Jed York, Denise Debartolo York, John York, San Francisco 49ers
JED YORK, DENISE DEBARTOLO YORK, JOHN YORK | CEO/CO-CHAIRMEN | AGE: 38 (JED); 68 (DENISE); 69 (JOHN)
Jed (center) is the CEO; Denise (right) and John are both Co-Chairmen
Education: Jed: Notre Dame; Denise: Saint Mary’s College at Notre Dame; John: Notre Dame, Loyola University Chicago for Ph.D.
How They Acquired the Franchise: Denise’s father, Eddie DeBartolo Sr., purchased the 49ers from the widows of the Morabito brothers, who founded the team, for $17 million in 1977. Eddie Jr. acted as president of the club from ‘77 through 2000, when he was indicted for failure to report an extortion attempt. As a result, Eddie Jr. received a one-year suspension from the NFL and eventually ceded control of the team to Denise. In 2008, she and John turned over control of the team to Jed.
Net Worth: Denise: $2.5 billion (per Forbes in 2018)
Franchise Valuation: $3.05 billion (per Forbes in 2017)
How They Made Their Money: Eddie Sr. built up the family fortune through real estate, specifically shopping malls. Eddie Sr. also owned the Pittsburgh Penguins for nearly 20 years and three thoroughbred race tracks around the U.S. Denise served as the President of the Penguins for years, while John founded DeYor Laboratories before selling it to Corning, Inc., in 1993.
In the Owner’s Words: “I own this football team. You don’t dismiss owners,” Jed York told reporters after the firings of GM Trent Baalke and coach Chip Kelly. “I’m sorry that that’s the facts and that’s the case, but that’s the facts. I’m going to do everything I can to get this right.
“This isn’t about a business and running an operation to make money. We’re making sure we’re doing everything we can to re-establish this culture.”
Political Donations: Jed donated $5,400 to Democrat Kamala Harris's Senate campaign in 2015, as well as $500 to Hillary Clinton’s presidential run in ’16. He also donated $1,900 to Republican representative Jeff Denham in ’16.
Meanwhile, Denise, representing both the DeBartolo Corp and the Niners, has donated thousands to Ohio Democrat Tim Ryan. She also donated $25K over three installments to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee between ’07 and ’10.
NFL Committees: Jed: Stadium Committee, NFL Network Committee, Digital Media Committee; John: International Committee, Health & Safety Advisory Committee (Chairman), Audit Committee; Denise: Hall of Fame Committee.
