Richard Kinder Net Worth

What is Richard Kinder's Net Worth?

Richard Kinder is an American businessman who has a net worth of $11 billion. Richard Kinder is the co-founder and executive chairman of Kinder Morgan, one of the largest energy infrastructure corporations in North America. With his wife Nancy, he founded the nonprofit Kinder Foundation to support education, health, and urban green space in Houston, Texas. Richard is one of the richest people in Texas.

Early Life and Education

Richard Kinder was born on October 19, 1944 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. For his higher education, he attended the University of Missouri, from which he earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1966 and his Juris Doctor in 1968.

Career Beginnings

Kinder began his career as an attorney for Florida Gas Transmission, a natural gas pipeline. After a series of mergers, it became Enron Corporation. From 1990 through 1996, Kinder was the group's president and COO.

Kinder Morgan

In 1997, Kinder and his former Enron colleague William V. Morgan purchased the small pipeline company Enron Liquids Pipeline for about $40 million. This marked the beginning of Kinder Morgan, an energy infrastructure corporation focused on steady, fee-based revenue from long-term contracts. Kinder Morgan grew rapidly in the late 1990s and into the 2000s via a number of major acquisitions, including KN Energy and Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America. These provided a strong natural gas pipeline network in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions, making Kinder Morgan one of the largest natural gas pipeline operators in the United States. By 2006, the company had become a giant in diversified energy, operating thousands of miles of pipelines and numerous terminals. That same year, Kinder Morgan led a $22 billion management-led buyout that took the company private. The move was designed to give management greater flexibility in making long-term investments without the short-term pressures of public markets.

In 2011, Kinder Morgan returned to the public market with an IPO that raised around $2.9 billion, which was one of the largest private-equity-backed IPO offerings in US history to that date. By the end of the year, the corporation was operating through such entities as Kinder Morgan, Inc., Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, Kinder Morgan Management, and El Paso Corporation, the lattermost of which it acquired for over $20 billion. That acquisition gave Kinder Morgan a combined 67,000 miles of gas lines, making it the biggest pipeline operator in the US. However, by 2014, the complexity of all of Kinder Morgan's multiple entities started to create trouble for investors. As a result, the company announced a consolidation worth over $70 billion, merging all of its publicly traded subsidiaries into one unified company.

Following its consolidation, Kinder Morgan faced various challenges, including the oil price crash of 2014-2016 that led to declining cash flow and forced the company to cut its dividend. Over the ensuing years, Kinder Morgan refocused on debt reduction, disciplined capital spending, and core infrastructure projects. Many projects caused backlash, such as the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion in Canada. Due to both regulatory hurdles and strong public opposition, Kinder Morgan sold this project to the Canadian government in 2018. Other controversial and aborted projects include the Northeast Energy Direct Pipeline, Palmetto Pipeline, and Connecticut Expansion Project. Kinder Morgan continues to operate or own an interest in around 83,000 miles of pipelines and over 140 terminals. At its terminals, it stores and/or handles gasoline, jet fuel, coal, ethanol, steel, and other materials.

(Photo by Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

Kinder Foundation

In 1997, the same year he co-founded Kinder Morgan, Kinder established the nonprofit Kinder Foundation with his wife Nancy. The organization focuses on improving education, urban green space, and quality of life in Houston, Texas. In 2010, the Foundation donated $15 million for the launch of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University. Another $50 million was later donated to the school in 2022. Meanwhile, the Foundation made major donations to such groups as the Houston Parks Board; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Memorial Park Conservancy; PRH Preservation; the Law Harrington Senior Living Center; and the United Way of Greater Houston Relief Fund. In 2025, the Foundation donated $150 million for the creation of Kinder Children's Cancer Center at Texas Children's Hospital. Among its numerous other projects, the Kinder Foundation created the 12-acre park Discovery Green in Downtown Houston and helped establish the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri.

Other Activities

Kinder serves as the chairman of the board of trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Previously, he sat on the boards of Baker Hughes Company, Waste Management, Inc., and Transocean and was a national board member of the Smithsonian Institute. A Republican, Kinder has donated to presidential candidate Jeb Bush and Texas governor Greg Abbott.

Personal Life

From his first marriage, which ended in divorce in 1996, Kinder has a child. He married his second wife, Nancy, in 1997.

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