Lynsi Snyder Net Worth

What Is Lynsi Snyder's Net Worth?

Lynsi Snyder, also known as Lynsi Snyder-Ellingson, is an American fast food executive and heiress who has a net worth of $8 billion. Lynsi Snyder is the sole owner of the wildly successful West Coast hamburger franchise In-N-Out. Lynsi's grandparents, Harry and Esther Snyder, founded In-N-Out in 1948 in Baldwin Park, California.

Harry and Esther had two sons, Rich (Lynsi's uncle) and her father, Harry Jr (who went by "Guy"). Rich died in a 1993 plane crash. Guy died in 1999 of an accidental drug overdose. At that point, Lynsi became the company's sole heir. She was 17 years old. She officially inherited the company on her 35th birthday, but she was first officially declared a billionaire when she turned 30. At that point, she was the youngest female billionaire in the world. Today, the company has more than 400 locations and has annual revenues estimated at $5 billion.

Lynsi is one of the 30 richest women in the world and roughly the 400th richest person in the world.

Early Life

Lynsi Snyder was born Lynsi Lavelle Snyder on May 5, 1982, in Glendora, California. She is the daughter of Lynda Lou and Harry Guy Snyder.

At the time of Lynsi's birth, her father was still living off the wealth of the family business but had no direct involvement in its operations. In contrast, her uncle Rich Snyder was the company's rising star—already running In-N-Out as president and pushing it to new heights with disciplined expansion and corporate infrastructure.

Lynsi's early childhood was shaped by two vastly different realities. On one hand, she was an heir to a growing fast food empire. On the other, her home life was increasingly turbulent due to her father's escalating issues with drugs, alcohol, and infidelity. Her parents divorced when she was still very young, and Lynsi was primarily raised by her mother in Glendora, California. Her father remarried and eventually moved the family to a remote, rural area in Northern California called Shingletown, where he purchased a 170-acre ranch.

After the divorce, Lynda won ownership of the Shingletown ranch and moved there permanently with Lynsi and her two older stepsisters. The area was extremely isolated—more than 200 miles north of Sacramento—and Lynsi lived an otherwise quiet, secluded life in the small town, population 2,000. Her education was handled privately through a custom Christian-based school set up on the ranch. Roughly ten students attended, all taught by a single teacher hired and relocated specifically for the role. The school was reportedly created after Lynsi had been bullied at a prior school in Southern California, where classmates mocked her with the nickname "Burger Princess."

That nickname would take on new significance in 1999, when Lynsi's father, Guy Snyder, died of an accidental overdose. She was just 17 years old—and now the sole heir to In-N-Out Burger.

(Photo by Leonard Ortiz/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images)

Inheriting In-N-Out

Lynsi's grandparents, Harry and Esther Snyder, founded In-N-Out Burger in 1948 in Baldwin Park, California. Throughout the 50s and 60s, In-N-Out was a small local burger chain with only 18 locations.

In 1976, founder Harry Snyder died at the age of 67. Upon his death, he left control of the company with his then 24-year-old son, Rich. Rich spent the next twenty years expanding the chain throughout the West Coast. Rich increased the number of locations from 18 to 90 before he tragically died in a plane crash in 1993.

After Rich's death, the company passed to Rich's older brother, Harry Guy Snyder (Lynsi's father), commonly known as Guy. Guy Snyder continued to expand the company aggressively into Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Texas. Guy would eventually grow the company from 90 locations to 140 before he died in 1999 of an accidental prescription drug overdose when Lynsi was just 17 years old.

After Guy's death, Esther Snyder, the matriarch of the family, retook the reins of In-N-Out. She continued to manage the company until her death in 2006. At that point, 24-year-old Lynsi was the sole heir. Lynsi was not yet ready to be the president of a major fast-food corporation, so her brother-in-law, Mark Taylor, took control of the day-to-day operations.

On May 5, 2012, Lynsi turned 30 and officially inherited half of all the private ownership shares of In-N-Out Burger. She received the second half on May 5, 2017 – her 35th birthday.

Lynsi was first officially declared a billionaire at the age of 30 when she took ownership of her father's share of the company (50%) and inherited the balance of the company that was not already in her trust. At that point, she was the youngest female billionaire in the world.

Today, In-N-Out Burger has more than 400 locations and has annual revenues estimated at $5 billion.

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Personal Life & Philanthropy

Lynsi Snyder has been married four times and has four children. She married her high school sweetheart, Jeremiah Seawell, in 2000, but the couple divorced in 2003. Her second marriage was to former In-N-Out employee Richard Martinez, with whom she had fraternal twins. That marriage ended in divorce in 2011.

While still legally separated from Martinez, Lynsi began a relationship with drag racer Val Torres. The two were married from 2011 to 2013. In 2014, she became engaged to another former In-N-Out employee, Sean Ellingson. The couple married on June 5, 2014, in Malibu and have a son together.

Snyder is a devout Evangelical Christian and has credited her faith with helping her navigate personal loss and emotional turmoil. In 2015, she shared her spiritual journey in a testimonial for the Christian video platform "I Am Second," openly discussing the grief of losing her father at 17, the deaths of other family members, and the pain of multiple divorces.

She is also an active philanthropist. Snyder funds and supports Healing Hearts & Nations, a nonprofit organization that builds training centers and provides biblical counseling education in under-resourced communities in Africa and India. She is equally involved with the In-N-Out Burger Foundation, which focuses on aiding abused and neglected children across the U.S.

In addition to her corporate and charitable work, Lynsi is an adrenaline enthusiast and licensed helicopter pilot. She has a deep passion for drag racing and has competed in professional events. In 2015, she appeared on Jay Leno's Garage to showcase a custom 1941 Willys coupe once owned by her father:

Snyder has said she's been the target of at least two kidnapping attempts—one while in high school in Shingletown, and another near the In-N-Out distribution center in Baldwin Park. Those experiences, coupled with her family's public profile, have made her intensely private.

Lynsi is an Evangelical Christian and has spoken many times publicly about her faith. In 2015, her testimonial was featured on "I Am Second," in which she spoke about the multiple tragic deaths in her family, her previous failed marriages, and how her faith helped her deal with these unfortunate events.

Real Estate

In 2012, Lynsi Snyder paid $17.4 million for a 7-bedroom, 16-bathroom mansion covering 16,000 square feet on 4 acres in the town of Bradbury, California. She purchased the mansion from professional baseball player Adrian Beltre. The massive structure sits on 4+ acres and features a gated, circular driveway, a marble foyer with matching staircases, an opulent chandelier, and a frescoed ceiling. The house has multiple wings, and the many bedrooms are spread throughout the home.  Lynsi Martinez's house also has a massive family room, a wet bar, a breakfast room, as well as a separate eat-in kitchen, a butler's pantry, and huge spa-like bathrooms.  There is also a private movie theater, a game room, a fitness room, a wine cellar, a jungle gym, a swimming pool, a spa, a tennis court, a basketball court, and a batting cage.

Lynsi sold this home in December 2021 for $16.3 million, a $1.3 million loss. Below is a video tour of her former home:

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