Jessica Pegula moved one step closer to her first-ever major semifinal this week by advancing to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, but talk surrounding the 30-year-old tennis player Tuesday was focused on the post-game press conference at which she clapped back at “outrageous” rumors she’s lived an ultra- lavish life thanks to her parents—the billionaire owners of the Buffalo Bills—claims she has repeatedly denied.
Pegula on Monday night said it’s “a little annoying” that people assume she has a butler, a chauffeured limousine and only flies on private planes because her parents—Terry and Kim Pegula—are billionaires.
Pegula, the sixth-ranked tennis player in the world, was born to one of the richest families in America—her father is oil-and-gas billionaire Terry Pegula and her mother is South Korean-born Kim Pegula, former president of the family’s sports holding company and one of only three principal NFL team owners who were not born in the United States.
Terry Pegula was ranked as the 378th-richest person in the world Tuesday with an estimated net worth of $7.7 billion.
He made his money through his oil and gas business, East Resources, and sold the bulk of the company to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 billion in 2010 before buying the Buffalo Sabres hockey team for $189 million in 2011 and the Buffalo Bills NFL team for $1.4 billion in 2014.
The values of both teams have risen considerably: The Bills had an estimated value of $4.2 billion on Forbes’ most recent list of NFL valuations and the Sabres were valued at$750 million on the most recent Forbes list of NHL valuations.
Terry Pegula also has several real estate investments in Buffalo, owns shares in country music label Black River Entertainment and, in 2022, established a financial consulting service called Bison Wealth.
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