James Jannard

$1.25B

as of 05/09/26

About James Jannard

Jim Jannard founded sunglasses brand Oakley out of his car in 1975.

He took Oakley public in 1995 and sold it to Luxottica in 2007 for $2.1 billion in cash.

By then he was working on his next project, Red Digital, building high-resolution cameras used in movies like "Avatar" and "The Hobbit." He agreed to sell the business to Nikon in March 2024.

He launched Red Hydrogen One, a holographic smartphone that was plagued with issues, in 2018 but shut down the project in 2019.

Personal stats

Citizenship

United States of America

Source of wealth

Sunglasses

Residence

San Juan Islands, Washington

Marital status

Married

Birth date

06/08/49 (age 76)

Number of children

Education

Drop Out, University of Southern California

Self-made

self-made

James Jannard’s fortune is worth

21K

troy ounces of gold

19K

median U.S. household

13K

median U.S. income

0.025%

U.S. credit card volume

0.005%

GDP of the United States

0.004%

United States debt

Net worth history

Annual ranking

Did you know?

The USC pharmacy student dropped out in the 1960s after clashing with professors over bringing his dog to class.