Steven Rales
American businessman; co-founder and chairman of Danaher
| Steven Rales
| |
|---|---|
| Image | .jpg) Rales in 2016 |
| Born | 31 March 1951 (Forbes) |
| Nationality | American |
| Residence | Santa Barbara, California (Forbes) |
| Occupation | Businessman; film producer |
| Known for | Co-founder and chairman of Danaher; Indian Paintbrush; part-owner of the Indiana Pacers |
| Education | DePauw University; American University (JD) (Forbes) |
Steven Rales (born 31 March 1951) is an American businessman who co-founded the diversified company Danaher with his brother Mitchell Rales. He has chaired its board since 1984.[1][2] Danaher's 2026 proxy statement lists his beneficial ownership as 42,240,297 shares, or 6.0%.[2] On 11 November 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Rales 380th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$9.5 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as manufacturing, investments.[1][3] In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Rales 430th, at US$8.3 billion.[4]
Danaher
Forbes says the Rales brothers bought a real estate investment trust in 1983 and merged it into Danaher, which they named after a creek in Montana. Concentrating on tax avoidance and cash flow, they bought more than three dozen companies.[1] The proxy says Steven Rales was Danaher's chief executive from 1984 to 1990.[2] Forbes says Danaher spun off assets as Fortive Corporation in July 2016, bought GE's biopharma business for US$21.4 billion in cash in March 2020, and had sales of about US$25 billion in 2025.[1] The proxy says his holding includes 31,000,000 shares held through limited liability companies controlled by his revocable trust, and 6,429,437 shares held by a charitable foundation, in which he disclaims beneficial ownership.[2]
Film and sport
Forbes says Rales's production company, Indian Paintbrush, has financed Wes Anderson films including Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel. It also says he bought a further 15% of the NBA's Indiana Pacers in 2023, taking his stake to 20%.[1]
Philanthropy
Forbes says that in 2021 he and his brother each transferred Danaher shares worth more than US$1.5 billion to their charitable foundations.[1]
Political activity
Itemised FEC records for the 2022–2026 cycles list contributions under his name with Danaher or Indian Paintbrush as employer, or with a Washington, D.C. address. They are summarised below as filed.[5]
Across the 13 non-memo records retrieved for the 2022–2026 cycles, the filtered total is US$54,500 (a lower bound). The largest recipient committees, as named in the filings, were TIM RYAN VICTORY FUND 2022 (US$12,100), THE GREAT TASK (US$7,900), YOUNG VICTORY COMMITTEE (US$7,000), FRIENDS OF MARK WARNER (US$6,600), MARK WARNER VICTORY FUND (US$5,000).[5]
| Cycle | Total (US$, lower bound) | Records | Largest recipient committees (as filed with the FEC) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $25,800 | 6 | TIM RYAN VICTORY FUND 2022 ($12,100); THE GREAT TASK ($7,900); COMMITTEE TO ELECT JARED GOLDEN ($2,900); TIM RYAN FOR OHIO ($2,900) |
| 2024 | $13,200 | 4 | FRIENDS OF MARK WARNER ($6,600); MONTANANS FOR TESTER ($3,300); ANGUS KING FOR U.S. SENATE CAMPAIGN ($3,300) |
| 2026 | $15,500 | 3 | YOUNG VICTORY COMMITTEE ($7,000); MARK WARNER VICTORY FUND ($5,000); MEAD FOR WYOMING ($3,500) |
Wealth history
Forbes has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 26 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2001. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list, and, where applicable, the rank and estimate in the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans.[4][1]
| Year | World's Billionaires rank | Net worth (US$ bn) | Forbes 400 rank | Forbes 400 net worth (US$ bn) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | – | – | 297 | 0.5 |
| 1997 | – | – | 290 | 0.7 |
| 1998 | – | – | 220 | 0.9 |
| 1999 | – | – | 174 | 1.4 |
| 2000 | – | – | 297 | 1.3 |
| 2001 | 336 | 1.5 | 172 | 1.3 |
| 2002 | 351 | 1.3 | 149 | 1.3 |
| 2003 | 329 | 1.3 | 121 | 1.7 |
| 2004 | 277 | 2.0 | 118 | 1.9 |
| 2005 | 321 | 2.0 | 133 | 2.0 |
| 2006 | 365 | 2.1 | 117 | 2.5 |
| 2007 | 336 | 2.7 | 135 | 2.8 |
| 2008 | 446 | 2.6 | 128 | 3.2 |
| 2009 | 318 | 2.1 | 123 | 2.5 |
| 2010 | 367 | 2.6 | 159 | 2.3 |
| 2011 | 347 | 3.2 | 139 | 2.7 |
| 2012 | 344 | 3.3 | 120 | 3.3 |
| 2013 | 353 | 3.8 | 157 | 3.2 |
| 2014 | 430 | 3.6 | 155 | 3.5 |
| 2015 | 462 | 3.7 | 149 | 3.8 |
| 2016 | 435 | 3.6 | 120 | 4.6 |
| 2017 | 315 | 5.1 | 97 | 5.5 |
| 2018 | 321 | 5.6 | 88 | 6.2 |
| 2019 | 272 | 6.0 | 82 | 6.9 |
| 2020 | 274 | 5.8 | 61 | 8.2 |
| 2021 | 264 | 8.9 | 75 | 10.1 |
| 2022 | 254 | 8.4 | 87 | 7.9 |
| 2023 | 305 | 7.4 | 108 | 8.1 |
| 2024 | 308 | 8.3 | 105 | 9.6 |
| 2025 | 364 | 8.3 | 168 | 8.2 |
| 2026 | 430 | 8.3 | 190 | 8.7 |
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."
Israel (investments, operations, donations, contracts, statements)
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Zionist or pro-Israel organisations and lobbying groups
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Jewish communal charities
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Gulf states
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
China
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Russia
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
India
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Palestinian or Arab causes
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Home government
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Other international links
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Forbes, Forbes profile record for Steven Rales (Forbes data feed behind forbes.com/profile/steven-rales/) Forbes, live record, read 11 November 2026, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Danaher Corporation, 2026 Proxy Statement (Schedule 14A) US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 2026, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ Forbes, Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data feed Forbes, live; downloaded 11 November 2026 16:19 UTC, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Forbes, Forbes World's Billionaires list data feed, annual editions 2001–2026 (one file per year at this path with the year substituted; all 26 files downloaded and read) Forbes, annual lists; downloaded 20 October 2026, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 U.S. Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC Schedule A (itemised individual contributions) query, contributor name "RALES, STEVEN"; 2026 cycle shown in link, the 2022, 2024 and 2026 cycles were queried together with the same parameters; top 100 records by amount; records filtered by employer/occupation and name, memo entries excluded U.S. Federal Election Commission, data as filed; queried 11 November 2026, accessed 11 November 2026.