Steward is co-founder and majority owner of World Wide Technology, a closely held provider of information technology services. The St. Louis-based company provides cloud computing and security services as well as digital consulting. It employs about 8,000 people and has annual revenue of $14.5 billion.
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Steward's fortune is derived from his controlling interest in World Wide Technology, a closely held information services and hardware provider. Steward holds a 59% stake while Jim Kavanaugh, his partner and co-owner, has a 36% stake, according to a 2019 report.
The company employs about 8,000 people and has annual revenue of $14.5 billion, according to its website. It's valued using the enterprise value-to-sales multiple of three publicly traded peer companies: Insight Enterprises, Eplus and CDW.
Rebecca Morrison, a WWE spokeswoman, didn't comment on the net worth calculation.
David Lloyd Steward was born in Chicago on July 2, 1951. After moving to Missouri he earned a business degree from Central Missouri University in 1974, according to a Dec. 18, 2006 interview he gave to the History Makers.
After working as a salesman for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, he joined Federal Express before leaving to found a freight analytics firm, Transportation Business Specialists. He used that experience as the foundation for World Wide Technology, which he co-founded in 1990, according to the company's website.
Four years later a partnership with Cisco Systems saved the company from its mounting debt and then it won business with the federal government, taking advantage of the company’s status as a minority contractor, and with companies including Papa John’s International Inc. WWT now sells bundles of products made by Dell Inc., Intel Corp. and more than a dozen others.
Steward lives in St. Louis.