26 Facts About Thomas Peterffy

Thomas Peterffy was born on September 30,1944 and is a Hungarian-born American billionaire businessman.

Thomas Peterffy is the founder, chairman, and the largest shareholder of Interactive Brokers.

Thomas Peterffy was born in Budapest, Hungary, on September 30,1944, in a hospital basement during a Russian air raid.

Thomas Peterffy's father emigrated to the US after the failure of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956.

Thomas Peterffy left his engineering studies in Hungary and emigrated to the United States to join his father in New York in 1965.

Thomas Peterffy began his career in the US as an architectural draftsman working on highway projects for an engineering firm.

Thomas Peterffy left his career designing financial modeling software and bought a seat on the American Stock Exchange to trade equity options.

Thomas Peterffy wrote code in his head during the trading day and then applied his ideas to computerized trading models after hours.

Thomas Peterffy created a stir among traders by introducing handheld computers onto the trading floor in the early 1980s.

Thomas Peterffy's business related to his AMEX seat eventually developed into Interactive Brokers.

In 1999, Thomas Peterffy was influential in persuading the Securities and Exchange Commission that US options markets could be linked electronically, which would ensure that investors receive the best possible options prices.

Thomas Peterffy has testified before the United States Senate Banking Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment about adding banking regulations.

Thomas Peterffy bought millions of dollars of air time on networks such as CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg.

The ads consisted of a minute-long spot narrated by Thomas Peterffy, warning against creeping socialism in the United States.

The ads were out of the ordinary, because Thomas Peterffy was not a candidate and did not buy the ads through a 527 group, but instead paid for them directly.

Voter registration records in Connecticut show that Thomas Peterffy has been registered as an independent voter.

Thomas Peterffy donated over $60,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2011 and $100,000 to a pro-Donald Trump political group during the 2016 United States presidential election.

Thomas Peterffy says he did not vote for Trump in the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, but supported Trump's bid for the presidency after Trump became the Republican nominee due to Trump's opposition to socialism and collectivism.

Thomas Peterffy lives near Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Florida estate, and is a member of the Mar-a-Lago Club.

Thomas Peterffy said at that time that he will not donate to support Trump's campaign.

However, as events unfolded, and voters across America continued to support Trump, wealthy Republican donors, including Thomas Peterffy, who had distanced themselves from him earlier, began to change their minds.

Thomas Peterffy attended a fundraising dinner for Trump on August 10,2024 in Aspen, Colorado at the home of John and Amy Phelan, in which attendees donated between $25,000 and $500,000 to Trump's campaign.

Federal records show that Thomas Peterffy donated $500,000 to the Trump 47 Committee, Inc on August 5,2024 and likewise $344,660 to the same committee on August 12,2024.

On December 11,2024, in the aftermath of the election, Thomas Peterffy sat down for an interview with Bloomberg's Sonali Basak at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc conference.

Thomas Peterffy is the 46th richest man and the richest Hungarian in the world.

Thomas Peterffy was married to Dale McDonald, and they had three children together, two daughters and a son, William Peterffy.