Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Wednesday, September 17th.

Today on Forbes, how Jared Kushner's bold bets in the Middle East made him a billionaire.

Jared Kushner's biggest private equity win so far is an Israeli business he tried to buy into

more than a decade ago.

In 2014, Kushner was 33 years old and the CEO of Kushner Companies,

the New York City-based real estate company, co-founded by his father and grandfather.

Looking for new investments, he targeted the Israeli insurance and financial services firm, Phoenix.

Kushner entered into a tentative deal to buy a 47% stake in the company, enabled in part by a loan from the seller.

All looked promising for a time, but regulatory hurdles soon proved too difficult, and the bid fell through.

Ten years later, he got a second chance.

Through Affinity Partners, the private equity firm he founded in early 2021, he spent

roughly a quarter of a billion dollars buying a nearly 10% stake in Phoenix since July

2024.

One of Affinity's biggest bets to date, Kushner boasts that it's also the firm's, quote,

best investment.

Kushner, now 44 years old, says he's already made in over nine times return.

Thanks in part to bets like this, as well as his knack for raising funds from high-profile

Middle Eastern backers, Kushner is now a billionaire. Forbes estimates his fortune at just over

$1 billion, up from at least $900 million a year ago. He joins the billionaire ranks alongside

his brother Josh, whose net worth is $5.2 billion,

and his father-in-law, President Donald Trump, whose net worth is $7.3 billion.

But rather than following Josh, whose venture capital firm is mainly focused on tech investments,

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