Forbes Releases 2026 BLK 50 List of Black Americans in Private Capital

More than 30 years have passed since Reginald Lewis became the first Black American to own and operate a billion-dollar corporation. Lewis led the $985 million leveraged buyout of food conglomerate Beatrice International in 1987. By 1991 the Baltimore native had earned a spot on The Forbes 400 with a net worth of $340 million, equivalent to roughly $830 million in current dollars.

Lewis had worked as a corporate attorney for 15 years after graduating from Harvard Law. In 1983 he started TLC Group, a private equity firm. 5 million, investing $1 million of equity and borrowing the remainder. Lewis sold McCall Pattern for $90 million in July 1987.

” Lewis said in 1988 that the McCall deal gave his firm credibility for the Beatrice transaction that followed. For the second annual ForbesBLK 50: Money Masters list, Forbes selected Black Americans working in private equity, private credit and venture capital who are following in Lewis’s footsteps.

Lewis died in 1993 with a net worth of $400 million, or $897 million in today’s dollars.

Returning names from the 2024 list include Robert F. Smith, cofounder of Vista Equity Partners, which has $100 billion in assets. Robert Johnson, cofounder of Black Entertainment Television, returned to the billionaire list. Johnson owns RLJ Equity Partners, which manages more than $150 million in assets, and Forbes estimates his current net worth at $1 billion.

New additions to the billionaire category include David Grain, founder of Grain Management, a private equity firm with $6 billion in assets. 5 billion. 3 billion. The individuals featured on the 2026 list together manage more than $200 billion in assets under management.

, up from 100 firms in 2014. As of 2024, 168 of those firms are Black-owned, compared with 122 in 2022 and 67 in 2020.