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How Jessica Pegula’s Billionaire Parents Made Their Fortune

VaselineSeptember 4, 2024

0 2 minutes read

How Jessica Pegula’s Billionaire Parents Made Their Fortune

Topline

Jessica Pegula moved one step closer to her first-ever major tournament semifinal this week by reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open. However, much of the talk about the 30-year-old tennis star on Tuesday focused on her post-match press conference, where she responded to “scandalous” rumors that she has been living an extremely lavish lifestyle thanks to her parents (the billionaire owners of the Buffalo Bills), claims she has repeatedly denied.

Jessica Pegula from the United States during the US Open on September 2, 2024.

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Key Facts

Pegula said Monday night that it’s “a little annoying” that people assume she has a butler, a chauffeured limousine and only flies private jets because her parents — Terry and Kim Pegula — are billionaires.

Pegula, the world’s sixth-best tennis player, was born into one of America’s wealthiest families. 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 the top three non-U.S.-born NFL team owners.

He made his money with his oil and gas company East Resources and sold most of the company to Royal Dutch Shell in 2010 for $4.7 billion. In 2011, he bought the Buffalo Sabres hockey team for $189 million and in 2014 the Buffalo Bills NFL team for $1.4 billion.

Both teams’ values have increased significantly, with the Bills estimated to be worth $4.2 billion on Forbes’ most recent list of NFL valuations and the Sabres valued at $750 million on Forbes’ most recent list of NHL valuations.

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Buffalo Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula on September 15, 2016.

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Crucial quote

“People think I have a butler, that I get chauffeured around, that I have a private limo, that I fly everywhere privately,” Jessica Pegula said at the press conference. “I’m absolutely not like that. People can think whatever they want.”

Main background

A decorated collegiate player during her time at the University of Pittsburgh, Pegula played in her first major tournament as a doubles player at the 2011 US Open. She made her first Grand Slam singles appearance at the 2015 US Open and has reached six Grand Slam quarterfinals since then, but has never advanced beyond the round. Her most recent quarterfinal was a stunning loss to Marketa Vondrousova at Wimbledon last year (Pegula led 4-1 in the third set before Vondrousova won five straight games to take the match). Pegula only broke into the top 100 in 2019, her seventh year on the Women’s Tennis Association tour, and is currently ranked the sixth best female singles player in the world.

What to look out for

Pegula’s next match. She plays Iga Świątek, the No. 1-ranked female player in the world, at 7 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.

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