American businessman Herbert Allen is the Chairman of Allen & Co. and he has an estimated net worth of $1.49 billion as of April 2016 according to Forbes. He is the 239th richest person in the “Forbes 400” list and the 670th in the world. Born Herbert Anthony Allen Jr. in 1940, he is a graduate of Williams College in 1962.

After graduation, Allen immediately joined Allen & Co., a boutique investment bank in New York City, where he earned the majority of his estimated net worth of $2.2 billion. It was founded in 1922 by his uncles, Charles Robert Allen Jr. and Harold Allen, and his father, Herbert A. Allen Sr. It is now regarded as among the premier investment banks in the media and entertainment sector. This happened despite having only a small staff with an estimated 170 employees and its deliberate avoidance of publicity.

Also known as Herb, he took over the company in the early 1970's when the Allen brothers turned over the control to him. He then focused the firm on the entertainment industry and purchased a controlling stake in Columbia Pictures. In 1982, the company sold its shares in the film company to Coca-Cola for $750 million. This made him a member of the board and secured a lucrative spot for Allen & Co. in the succeeding deals of the soda maker. He then helped the soft drink giant sell the business to Sony for $3.4 billion in 1989. Currently, he is the largest known individual owner of coke stock who holds more than 12 million shares after the company’s 2-for-1 stock split in August.

In 2002, Herbert Allen Jr. was named the CEO of the family business. Since then, the firm was involved in the IPOs of high-profile tech companies such as Google, Zynga, Zillow, Groupon, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Yelp. It also holds the annual “Camp Allen” conference in Sun Valley and has brought out many of the biggest names in the media and technology industries every summer.