Sobrato controls the Sobrato Organization, a closely held real estate developer that owns more than 75 commercial properties in Silicon Valley. The Cupertino, California-based company's projects have included Apple's former headquarters. Its investing arm, Sobrato Capital, invests in funds and high-growth enterprises.
John Albert Sobrato's net worth of $11.1B can buy ...
... and is equivalent to ...
The majority of Sobrato's fortune is derived from the real estate he controls through closely held Sobrato Organization. The properties encompass more than 7 million square feet of commercial space, according to the company's website.
The assets included here are valued based on information provided by Sobrato in July 2021 that was current as of Dec. 31, 2020. Values were adjusted for changes in property indices in April 2022.
Valuations similar to those provided by Sobrato have also been determined by a separate analysis. This includes an assessment of commercial holdings based on average selling price per square foot of offices owned by Sobrato, according to three Silicon Valley property brokers. Residential properties were assessed using the median list price for homes in California, according to Zillow, an online real estate database.
Sobrato declined to comment on the net worth calculation.
John Albert Sobrato was born in San Francisco on May 23, 1939, the son of Italian immigrants John and Ann. His mother sold the family's restaurant business after his father died in 1952, and used the proceeds to invest in real estate. After graduating from Santa Clara University in 1960, Sobrato founded property developer Midtown Realty.
He partnered with his mother a year later to construct his first development, a 14,000 square foot office for Lockheed in Sunnyvale, California. The next year, broker Carl Berg joined Midtown. The pair developed 2.3 million square feet of property in Silicon Valley before they split, after which Sobrato established Sobrato Development Companies.
By 1985, Sobrato's commercial real estate holdings had surpassed 5 million square feet. He began to diversify into residential property, developing his first apartment project in San Jose. A year later, Sobrato began to construct Apple's new headquarters in Cupertino, California.
Sobrato passed the daily operation of the company to his son, John, in 1997. He focuses on his philanthropic giving through the Sobrato Family Organization.