innovative projects, potentially leading her to fortune at a young(ish) age. However, the entrepreneur only really stepped into the public spotlight in 2020 when she turned her prowess at picking up-and-coming stocks into a managed fund. Due to this, we only have data estimates of her net worth from that year onward.

Year	Estimated Net Worth (USD)
2020	$250 million
2021	$400 million
2022	$140 million
2023	~$250 million

What Cryptocurrency Does Cathie Wood Own?

In an early interview with Peter McCormack, Cathie Wood publicly stated that she purchased $100,000 worth of BTC in 2015 when the coin was worth about $250. This would loosely translate to ownership of 400 BTC. By today’s price, assuming she has not sold, Wood owns ~$10 million worth of Bitcoin, a profit of 100x.

Cathie Wood has long supported the cryptocurrency industry and likely has fairly significant holdings of her own. She is a big proponent of decentralized finance and the power it has to force banks and other traditional institutions to take accountability and become more transparent.

Her investment company, ARK, has fairly significant exposure to the crypto industry. Their flagship fund, ARK Innovation ETF, holds significant portions of Tesla (long associated with the blockchain sector), Coinbase, and fintech company Block.

In a 2023 interview with Forbes, Wood doubled down on her love for crypto technology, in particular Bitcoin. She predicted the coin will “hit $500,000 by 2026 and $1 million by 2030.” She was also one of the first investors to foresee BTC’s massive bull run in 2021.

Wood is also a board member for fund manager 21Shares, which is well-known among the crypto community for bridging the gap between traditional finance and DeFi. The company offers several crypto ETPs, including one for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other prominent digital assets. It is likely that Wood holds cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin; however, BTC is undoubtedly the main digital asset in her crypto wallet.

This Is How Cathie Wood Built Her Fortune

Cathie began her career in finance in 1977 when she worked as an economist at Capital Group. Eventually, she became the managing director and portfolio manager for Jennison Associates, where Wood was employed for 18 years.

Throughout this period, Wood was known for being an excellent fund manager and picking high-growth stocks early on. Her focus on innovation led to many big winners – but of course, incurred a higher risk than many of her contemporaries. Due to this, likely, Wood’s wealth likely fluctuated fairly significantly through these formative years (although she was likely still a millionaire for most of it).

Wood’s big breakthrough came in 2014 when she founded ARK Invest to focus on disruptive innovation stocks and companies. The company’s flagship fund, the ARK Innovation Fund, rose to prominence in 2020-21, making Wood a household name and inflating her net worth to over $400 million. Therefore, Cathie Wood’s fortune is built on the foundation of several investments and businesses:

• She likely built the framework for wealth by working in high-paying jobs and buying high-quality stocks through the 80s, 90s, and 2000s.
• We know that at least $10 million of Wood’s net worth was made on timely investments in Bitcoin.
• Wood’s company, ARK, and specifically the ARK Innovation Fund, was a smashing hit in 2020-21. Although the hype has settled now, it is still a huge part of her current net worth.

Factors That Affect Cathie Wood’s Net Worth

The biggest impact on Cathie Wood’s Net Worth almost certainly comes from the performance of her company, ARK Invest. As of the most recent update, ARK currently has USD 14.11 billion in assets under management (AUM). The higher this figure is the more money that Wood rakes in from her business through fees and shareholdings.

In addition, Cathie Wood built her name in the finance industry as a stock-picker, so she likely has quite an extensive equity portfolio full of various assets. She has previously been very bullish on Tesla, so may own a portion of TSLA, for example. The performance of the stock market as a whole, but specifically, high-risk and emerging markets, may have a big impact on both her portfolio as well as the performance of ARK Invest Funds.

Wood has been on record stating that high interest rates are a massive barrier for early-stage tech companies that typically need to borrow money to get a footing. A high-interest rate environment is, therefore, a factor that can influence Wood’s net worth negatively.

Finally, at least 5-10% of Wood’s net worth likely comprises Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The performance of the crypto market may influence her day-to-day net worth, although the impact is not as significant as other factors.

About Cathie Wood

Cathie Wood is an American investor, entrepreneur, and portfolio manager. She is primarily known for founding ARK Invest and for her talent at identifying high-quality innovation stocks before they break into the mainstream. She was born in 1955 in Los Angeles, California, and has three children. She spends much of her time working on the various funds she manages for ARK Invest, while also sitting on the board of 21Shares and performing at conferences and events.

Name	Cathie Wood
Date Of Birth	November 26, 1955
Place Of Birth	Los Angeles, United States
Net Worth	$140-250 million
Source Of Wealth	Investments, ARK Invest, Bitcoin
Nationality	American
Profession	Fund manager

Early Life & Career

Cathie Wood was born in Los Angeles in 1955, the daughter of a radar systems engineer for the US Air Force. She attended the University of Southern California with a B.S. degree in finance and economics. She was under the tutelage of economics Arthur Laffer, an advisor to President Reagan, who took Wood under his wing. He helped her secure her first major job as an economist at Capital Group. This kickstarted her career in finance and bred her love for innovation.