Daniel Truett Cathy was born on 1 March 1953, in Jonesboro, Georgia USA, and is a businessman, best known to be the CEO of the fast food chain Chick-Fil-A, in which he also serves as the president and chairman of the company that was founded by his father. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Dan Cathy? As of mid-2016, sources estimate a net worth that is at $3.2 billion, mostly earned through the success of Chick-Fil-A. The fast food chain has around 1,600 restaurants all over the United States and he spends much of his time visiting them. This enterprise has ensured the position of his wealth.
Dan Cathy Net Worth $3.2 billion
Dan was already exposed to the restaurant business at a young age, through his father’s original Dwarf House restaurant, when Dan was given the chance to do commercials for the place, His father started the business selling chicken sandwiches to workers, and would later establish Chick-Fil-A in 1967. Dan later attended Georgia Southern University, and graduated in 1975 with a degree in Business Administration, and afterwards started working for his father’s company.
He began as the director of operations of the group, and was eventually promoted to become the president and CEO of the company. He’s responsible for helping expand Chick-Fil-A to various places in the country. A lot of his net worth is attributed to the value of Chick-Fil-A, which is now estimated at around $5.5 billion. Thanks to his work and numerous contributions to the business, he was given an honorary doctorate by the University of West Georgia. He also has honorary doctorates from Carver Bible College, Anderson College, and Pepperdine University.
While he has contributed to a lot to the success of the company, he was put into a bit of controversy after stating that he was against same-sex marriage and supported conservative Christian causes. In 2014, he went against his own statement and mentioned that he was against social agendas; he was actually helping give donations to various LGBT groups. However this statement was also criticized by other groups who reported that the donations he did were minimal compared to Chick-Fil-A’s contributions to other Christian causes. The accusations went so far as to include Dan’s father which prompted a statement in an obituary which stated that his father had nothing to do with giving statements on what constitutes a marriage.
For his personal life, there is minimal information available, but it is known that Dan Cathy is married and has two children; they reside in Atlanta, Georgia. His religious beliefs are also reflected somewhat in the policies of Chick-Fil-A, as the restaurants are typically closed on Sundays. He encourages employees to go to church and is also very active at his local church. He teaches Sunday school when he has the time and has also stated that he has no intention of going public with the business. He and his family are also responsible for running the non-profit organization called WinShape Foundation which aims to help Southern Baptist ministries.
