David Steward is the second-richest Black guy in America. In the last 10 days, the billionaire has “reinforced” his position with his recent earnings. According to reports, his net worth has increased by $300 million in the last 10 days.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his worth increased from $9.8 billion on February 9 to $10.1 billion. His current net worth places him 229th among the world’s wealthiest 500 persons. Bloomberg reported that Steward’s income stems from his controlling position in World Wide Technology, a closely held provider of information services and hardware. Steward retains a 59% share, while Jim Kavanaugh, his partner and co-owner, owns 36%.
The self-made billionaire began his entrepreneurial path in a lowly setting and worked his way up the ladder to success. Steward, born in Chicago in 1951, grew up under segregation with his seven siblings. He was once the only Black boy in his school. His father worked as a mechanic, janitor, and garbage collector.
Steward earned a Bachelor of Science in Business from Central Missouri State University in 1973. He also received Honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters from Harris Stowe State University in 2002 and Lindenwood University in 2010.
Steward began his career in St. Louis, working as a substitute teacher while applying for full-time positions. He briefly worked as an associate executive with the Boy Scouts of America before joining Wagner Electric Corp. in 1974 as a manufacturing manager.
When Wagner Electric Corp. went out of business a year later, he joined Missouri Pacific Railroad Company in 1975, leaving the company in 1979. He served as a sales agent for the corporation during his tenure.
He later transferred to Federal Express, where he worked for five years. Steward’s diligence and hard work earned him the title of top salesman at Federal Express. In an interview, he described the honor as a “defining moment.” I asked myself, “Is this what I want from life?”
“That idea struck me then, that there was an emptiness and confinement in working for someone else. “That’s when I really thought about buying my own business,” he told the Horatio Alger Association.
He asked his father for a $2000 loan, which he used to start Transportation Business Specialists, which inspected and analyzed freight bills and overcharges in the train business. He later founded Transport Administrative Service, a sibling firm responsible for checking railroad undercharges.
In 1990, he founded what would become his most important business. He started IT company World Wide Technology (WWT) with a shoestring budget and seven workers. Today, the company is one of the leading Black-owned IT companies in the United States, with over 20 sites throughout the globe. The corporation serves both the American government and private organizations.
According to Bloomberg, WWT employs over 8,000 people and generates over $14.5 billion in sales annually. The technological services company focuses in cloud computing, data center and virtualization, security, mobility, and networking technologies, as well as audio, video, and collaboration solutions.
Steward founded Kingdom Capital, a values-driven private investment organization that focuses on early-stage startups offering technology-based health and medical solutions. Furthermore, the billionaire is the author of two books: Doing Business by The Good Book, released in 2004; and Leadership by The Good Book, published in 2020.
The entrepreneur has been married for more than 44 years. He has two kids and two grandkids. In addition to his commercial achievements, Steward has received numerous prizes. He was named the 2012 Black Engineer of the Year (BEYA) and the 2015 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Citizen of the Year. He and his wife, Thelma, received the Jane and Whitney Harris St. Louis Community Service Award.