The Denim Rush

Thanks for being here! Before I get into perhaps the most eye-opening story of wealth in history - one that is still making billionaires to this day - I wanted to briefly tell you about Deep Pockets.

My name is Brian, and I am the creator of the website CelebrityNetWorth.com. Through CNW, I have spent the last 15+ years obsessively studying wealthy people. From historical tycoons to modern titans and celebrity billionaires. I created this newsletter to share those lessons with you in a way that I hope entertains, educates, and inspires you to create your very own deep pockets.

In other words, I think you’ll find this newsletter enriching, mentally and financially! 😆 

I’ll send you a new email every Saturday. If you ever have any suggestions, complaints… or if there’s a story of wealth you want to know more about… please reach out by replying directly to this email.

Thanks, and let’s get into it!

DEEP DIVE: “During a gold rush, be the one selling picks and shovels."

Today’s Deep Pockets will tell the story of a 24-year-old German immigrant living in California two hundred years ago. Appropriately, this young entrepreneur went on to earn multi-generational “deep pockets” thanks literally to… deep pockets.

There’s actually a decent chance you’re wearing a pair of his patented invention right now as you read this newsletter…

The Gold Rush of 1849 inspired an estimated 300,000 people from all over the world to flock to California to seek their own gold fortunes. Miners, who became known as “49ers,” toiled tirelessly for years in grueling conditions. Unfortunately, most of these fortune seekers returned to their homes a few years later every bit as poor as they arrived, or worse.

But that’s not what fate had in store for a young immigrant from Bavaria, who also moved to California to make his fortune. Upon arriving in California, he settled in San Francisco, where his brothers operated a dry goods and clothing company.

At the time, most work pants used by the average 49er were made out of canvas. Canvas could rip to shreds after a few days of mining so most 49ers took to laboring in their skivvies because their pants were so bad.

With this observation in mind, the young immigrant set out to create a pair of pants made of an extremely durable fabric. The fabric he landed on was denim. After seeing a prototype of the denim pants, a local tailor suggested he reinforce the pants with metal rivets at various stress points to even further prevent tearing. The design was patented in 1873.

Denim pants soon became the de-facto 49er uniform. And soon thereafter, they became a hit with average consumers as well.

As you may have guessed by now, the immigrant we are talking about is Levi Strauss.

When Levi died on September 26, 1902, at the age of 73, he left behind an estate valued at $30 million. That’s the same as around $900 million in today’s dollars. An absolutely astonishing amount of money in the early 1900s.

Levi was never married and had no kids. He left the majority of his wealth to various charities and orphanages. He left his company, plus $6 million in working capital, to his four nephews.

In 1914, the daughter of one of those nephews married a man named Walter A. Haas.

For the next century, the Haas family, led by Walter and his two sons, Walter Haas Jr. And Peter E. Haas, shepherded Levi Strauss & Co. through the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. In the process, they made Levis jeans not just an iconic American brand but a global sensation.

The Haas family took Levis Strauss public in 1971. They re-acquired it privately in 1985. When the company went public again in 2019, roughly 200 heirs still owned 75% of the firm’s equity.

Today, the extended Haas family is worth a collective $5.5 billion, all thanks to a single invention patented by a man who, to many of them, would be their great-great-grandfather’s grand-uncle-in-law 🤑 

The company’s largest individual shareholder is a woman named Mimi Haas. When the company went public in 2019, Mimi owned 17% of the total equity. Today, she owns around 11%. Mimi Haas’ net worth is $1.5 billion. Mimi is not blood-related in any way to Levi Strauss. In 1981, Mimi was a recently divorced single mom. That year, she married Peter E. Haas. Peter died in 2005 and left his entire fortune to Mimi.

On November 5, 2024, a guy named Daniel Lurie was elected mayor of San Francisco. Daniel’s parents divorced when he was two. His father is a rabbi named Brian Lurie. His mother is named Miriam. But she goes by Mimi. In other words, the new mayor of San Francisco is the heir to a $1.5 billion fortune because his late stepfather was the great-grand-nephew of Levi Strauss.

And going back to “49ers” for a moment… As you know, today, San Francisco’s NFL team is the 49ers. Want to guess where they play home games?

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…

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Levi’s Stadium!

Below is a photo of the 49ers mascot, Sourdough Sam. Note the pants:

So once again, what’s the lesson? If you want to make enough money where 200 years after your death:

• Your relatives are billionaires

• There’s a stadium named after you

• Your great-grandnephew’s stepson is rich enough to be elected mayor of San Francisco…

Find a modern-day gold rush and sell shovels!

Go Deeper: The NVIDIA/AI Rush

Let’s connect the “Sell Shovels” lesson to today’s Artificial Intelligence Rush. After ChatGPT exploded in late 2022, every tech company on the planet scrambled to launch AI-fueled products or fully pivot to AI.

The AI equivalent of shovels is computer chips. And the best chip maker on the planet today is NVIDIA.

A decade ago a single share of NIVIDA stock cost $0.50 (adjusting for stock splits). By late 2024, with the AI hype cycle in full swing, that share cost $145.

In November 2018, NVIDIA’s CEO/co-founder, Jensen Huang, was worth $3 billion.

In November 2024, NVIDIA surpassed Apple to become the world’s most valuable company. At that point, its market cap was $3.5 trillion, and Jensen Huang’s net worth was $130 billion. Here’s a chart of NVIDIA’s share price over the last twenty years:

To really put this all into perspective, consider the following:

If you took a job at NVIDIA in 2013 and were given a $400,000 equity grant (which wouldn’t have been unreasonable for a major tech firm competing for top talent back then), by late 2024, that fully vested grant was worth $100 million. And that does not include equity refreshers you likely received again in 2017 and 2021. 🫠 

The NVIDIA example brings up another critical lesson: As you make a fortune selling shovels or chips during a rush, at some point, you need to take profits!

If the AI rush turns out to be a huge bubble, all those millionaire and billionaire NVIDIA shareholders better have sold some of their stock during the hype to create actual cash wealth!

FINAL WORD

On the next edition of “Deep Pockets,” we’ll learn about a pair of totally under-the-radar brothers who accidentally fell into one of the greatest business deals in history. A deal that put $800 million into their pockets and seriously annoyed a major sports league.

Thanks for reading! Deep Pockets is brand new, and I appreciate you being part of it. I want it to be the best newsletter you’ve ever read.

So, hit Reply and let me know if there’s anything you like, hate, or otherwise just want to say. Thanks!