What is Jessica Pegula’s net worth?
Jessica Pegula is an American professional tennis player and heiress who has a net worth of $10 million. As of this writing, Jessica has won just over $5 million in tournament prize money and peaked at No. 7 in the world.
family wealth
Jessica is the daughter of billionaires Terry Pegula and Kim Pegula. The Pegulas are best known for owning the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabers professional sports teams through their holding company, Pegula Sports.
Terry Pegula made his fortune as the founder of a natural gas company called East Resources. He founded the company in the early 1990s and sold the majority in 2010 to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 billion. Before selling the company, he had received several billion in dividends. In 2014, he earned an additional $1.75 billion by selling additional assets and shares of East Resources to American Energy.
Terry and Kim took that fortune and invested in an empire that now includes fracking, real estate, entertainment and of course professional sports.
Terry and Kim bought the Buffalo Bills in 2014 for $1.4 billion. The team has no debt and no other partners. Today, the team is worth 3 to 4 billion dollars.
In 2011, the Pegulas purchased the Buffalo Sabers NHL team and arena for $189 million. Today, the Sabers are worth around $700 million.
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Early life
Jessica Pegula was born on February 24, 1994 in Buffalo, New York. As we mentioned a moment ago, she is the daughter of Terrence and Kim Pegula. Jessica’s mother, Kim, was born in Seoul but was abandoned on the streets as a child. She spent time in an orphanage before being adopted by an American family at the age of five. Kim has no memory of her birth parents or time spent in South Korea. Kim and Terry met when she showed up for an interview to become a waitress at a restaurant in Belfast, New York. Terry was having dinner at the restaurant at that precise moment and they started a conversation. They stayed in touch and he later offered her a job at his natural gas company East Resources. She accepted him in 1991. In 1993 they got married.
Terry and Kim had three children and Terry came to the wedding with two children from a previous relationship.
Tennis career
In 2011, Jessica earned a wildcard entry into the US Open doubles. She and partner Taylor Townsend then lost in the third round of the tournament.
In 2012, she got a wildcard for the Indian Wells tournament. She qualified for the main draw but lost in the first round in three sets.
Jessica Pegula qualified for her first Grand Slam singles tournament at the 2015 US Open. She reached the main draw and won her first match. She lost in the second round in three sets.
In 2018, Jessica had entered the top 100. After winning the singles title at the Washington Open, her ranking rose to 55th. She finished 2019 ranked 76th in the world.
At the 2020 US Open, Jessica made it to the third round. It was the first time she had gone this far in a Grand Slam.
In 2021, she cracked the top 20 and reached a Grand Slam quarter-final at the Australian Open. In May of that year, she beat world No. 2 Naomi Osaka to advance to the second round of the Italian Open, eventually advancing to the quarter-finals. The following month, she reached the third round of the French Open and the quarter-finals of the German Open. With these two results, Jessica crosses the top 25 of the ranking for the first time.
In 2022, she reached the quarter-finals of the 2022 Australian, French and US Open. Prior to the US Open, Jessica was ranked 8th in the world.
Private life
In 2021, Jessica married Taylor Gahagen. They met through his executive work at Pegula Sports and Entertainment.
Other Efforts
Along with her sister, Jessica started a restaurant called Healthy Scratch in 2016. The following year, the duo launched a food truck business Healthy Scratch.
Also in 2017, Jessica single-handedly launched a skincare line called Ready 24.