Johnson is a former chairman of Franklin Resources, a publicly traded US money management business that operates the Franklin and Templeton mutual funds. The San Mateo, California-based company had revenue of $7.8 billion in the year to Sept. 30, 2023. He's also principal owner of MLB's San Francisco Giants.
Johnson and his brother Rupert are the biggest shareholders of Franklin Resources. He owns about 19% of the company, according to the 2024 proxy statement. Shares held in charitable foundations have been deducted from the net wealth calculation.
Johnson began buying stakes in the San Francisco Giants professional baseball team in 1992. Today, he's the principal owner and is credited with a 25% ownership stake. The Giants are valued at $3.81 billion, according to a March 2023 report by valuation consultants Sportico.
He's collected about $1.9 billion from dividends and share sales, according to company filings and an analysis of Bloomberg data dating back to Franklin Resource's public offering in 1971. The value of his cash investments is based on these proceeds, as well as asset purchases, charitable giving, taxes and market performance.
Stacey Coleman, a spokesman for Franklin Resources, said Johnson declined to comment on the net worth calculation.
Charles Johnson was born the son of a stockbroker who founded the mutual fund company Franklin Distributors in 1947. Growing up in Montclair, New Jersey, he attended baseball games at the old Polo Grounds in New York, where his father had box seats. According to an interview he gave in 2012 to the San Francisco Chronicle, he witnessed Willie Mays' historic over-the-shoulder catch during the 1954 World Series.
He played football at Yale University, where he waited tables at the school dining hall. After graduation, he served in the Army in a guided-missile battalion in Germany.
He joined his father's company as chief executive officer in 1957. Within three decades, he had transformed Franklin Resources into a global financial services powerhouse with more than $40 billion of assets under management. In 1992, he struck his signature deal, buying Templeton, Galbraith and Hansberger from Sir John Templeton. Four years later, he bought Heine Securities from fund manager Michael Price. His daughter, Jennifer M. Johnson, took over the role of chief executive officer from her brother Gregory E. Johnson in February 2020. Gregory became executive chairman and chairman of the board.