What was Angela Chao's Net Worth?
Angela Chao was an American businesswoman who had a net worth of $100 million at the time of her death.Angela Chao was the daughter of James Chao and Ruth Mulan Chu Chao and the sister of Elaine Chao. Through Elaine, Senator Mitch McConnell was her brother-in-law. She was the Chairman and C.E.O. of Foremost Group, which is an international transportation and shipping company founded by her father. Tragically, Angela died on February 11, 2024, at the age of 50 in a car accident. At the time of her death, Angela was married to billionaire venture capitalist Jim Breyer, whose Accel Partners was one of the first investors in Facebook, among many other investments. She was previously, and briefly, married to financier Bruce Wasserstein.
Early Life and Education
Angela Chao was born on March 4, 1973 in Syosset, New York as the youngest of six daughters of shipping magnates James and Ruth, who co-founded Foremost Group. Both of her parents were born in mainland China and fled to Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War; her father immigrated to the United States in 1958 and her mother came in 1961 with her three eldest daughters. One of Chao's older sisters, Elaine, went on to become the first Asian-American woman to serve in a presidential cabinet when she became the United States secretary of labor under George W. Bush in 2001.
Chao was raised in Harrison in Westchester County, New York. For her higher education, she went to Harvard University, from which she graduated magna cum laude in 1994 with a BA in economics. Chao went on to earn her MBA from Harvard Business School.
(Photo by Adriel Reboh/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Business Career
After working in mergers and acquisitions at the retail brokerage firm Smith Barney, Chao joined her family's shipping company Foremost Group in 1996. Operating globally, the company charters bulk carriers to such major clients as Bunge, Cargill, Dreyfus, and NYK Line. In 2018, Chao succeeded her father as chair and CEO of Foremost Group. As the head of the company, she introduced more environmentally sustainable vessels that cut back on emissions and improved efficiency. Among the vessels were eco-friendly bulk carriers from Japan's Oshima Shipyards and Namura Shipbuilding. Meanwhile, Chao brought Foremost into the North American Marine Environment Protection Association in 2020.
Among her other business activities, Chao sat on the board of the Bank of China, served as a vice chair of the Council of China's Foreign Trade, and was a director of the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation. In the United States, she was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank and a founding member of the Asian American Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes various causes in the AAPI community. Launched in 2021 in response to an increasing number of racial attacks targeting AAPI peoples, TAAF focuses on the core initiatives of anti-hate, education, narrative change, and resources and representation. It is affiliated with such other nonprofits as Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California and Stop AAPI Hate.
Personal Life
In early 2009, Chao married investment banker Bruce Wasserstein, who was 25 years her senior. Wasserstein passed away about nine months later. Chao went on to marry venture capitalist Jim Breyer in 2012. They had a son named James, whom they raised in Texas. Having moved to the state during the COVID-19 pandemic, the couple purchased a mansion in Downtown Austin and a ranch in Johnson City.
Death
On the night of February 10, 2024, following a Lunar New Year party at her ranch in Johnson City, Chao got into her Tesla Model X and mistakenly backed into a pond. As the vehicle began sinking, she unsuccessfully attempted to open the door and break the windows. Chao phoned her friend, and during the eight-minute call said that she was going to die. Emergency personnel arrived about ten minutes later and removed Chao from the sunken car, but were unable to revive her. She was pronounced dead in the early hours of February 11. The next month, a police investigation discovered that her blood-alcohol level was above the legal limit in Texas. The Tesla Model X Chao was driving was also criticized for having a befuddling reverse-gear design that might have contributed to her accident.