Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos testifies during a hearing before House Education and Labor ... [+]
Education secretary Betsy DeVos and her Amway heir husband, Dick DeVos, earned at least $56 million in 2019, according to an early draft of her annual financial disclosure obtained by Forbes.
Her minimum earnings are up from the $45 million floor that DeVos disclosed for 2018. This new figure is still likely much lower than what the couple actually made last year, since public officials are only required to report their income in ranges, which top out at “over $5,000,000.” For spouses’ income, the highest range is greater than $1 million.
The largest reported source of income came from Alticor, the parent company of Amway, the multi-level marketing giant that Dick’s father Richard (d. 2018) cofounded in 1959. Betsy and Dick earned at least $20 million in dividends from Alticor last year. Amway had sales of $8.4 billion in 2019, down 5% from $8.8 billion in 2018. The company cited significant declines in the overall direct-selling industry in China, which it says is its largest market.
The couple reported earning at least $12 million from several private equity funds. More than $6.5 million of that is listed as payments from funds managed by AEA Investors, a $15 billion (assets) firm founded by the Mellon and Rockefeller families. They also reported a $2.9 million payment from a holding company that is connected to AEA and owns a stake in the publicly-traded big box retailer At Home.
DeVos also reported a $10.1 million payment from a wholesale food distributor called Kehe Distributors Holdings located in Naperville, Illinois and a $5.2 million payment from what her disclosure describes as a custom cable manufacturer and distributor called Tyson Holdco.
The couple’s reported assets are worth at least $470 million, according to the disclosure, which also lists asset values in broad ranges. A DeVos spokesperson could not be reached for comment. Last year, Forbes estimated that Betsy, her husband and their four adult children are together worth roughly $2 billion. More than half of that was based upon the family’s estimated 12% stake in Amway.
