- Robert F. Smith is a billionaire tech investor and philanthropist who founded and serves as CEO of Vista Equity Partners.
- Smith was the target of a four-year investigation into his personal taxes that ended when the billionaire agreed to pay $140 million in back taxes, penalties, and interest.
- Smith made headlines in May 2019 when he announced during his commencement address at Morehouse College that he would pay off the student debt of the entire graduating class.
- Months later, he extended the $34 million gift to include the debt owed by the students’ parents as well, per a Morehouse press release.
- Smith, the richest Black man in America, is worth $7.05 billion, Bloomberg estimates.
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Robert F. Smith, CEO and founder of private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, will pay $140 million to settle to a four-year-long investigation into his personal taxes.
Smith became one of the most recognizable members of the three-comma club after announcing during his May 2019 commencement address at Morehouse College in Georgia that he would pay off all the student loans owed by the entire graduating class. Smith later extended the gift, which Morehouse later said totaled $34 million, to cover the graduates’ parents’ loans, too.
Smith is worth an estimated $7.05 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He founded Vista Equity Partners, which invests in software companies, in 2000.
As a high schooler, Smith convinced Bell Labs to give him an internship even though they were reserved for college students. He went on to study at Cornell and Columbia universities, and he worked at Goldman Sachs before starting his own investment firm.
Here’s a look at Smith’s life and career.
Jonathan Marino contributed to an earlier version of this story.
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