This CEO once bought a bankrupt furniture company for $80,000. At 95, he’s now given away millions
While big-name philanthropists give away eye-popping sums, many of the most impactful donors are those who give what they can to their local communities. Recommended Video Take Jake Jabs, the 95-year-old CEO of American Furniture Warehouse, a business he bought for just $80,000 in 1975. When he bought $1.5 million in assets for that amount, the company was headed for bankruptcy, but he built it into an empire across Colorado, Arizona, and Texas with 18 locations.
- ▪While big-name philanthropists give away eye-popping sums, many of the most impactful donors are those who give what they can to their local communities.
- ▪Recommended Video Take Jake Jabs, the 95-year-old CEO of American Furniture Warehouse, a business he bought for just $80,000 in 1975.
- ▪When he bought $1.5 million in assets for that amount, the company was headed for bankruptcy, but he built it into an empire across Colorado, Arizona, and Texas with 18 locations.
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| Original publisher | Fortune |
| Canonical URL | https://fortune.com/2026/07/24/this-ceo-once-bought-a-bankrupt-furniture-company-for-80000-at-95-hes-now-given-away-millions/ |
| Publication time | Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:59:43 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-07-24T15:55:28.244Z |
| Last seen | 2026-07-24T15:55:28.244Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
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| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
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| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
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Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
While big-name philanthropists give away eye-popping sums, many of the most impactful donors are those who give what they can to their local communities. Recommended Video Take Jake Jabs, the 95-year-old CEO of American Furniture Warehouse, a business he bought for just $80,000 in 1975. When he bought $1.5 million in assets for that amount, the company was headed for bankruptcy, but he built it into an empire across Colorado, Arizona, and Texas with 18 locations. American Furniture Warehouse remains privately held and family-operated, and pulled in roughly $858 million in revenue in 2025, making it one of the largest private companies in Colorado. And now he’s sharing his business success with local nonprofits; he recently told CBS News.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Fortune.
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