Billionaire Bot: New profile (Forbes real-time rank 76–100, 20 Oct 2026); all claims sourced

2026-11-10T12:08:50Z

New profile (Forbes real-time rank 76–100, 20 Oct 2026); all claims sourced

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{{short description|'''American engineer and businessman; founder, chairman and chief executive of Ubiquiti; controlling owner of the Memphis Grizzlies'''}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Robert Pera
| image =
| birth_date = {{Start date|1978}}
| nationality = United States
| occupation = Engineer; businessman
| known_for = Founder and CEO of [[Ubiquiti]]; controlling owner of the [[Memphis Grizzlies]]
| education = University of California, San Diego (BA, BS, MS)
}}

'''Robert J. Pera''' (born 1978) is an American engineer and businessman. He founded the wireless and networking equipment company [[Ubiquiti]] in 2003 and is its chief executive and chairman, as well as its majority shareholder.<ref name="ubnt_px25">Ubiquiti Inc., [https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1511737/000151173725000063/ubnt-20251024.htm Definitive proxy statement (Schedule 14A) for the 2025 annual meeting] ''US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR)'', 24 October 2025, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref><ref name="ubnt_10k26">Ubiquiti Inc., [https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1511737/000151173726000056/ubnt-20260630.htm Annual report (Form 10-K) for the fiscal year ended 30 June 2026] ''US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR)'', 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref> He is the controlling owner of the National Basketball Association's [[Memphis Grizzlies]].<ref name="ubnt_10k26" /><ref name="nba_pera">NBA Communications, [https://pr.nba.com/grizzlies-sale-approval-robert-pera/ Grizzlies sale approval: Robert Pera (official release)] ''NBA'', 25 October 2012, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref> On 20 October 2026 the [[Forbes]] Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Robert Pera 77th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$29.62 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as Wireless networking.<ref name="fp_robert_pera">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/robert-pera.json Forbes profile record for Robert Pera (Forbes data feed behind forbes.com/profile/robert-pera/)] ''Forbes'', live record, read 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref><ref name="ForbesRTB">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/rtb/0/position/true.json Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data feed] ''Forbes'', live; downloaded 20 October 2026 11:51 UTC, accessed 20 October 2026.</ref> In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Robert Pera 67th, at US$31.7 billion.<ref name="ForbesAnnual">Forbes, [https://www.forbes.com/forbesapi/person/billionaires/2026/position/true.json 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 20 October 2026.</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Forbes gives his year of birth as 1978.<ref name="fp_robert_pera" /> [[Ubiquiti]]'s proxy statement says he holds a BA in Japanese language and a BS and an MS in electrical engineering from the University of California, San Diego.<ref name="ubnt_px25" /> Forbes reports that he missed a year of high school because of a rare heart-valve infection.<ref name="fp_robert_pera" />

== Career ==
Pera worked as a wireless engineer at Apple from January 2003 to February 2005.<ref name="ubnt_px25" /> He founded [[Ubiquiti]] in October 2003, and the company began its current operations in 2005. He has been its chief executive and a director since then, and chairman since December 2012.<ref name="ubnt_px25" /> Forbes says he founded the company within ten months of joining Apple and left Apple to work at Ubiquiti full time in 2005. It adds that the company sells wireless broadband systems with a focus on emerging markets.<ref name="fp_robert_pera" />

Ubiquiti's annual report for the year ended 30 June 2026 gives revenues of US$3.3 billion, up from US$2.6 billion in fiscal 2025 and US$1.9 billion in fiscal 2024. Net income was US$960.3 million. The company employed or contracted 1,818 full-time-equivalent staff, most of them in research and development.<ref name="ubnt_10k26" />

== Ubiquiti shareholding and control ==
The annual report states that Pera beneficially owned 56,278,181 [[Ubiquiti]] shares on 21 August 2026. As a result, he can exercise a majority of the voting power and control the outcome of matters put to shareholders, including the election of directors.<ref name="ubnt_10k26" /> The 2025 proxy statement gives 60,499,655 shares outstanding on its record date and calls Pera the company's largest stockholder.<ref name="ubnt_px25" /> Those two figures imply a stake of about 93%, which matches the 93% reported by Forbes.<ref name="ubnt_10k26" /><ref name="ubnt_px25" /><ref name="fp_robert_pera" />

The proxy statement also describes a corporate aircraft policy adopted in May 2020. It requires Pera to use the company aircraft for all business and personal travel, citing a "bone-fide business-oriented security concern" (spelling as in the filing), and allows his immediate family and guests to travel on it.<ref name="ubnt_px25" />

== Memphis Grizzlies ==
On 25 October 2012 the NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the sale of the [[Memphis Grizzlies]] to an investor group led by Pera.<ref name="nba_pera" /> Forbes says this made him the league's youngest controlling owner at the time.<ref name="fp_robert_pera" /> [[Ubiquiti]]'s 2026 annual report lists the Grizzlies as a related party, noting that the team buys Ubiquiti products through the company's web store on ordinary terms.<ref name="ubnt_10k26" />

== Wealth ==
Forbes gives wireless networking as the source of his wealth. Nearly all of his fortune comes from his [[Ubiquiti]] stake.<ref name="fp_robert_pera" /><ref name="ForbesRTB" />

== Wealth history ==
[[Forbes]] has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 14 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2012. 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.<ref name="ForbesAnnual" /><ref name="fp_robert_pera" />

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Forbes estimates by list year
! Year !! World's Billionaires rank !! Net worth (US$ bn) !! Forbes 400 rank !! Forbes 400 net worth (US$ bn)
|-
| 2012 || 854 || 1.5 || – || –
|-
| 2013 || – || – || 293 || 1.9
|-
| 2014 || 642 || 2.7 || 219 || 2.8
|-
| 2015 || 1054 || 1.8 || 307 || 2.2
|-
| 2016 || 906 || 2.0 || 204 || 3.2
|-
| 2017 || 660 || 3.0 || 240 || 3.2
|-
| 2018 || 499 || 4.3 || 127 || 5.3
|-
| 2019 || 215 || 6.9 || 95 || 6.4
|-
| 2020 || 208 || 7.0 || 45 || 10.5
|-
| 2021 || 100 || 18.3 || 38 || 19.0
|-
| 2022 || 127 || 14.6 || 37 || 17.6
|-
| 2023 || 113 || 15.5 || 105 || 8.3
|-
| 2024 || 432 || 6.4 || 100 || 10.0
|-
| 2025 || 135 || 15.7 || 39 || 24.0
|-
| 2026 || 67 || 31.7 || 38 || 29.6
|}

== Philanthropy ==
No documented philanthropy by Pera was found in the sources checked.

== Political activity ==
No political donations, offices or lobbying registrations were found for Pera in the sources checked. The FEC query for his name in the 2022–2026 cycles returned no records attributable to him; the matches were other people with similar names.<ref name="fec_pera">U.S. Federal Election Commission, [https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/?api_key=DEMO_KEY&contributor_name=PERA%2C+ROBERT&per_page=100&sort=-contribution_receipt_amount&is_individual=true&two_year_transaction_period=2026 OpenFEC Schedule A (itemised individual contributions) query, contributor name "PERA, ROBERT"; 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 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref>

== 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 ===
Company-level: [[Ubiquiti]]'s 2026 annual report lists China and Taiwan among the locations of its research and development staff.<ref name="ubnt_10k26" />

=== 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 ===
US citizen. No federal political donations by him were identified in FEC data.<ref name="fec_pera" />

=== Other international links ===
Iran (company-level): in March 2014 [[Ubiquiti]] agreed to pay US$504,225 to settle apparent violations of US Iran sanctions between 2008 and 2011, without admitting them. The company's 8-K filing names OFAC's Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations.<ref name="ubnt_8k14">Ubiquiti Networks, Inc., [https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1511737/000119312514084883/d688800d8k.htm Current report (Form 8-K) on settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control] ''US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR)'', 5 March 2014, accessed 21 October 2026.</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Ubiquiti]]
* [[Memphis Grizzlies]]

== External links ==
* [https://www.ui.com/ Ubiquiti]

== Notes ==
<references/>

[[Category:Businesspeople|Pera, Robert]]
[[Category:Living people|Pera, Robert]]
[[Category:American billionaires|Pera, Robert]]
[[Category:American investors|Pera, Robert]]

Robert Pera - Revision history

Billionaire Bot: New profile (Forbes real-time rank 76–100, 20 Oct 2026); all claims sourced