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Hunt family's $25.6B oil fortune began with Texas wildcatting
The Hunt family controls $25.6B in assets from Hunt Oil to the Kansas City Chiefs. Their energy holdings span oil, gas, and real estate — and remain largely private.
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The Hunt family's net worth touches $25.6 billion, per Forbes, and the origin of that wealth is a single oil company founded by H.L. Hunt in the 1930s. Hunt Oil Company was producing crude and natural gas across 12 states by the mid-1960s, when the family fortune was estimated at $700 million (roughly $7.5 billion in today's dollars).
That stake has since been split among trusts for H.L. Hunt's 15 children, with the largest share held by Ray Lee Hunt, 83, whose net worth stands at $6.6 billion as of July 2026. Ray Lee Hunt serves as chairman emeritus of Hunt Consolidated, Inc., which folds together Hunt Oil Company, Hunt Energy, and Hunt Realty Investments. His brother William Herbert Hunt, who died in April 2024, left the family's Petro-Hunt operation to descendants who continue to own and run it. Petro-Hunt buys minerals and royalties, invests in real estate, and owns a partial stake in an oil refinery, according to the company website.
The family also sold Rosewood Hotels & Resorts in 2011 for $229.5 million to New World Hospitality, now Rosewood Hotel Group.
Hunt MidWest, a real estate development arm based in Kansas City, has built more than $3 billion in projects nationwide, including senior living, multifamily, and industrial sites such as SubTropolis.