# Julia Koch
**Julia Koch** (Julia Flesher Koch; born 1962) is an American businesswoman and philanthropist who, with her three children, inherited a 42% stake in Koch, Inc. from her husband [David Koch](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-koch) when he died in 2019, making her one of the richest women in the world.[1](https://www.forbes.com/profile/julia-koch/) She serves on the boards of [Koch Industries](https://www.edgepedia.org/koch-industries), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Venetian Heritage, and runs several family foundations.[2](https://www.juliakoch.com/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Fortune | Forbes real-time estimate of $84.6 billion for Julia Koch and family as of October 9, 2026, ranking #23 in the world[1](https://www.forbes.com/profile/julia-koch/) |
| Source of wealth | A 42% stake in Koch, Inc., inherited with her three children from David Koch (died 2019, age 79)[1](https://www.forbes.com/profile/julia-koch/) |
| Company scale | Koch, Inc. is America's second-largest private company by revenue, with about $125 billion in revenues[3](https://www.forbes.com/profile/charles-koch/) |
| Board roles | Koch Industries, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Venetian Heritage[2](https://www.juliakoch.com/) |
| Sports investments | Nearly $700 million for 15% of BSE Global (2024); 10% of the New York Giants at a valuation above $10 billion (2025)[1](https://www.forbes.com/profile/julia-koch/) |
| Philanthropy vehicles | Founder and chair of the Julia Koch Family Foundation; president of the David H. Koch Foundation[2](https://www.juliakoch.com/) |
| Children | Three: David Jr., Mary Julia, and John Koch, each of whom shares the inherited stake[1](https://www.forbes.com/profile/julia-koch/) • [2](https://www.juliakoch.com/) |
## Who she is
Julia Flesher was born in Iowa in 1962 to Margaret and Frederic Flesher and grew up in [Conway, Arkansas](https://www.edgepedia.org/conway-arkansas).[5](https://www.ibtimes.com/widow-becomes-americas-richest-heir-60b-net-worth-after-husband-dies-3703054) She graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in 1984, moved to New York in the 1980s, and worked for nearly a decade as an assistant in designer Adolfo's Upper East Side salon, fitting and styling clients that included First Lady Nancy Reagan, Betsy Bloomingdale, and Leonore Annenberg.[6](https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/billionaire-news/shes-worth-80-billion-is-the-20th-richest-person-in-the-world-and-youve-never-heard-her-name-and-wouldnt-recognize-her-on-the-street/) • [1](https://www.forbes.com/profile/julia-koch/)
A January 1991 blind date, arranged by mutual friends when she was about 28 and David Koch was 50, began the relationship; they married in May 1996 at his [Southampton](https://www.edgepedia.org/southampton) estate.[6](https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/billionaire-news/shes-worth-80-billion-is-the-20th-richest-person-in-the-world-and-youve-never-heard-her-name-and-wouldnt-recognize-her-on-the-street/) A 1998 *New York Times Magazine* profile described her society debut that winter as "a young woman of manners and social ambition from Conway, Ark." marrying one of the richest men in America.[7](https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/11/magazine/woman-ascending-a-marble-staircase.html) The couple had three children: David Jr., Mary Julia, and John.[2](https://www.juliakoch.com/)
## The Koch fortune and how she came to hold it
David Koch died in August 2019 at age 79, worth $42.5 billion and ranked 11th on Forbes' list at the time.[8](https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-julia-flesher-koch-david-koch-net-worth-2020-1) His entire fortune passed to his wife and children.[9](https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-julia-koch-widow-of-david-koch-isnt-spending-her-money/) The core asset is the 42% stake in Koch, Inc. held by Julia Koch and her three children.[1](https://www.forbes.com/profile/julia-koch/)
Koch, Inc. is a diversified company with about $125 billion in revenues from pipelines, chemicals, software, automotive components, and consumer products including Dixie cups; it is the second-largest private company in the United States by revenue.[3](https://www.forbes.com/profile/charles-koch/) Because the shares are not publicly traded, her fortune has no daily market price. Estimates of her stake in Koch, Inc. are less precise than estimates of listed-company fortunes.[10](https://www.finance-monthly.com/top-10-richest-women-in-the-world/) This illiquidity also constrains her giving: billions are locked up in non-public stock rather than cash.[11](https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2022-10-31-a-new-koch-in-town-4-things-to-note-about-the-philanthropy-of-americas-richest-woman)
## By the numbers
Her estimated net worth has risen steeply since the inheritance:
- About $50 billion at David Koch's death in 2019.[4](https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/billionaire-news/koch-industries-widow-julia-koch-buys-1-billion-stake-in-new-york-giants-at-record-10-billion-valuation/)
- $57 billion as of October 2022, when she passed [Alice Walton](https://www.edgepedia.org/alice-walton) as the richest woman in America.[11](https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2022-10-31-a-new-koch-in-town-4-things-to-note-about-the-philanthropy-of-americas-richest-woman)
- $64.3 billion on the 2024 Forbes list, rising to $74.2 billion on the March 7, 2025 list, 21st in the world.[12](https://redding.com/story/news/2025/04/02/worlds-richest-palm-beach-is-home-to-at-least-67-forbes-billionaires/82754120007/)
- $81.2 billion on the 2026 Forbes annual list, third among the world's richest women.[13](https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/top-10-listing/top-10-richest-women-globally-in-2026-10580209/)
- $84.6 billion in Forbes' real-time estimate of October 9, 2026, #23 in the world.[1](https://www.forbes.com/profile/julia-koch/)
The trackers and dates diverge. The 2026 annual-list figure of $81.2 billion and the August 2026 press estimate of $81.2 billion sit below Forbes' own October 2026 real-time figure of $84.6 billion, and Celebrity Net Worth's September 2025 profile put her near $80 billion as the second-richest woman behind Alice Walton.[1](https://www.forbes.com/profile/julia-koch/) • [4](https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/billionaire-news/koch-industries-widow-julia-koch-buys-1-billion-stake-in-new-york-giants-at-record-10-billion-valuation/) • [14](https://pagesix.com/2026/08/17/society/julia-koch-is-building-a-hamptons-family-compound/) Her rank among the world's richest women is also reported inconsistently: [Business Insider](https://www.edgepedia.org/business-insider) and the Indian Express place her third, behind Alice Walton ($134 billion) and [Françoise Bettencourt Meyers](https://www.edgepedia.org/francoise-bettencourt-meyers) ($100 billion), while [Page Six](https://www.edgepedia.org/page-six) and Celebrity Net Worth describe her as second behind Walton.[8](https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-julia-flesher-koch-david-koch-net-worth-2020-1) • [13](https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/top-10-listing/top-10-richest-women-globally-in-2026-10580209/) • [14](https://pagesix.com/2026/08/17/society/julia-koch-is-building-a-hamptons-family-compound/) • [4](https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/billionaire-news/koch-industries-widow-julia-koch-buys-1-billion-stake-in-new-york-giants-at-record-10-billion-valuation/)
## Role in the Koch business and family
Julia Koch holds a seat on the Koch Industries board.[2](https://www.juliakoch.com/) Operational leadership rests with her brother-in-law [Charles Koch](https://www.edgepedia.org/charles-koch), who has chaired the company since 1967 and brought in his first co-CEO in 2023.[3](https://www.forbes.com/profile/charles-koch/) • [15](https://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/news/2026/03/17/forbes-billionaires-list-julia-charles-koch.html) The ownership structure she inherited was itself shaped by an earlier family transaction: in 1983, Charles and David bought out their siblings Bill and Frederick for a reported $800 million, concentrating the company in the two brothers' branches.[3](https://www.forbes.com/profile/charles-koch/) (IBTimes gives the 1983 buyout price as $1.1 billion; the two figures have not been reconciled.[5](https://www.ibtimes.com/widow-becomes-americas-richest-heir-60b-net-worth-after-husband-dies-3703054)) By March 2026, both Julia and Charles ranked among the world's 25 wealthiest people on the Forbes list. As of October 9, 2026, Forbes estimated Julia's fortune at $84.6 billion and Charles's at $76.9 billion.[1](https://www.forbes.com/profile/julia-koch/) • [3](https://www.forbes.com/profile/charles-koch/) • [15](https://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/news/2026/03/17/forbes-billionaires-list-julia-charles-koch.html)
Her children share the inherited stake and are already active in the family's philanthropic vehicles. The Julia Koch Family Philanthropy Fund, a 501(c)(4) organization, sent $55 million in 2023 to the Julia Koch Family Foundation, $28 million to the David Koch Jr. Foundation led by her son, and $7.5 million to the Mary Julia Koch Foundation; its entire 2024 payout of $23 million went to the Mary Julia Koch Foundation, which is named for and headed by her daughter.[16](https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/ray-dalio-julia-koch-and-tom-pritzker-have-501c4s-that-act-like-foundations)
## Philanthropy
Julia Koch's giving centers on health and the arts rather than the ideological causes associated with the wider Koch network. With David, she gave $10 million in 2017 to establish a clinical research unit at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford within the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research, and a $10 million pledge in 2012 to [Mount Sinai](https://www.edgepedia.org/mount-sinai)'s Jaffe Food Allergy Institute, motivated by their son David Jr.'s severe food allergies.[17](https://www.davidkochfoundation.org/julia-koch) • [11](https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2022-10-31-a-new-koch-in-town-4-things-to-note-about-the-philanthropy-of-americas-richest-woman) Her personal gifts to NYU Langone include $3 million for the Julia Flesher Koch Professorship of Orthopedic Surgery and $1.4 million for an endowed scholarship covering full medical-school tuition.[17](https://www.davidkochfoundation.org/julia-koch) She also sits on the boards of [Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center](https://www.edgepedia.org/memorial-sloan-kettering-cancer-center), the [Metropolitan Museum of Art](https://www.edgepedia.org/metropolitan-museum-of-art), and Venetian Heritage.[2](https://www.juliakoch.com/)
The giving record changed after 2019. Between 2007 and 2017 the couple donated an average of about $63 million per year; the David H. Koch Foundation made no donations in 2018 or 2019, gave $2 million in 2020 (half to [Duke University](https://www.edgepedia.org/duke-university)) and $1 million to Columbia University in 2021, and has received no new funding since David's death, with its value falling from more than $95 million at the end of 2009 to $7.1 million at its most recent filing, where Julia Koch is listed as director, president, secretary, and treasurer.[9](https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-julia-koch-widow-of-david-koch-isnt-spending-her-money/) In its place she has built a set of 501(c)(4) organizations formed in 2022 or later: the $15 million Julia Koch Family Foundation, JMKC4 with $130,000, and the $92 million Julia Koch Family Philanthropy Fund, which awarded $91 million in 2023 and $23 million in 2024.[16](https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/ray-dalio-julia-koch-and-tom-pritzker-have-501c4s-that-act-like-foundations)
## Recent developments
**Sports ownership.** In 2024, Koch and her three children paid nearly $700 million for 15% of BSE Global, owner of the [Brooklyn Nets](https://www.edgepedia.org/brooklyn-nets), the [New York Liberty](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-liberty), and Barclays Center, in a deal valuing the group at $6 billion.[1](https://www.forbes.com/profile/julia-koch/) • [4](https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/billionaire-news/koch-industries-widow-julia-koch-buys-1-billion-stake-in-new-york-giants-at-record-10-billion-valuation/) In September 2025, the New York Giants agreed to sell the family a 10% minority stake for more than $1 billion, valuing the franchise at over $10 billion; afterward the Mara and Tisch families each hold 45%, leaving the Kochs with no path to majority control.[4](https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/billionaire-news/koch-industries-widow-julia-koch-buys-1-billion-stake-in-new-york-giants-at-record-10-billion-valuation/) • [1](https://www.forbes.com/profile/julia-koch/)
**Political giving.** Since David's death she has avoided overtly conservative or libertarian causes, sticking to arts, health, and similar fields, though she did donate to Ron DeSantis and Mehmet Oz in 2022.[11](https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2022-10-31-a-new-koch-in-town-4-things-to-note-about-the-philanthropy-of-americas-richest-woman) Her c4 giving shows almost no political bent, a contrast with her late husband's reputation for right-wing political funding.[16](https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/ray-dalio-julia-koch-and-tom-pritzker-have-501c4s-that-act-like-foundations)
**Valuation.** Forbes' estimate for the family rose from $64.3 billion (2024) to $74.2 billion (March 2025) and to $81.2 billion on the 2026 annual list.[12](https://redding.com/story/news/2025/04/02/worlds-richest-palm-beach-is-home-to-at-least-67-forbes-billionaires/82754120007/) • [13](https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/top-10-listing/top-10-richest-women-globally-in-2026-10580209/)
## How it compares with other heiress-executives
On the 2026 Forbes ranking of the world's richest women, Julia Koch & family rank third at $81.2 billion, behind Alice Walton at $134 billion and Françoise Bettencourt Meyers at $100 billion; Walton and Bettencourt Meyers are the only two women above $100 billion.[13](https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/top-10-listing/top-10-richest-women-globally-in-2026-10580209/) Within her own family, her $84.6 billion real-time estimate exceeds brother-in-law Charles Koch's $76.9 billion.[1](https://www.forbes.com/profile/julia-koch/) • [3](https://www.forbes.com/profile/charles-koch/) Like the Walton and Bettencourt Meyers fortunes, hers is dynastic: it is rooted in long-term family ownership of a business she did not found, rather than in entrepreneurship.[10](https://www.finance-monthly.com/top-10-richest-women-in-the-world/)
## References
1. [Julia Koch & family — Forbes profile](https://www.forbes.com/profile/julia-koch/)
2. [Julia Koch — official website](https://www.juliakoch.com/)
3. [Charles Koch & family — Forbes profile](https://www.forbes.com/profile/charles-koch/)
4. [Julia Koch Buys $1 Billion Stake In New York Giants At Record $10 Billion Valuation — Celebrity Net Worth](https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/billionaire-news/koch-industries-widow-julia-koch-buys-1-billion-stake-in-new-york-giants-at-record-10-billion-valuation/)
5. [Widow Becomes America's Richest Heir — IBTimes](https://www.ibtimes.com/widow-becomes-americas-richest-heir-60b-net-worth-after-husband-dies-3703054)
6. [She's Worth $80 Billion... And You've Never Heard Her Name — Celebrity Net Worth](https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/billionaire-news/shes-worth-80-billion-is-the-20th-richest-person-in-the-world-and-youve-never-heard-her-name-and-wouldnt-recognize-her-on-the-street/)
7. [Woman Ascending A Marble Staircase — The New York Times Magazine](https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/11/magazine/woman-ascending-a-marble-staircase.html)
8. [Meet Julia Flesher Koch, One of the World's Richest Women — Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-julia-flesher-koch-david-koch-net-worth-2020-1)
9. [How Julia Koch, Widow of David Koch, Isn't Spending Her Money — The Daily Beast](https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-julia-koch-widow-of-david-koch-isnt-spending-her-money/)
10. [Top 10 Richest Women In The World 2026 — Finance Monthly](https://www.finance-monthly.com/top-10-richest-women-in-the-world/)
11. [A New Koch in Town: Four Things to Note About the Philanthropy of America's Richest Woman — Inside Philanthropy](https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2022-10-31-a-new-koch-in-town-4-things-to-note-about-the-philanthropy-of-americas-richest-woman)
12. [World's richest: Palm Beach is home to at least 67 Forbes billionaires — Redding Record Searchlight](https://redding.com/story/news/2025/04/02/worlds-richest-palm-beach-is-home-to-at-least-67-forbes-billionaires/82754120007/)
13. [Top 10 richest women in the world 2026 — The Indian Express](https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/top-10-listing/top-10-richest-women-globally-in-2026-10580209/)
14. [Julia Koch is building a Hamptons family compound — Page Six](https://pagesix.com/2026/08/17/society/julia-koch-is-building-a-hamptons-family-compound/)
15. [Two Koch family members rank among world's 25 richest billionaires — Wichita Business Journal](https://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/news/2026/03/17/forbes-billionaires-list-julia-charles-koch.html)
16. [Ray Dalio, Julia Koch and Tom Pritzker Have 501c4s That Act Like Foundations — Inside Philanthropy](https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/ray-dalio-julia-koch-and-tom-pritzker-have-501c4s-that-act-like-foundations)
17. [Julia Koch | David H. Koch Foundation](https://www.davidkochfoundation.org/julia-koch)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Economics and business › Business and work › Business and work overview › Businesspeople and entrepreneurs › Corporate executives and managers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 10, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 10, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license