US Billionaire Reveals Why He Rejected His Son's Job Request, Made Him Earn His Stripes

Last Updated:April 02, 2025, 09:42 IST

Instead of giving a job to Jon Paul in his company, Jorge Perez encouraged him to gain experience elsewhere before considering a role in the family business.

Billionaire Jorge Perez. (Related Groups.com)

In a surprising move, billionaire Jorge Perez revealed that he had rejected his son Jon Paul’s bid to join the family’s real estate firm, Related Group. Perez’s unexpected response left Paul surprised and determined to prove himself.

In an interview with CNBC’s Inside Wealth, Perez said that after completing college, Paul approached him about joining the family business. However, instead of giving a job to Paul in his company, Perez encouraged him to gain experience elsewhere before considering a role in the family business.

“You’re not going to work for me," Mr Perez recalled to CNBC’s Inside Wealth. He added that he did not want to risk his reputation managing their $60 billion asset by hiring his son, just because they’re related.

Jorge Perez said that he sent Paul to work for a close friend and business partner to prove his abilities. Following graduation from the University of Miami, Jon Paul Perez begrudgingly relocated to New York to carve out his path.

Perez said that he had already told all his children that they had to spend at least five years working in the tough New York real estate market before joining his firm. He also said that he had asked to get a master’s degree from a top business school. He had a strict policy that his children wouldn’t automatically follow in his footsteps just because of the financial benefits; they had to forge their paths.

“I told them, just because I’ve been successful in real estate, don’t pick something you don’t have a passion for. Because life is very tough the way it is and if you wake up every day and do something just for making money or that you don’t like, it’s not going to work. I didn’t want the rest of the company to feel that they were brought in because of their last name," Mr Perez said.

Paul began his career as an analyst at Related Companies, owned by billionaire Stephen Ross, a family friend and former investor in his father’s company. He later earned an MBA from Northwestern University’s esteemed Kellogg School of Management, ranked the nation’s No. 3 business school by Fortune.

By 2012, he had gained enough experience to join Related Group, but his father didn’t hand him a top role. Instead, Jon Paul began by overseeing the rental division and gradually rose through the ranks. His perseverance paid off, as he and his brother Nick are now assuming co-CEO roles at Related Group, while their father transitions to executive chairman.

“Both have earned their positions in the company, having worked for over a decade in responsible positions both outside and inside the company," Perez said.

New York, United States of America (USA)

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