George Kaiser

George Kaiser
Born	29 July 1942 (Forbes)
Nationality	American
Residence	Tulsa, Oklahoma (Forbes)
Occupation	Chairman, BOK Financial; president and chief executive, GBK Corporation
Known for	Kaiser-Francis Oil Company; BOK Financial; George Kaiser Family Foundation; main investor in Solyndra
Children	Philip, Leah and Emily (GKFF)
Education	Harvard University, BA and MBA (Forbes; GKFF)

American oil and banking billionaire and philanthropist from Tulsa, Oklahoma

George Kaiser (born 29 July 1942) is an American businessman and philanthropist based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He owns the oil and gas producer Kaiser-Francis Oil Company through GBK Corporation and is chairman and majority owner of BOK Financial Corporation.^[1]^[2] Forbes also credits him with a majority stake in the liquefied-natural-gas company Excelerate Energy.^[2] On 10 November 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked George Kaiser 181st in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$16.0 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as oil & gas, banking.^[2]^[3] In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked George Kaiser 177th, at US$16.2 billion.^[4] Kaiser raised money for Barack Obama's 2008 campaign. Entities linked to him were the leading investors in the solar-panel maker Solyndra, whose US$535 million federal loan guarantee and 2011 bankruptcy prompted congressional and Energy Department inquiries.^[5]^[6]^[7]

Early life and education

According to the George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF), Kaiser's family fled Nazi Germany in 1938 and settled in Tulsa.^[1] Forbes says his parents arrived in Tulsa in 1940 and that he was the first American citizen in his family.^[2] Kaiser went to public schools in Tulsa, graduating from Central High School in 1960, and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Harvard University.^[1]

Oil and gas

The foundation says that in 1969 Kaiser took over Kaiser-Francis Oil Co., his family's small oil prospecting business. He grew it from about a dozen local workers into an international exploration company with more than 1,000 employees.^[1] Forbes dates the takeover more loosely to "the 1960s".^[2] He is president, chief executive and principal owner of GBK Corporation, the parent of Kaiser-Francis.^[1] Forbes estimated his stake in Excelerate Energy at 72% in its 2026 Forbes 400 profile and 76% in its 2026 billionaires profile.^[2]

Banking

In 1991 Kaiser bought the Bank of Oklahoma out of federal receivership. The GKFF says it grew under him from 20 local branches into a bank operating in nine states.^[1] Forbes gives the purchase price as US$60 million. Its estimates of his stake have risen over time: about 56% in 2023, 57% in 2024, 59% in the 2026 billionaires list and 63% in the 2026 Forbes 400.^[2] Forbes also lists stakes in the fintech company Alkami and in the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team.^[2]

Philanthropy

Kaiser founded the GKFF in 1999. It started with early-childhood education and has since expanded into maternal health, neighbourhoods and entrepreneurship.^[1] Forbes reports that the foundation has paid out more than US$2.5 billion.^[2] In 1998 Kaiser led the creation of the Tulsa Community Foundation, which the GKFF describes as the second-largest community foundation in the United States.^[1] He signed the Giving Pledge in 2010, and his three children sit on the GKFF board.^[1] Forbes reports that in 2018 he opened the Gathering Place, a 66-acre Tulsa park that it calls the largest public park in the US built with private funds.^[2] The foundation quotes Kaiser as concluding that "I was only peripherally responsible for my own good fortune" and was "morally bound to help those left behind by the accident of birth".^[1]

Solyndra

In September 2009 the Department of Energy (DOE) approved a US$535 million loan guarantee for Solyndra to build a solar-panel factory in Fremont, California. In September 2011 Solyndra laid off 1,100 employees, stopped operating and filed for bankruptcy.^[7] The Center for Public Integrity reported in September 2011 that Republicans in Congress were concerned that so much federal money had gone to a company whose key investor was a foundation associated with Kaiser. It described him as an Oklahoma billionaire who had raised more than US$50,000 for Obama's 2008 campaign, and noted that he had declined interview requests since May 2011.^[5] His foundation said in a statement that Solyndra had been unable to overcome "serious challenges in the marketplace", including a steep fall in solar-panel prices that it blamed partly on Chinese government subsidies.^[5] In November 2011 House Republicans released e-mails between Kaiser and associates at the GKFF and his venture-capital firm, Argonaut Private Equity, about Solyndra's unsuccessful bid for a second, US$469 million loan guarantee.^[6] Republicans argued that the e-mails contradicted earlier statements by Kaiser and the Obama administration that Solyndra had not been discussed in more than a dozen meetings with senior White House officials. A White House spokesman said the loan was "a decision made on the merits at the Department of Energy".^[6] In one October 2010 message, Kaiser questioned approaching the White House rather than the DOE. He wrote that he was "concerned that DOE/Chu would resent that intervention".^[6] The DOE's Inspector General reported in 2015, after a four-year investigation, that Solyndra had given the department inaccurate and misleading information. It said the actions of "certain Solyndra officials" were "at best, reckless and irresponsible or, at worst, an orchestrated effort to knowingly and intentionally deceive and mislead the Department". It added that the department's own due diligence had been "less than fully effective".^[7] The report summary checked does not name Kaiser.

Views

Forbes records Kaiser's remark that people who have "won the ovarian lottery" have a special obligation to help restore the American Dream.^[2]

Wealth

Forbes lists the sources of Kaiser's fortune as oil and gas and banking, and classes it as inherited and growing.^[2]

Wealth history

Forbes has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 26 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2001. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list, and, where applicable, the rank and estimate in the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans.^[4]^[2]

Forbes estimates by list year
Year	World's Billionaires rank	Net worth (US$ bn)	Forbes 400 rank	Forbes 400 net worth (US$ bn)
1996	–	–	188	0.8
1997	–	–	127	1.2
1998	–	–	129	1.3
1999	–	–	186	1.3
2001	198	2.3	78	2.4
2002	180	2.3	60	2.6
2003	137	2.6	56	3.0
2004	159	3.0	43	4.0
2005	132	4.2	45	4.5
2006	140	4.4	27	8.5
2007	80	8.5	26	11.0
2008	68	11.0	20	12.0
2009	43	9.0	24	9.5
2010	64	10.0	29	9.4
2011	89	9.8	31	10.0
2012	88	10.0	33	10.0
2013	109	10.0	40	10.0
2014	122	10.0	42	10.6
2015	142	9.0	53	8.8
2016	167	7.1	61	7.2
2017	170	7.9	65	7.5
2018	198	7.8	62	8.2
2019	191	7.6	79	7.0
2020	286	5.6	137	4.9
2021	476	5.8	76	10.0
2022	201	9.9	46	13.7
2023	133	13.3	49	14.1
2024	130	14.6	54	14.8
2025	138	15.4	73	14.4
2026	177	16.2	70	16.5

Political activity

Kaiser was a fundraiser for Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.^[5]^[6]

Across the 96 non-memo records retrieved for the 2022–2026 cycles, the filtered total is US$823,038 (a lower bound). The largest recipient committees, as named in the filings, were DSCC (US$239,400), DCCC (US$195,100), HMP (US$100,000), SMP (US$50,000), INDEPENDENT ALASKA (US$15,000).^[8]

Federal contributions (FEC Schedule A, itemised; lower bound)
Cycle	Total (US$, lower bound)	Records	Largest recipient committees (as filed with the FEC)
2022	$247,100	34	DSCC ($73,000); DCCC ($73,000); INDEPENDENT ALASKA ($15,000); MAGGIE FOR NH ($5,800)
2024	$288,100	30	DCCC ($77,800); DSCC ($77,800); SMP ($50,000); MONTANANS FOR TESTER ($6,600)
2026	$287,838	32	HMP ($100,000); DSCC ($88,600); DCCC ($44,300); COOPER VICTORY FUND ($3,500)

International and political links

This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."