Manoj Bhargava Net Worth

What is Manoj Bhargava's Net Worth?

Manoj Bhargava is an Indian-American billionaire businessman who has a net worth of $500 million. Around 2012/2013, Manoj Bhargava reached billionaire status on paper. He ultimately dropped out of the billionaire ranks.

Manoj Bhargava is the founder and CEO of Innovations Ventures (trade name Living Essentials), the company that produces the 5-hour Energy drink supplement. By 2012, the brand had grown to an estimated $1 billion in retail sales. Among his myriad of other ventures, Bhargava launched the water purification venture Hans Power and Water, and helped James Housler launch the upscale financial consulting firm Cypress Capital.

Early Life and Education

Manoj Bhargava was born in 1953 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. As a teenager in 1967, he moved with his family to the United States, settling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, Bhargava's father pursued a doctoral degree at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, Bhargava went to the prestigious Hill School on a math scholarship. For his higher education, he attended Princeton University for a year in 1972 before dropping out.

Career Beginnings

After dropping out of college, Bhargava returned to India and spent the next 12 years visiting monasteries owned by the Hanslok Ashram. During this period of time, he made money by working a number of office and construction jobs, both in India and the US. Eventually, Bhargava joined his parents' plastic injection manufacturing company Bhar Incorporated, located in New Haven, Indiana. In 1990, he purchased a company that made parts for outdoor furniture.

5-hour Energy

Bhargava made his fortune thanks to his 5-hour Energy drink supplement, which is made by his company Innovations Ventures (trading name Living Essentials). He is the CEO of the company, which he founded in 2004. The 5-hour Energy drink contains such active ingredients as vitamin B6, folic acid, glucuronolactone, and caffeine. It is not approved by the FDA. By 2012, retail sales of the product had grown to an estimated $1 billion.

The 5-hour Energy drink, as well as its parent company, have been involved in a number of legal issues over the years. In 2017, Living Essentials was found liable for deceptive practices under the Consumer Protection Act in the state of Washington. The company was ordered to pay $4.3 million for misleadingly stating that doctors recommended 5-hour Energy and that the product was superior to coffee, among other statements.

(Photo by Saumya Khandelwal/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Other Ventures

Bhargava has launched several additional entities and funds over the years to support new ventures. Among them are the venture capital company MicroDose Life Sciences; the manufacturing venture laboratory Stage 2 Innovations; the private equity fund ETC Capital; the holding company Plymouth Real Estate Holdings; and the upscale financial advisory firm Cypress Capital, which offers a range of consulting services to wealthy clients in Michigan and beyond. Bhargava also financed the founding of the New York City-based film distribution company Bleecker Street in 2014.

In early 2022, Bhargava purchased 90% of Freelancer Television Broadcasting, including the network NewsNet and the Michigan-based television stations WMNN-LD and WXII-LD. The next year, he acquired a majority stake in the Arena Group, which owns several magazine brands. Bhargava also launched a series of new hydration drink brands, including Cellular Hydration and Natural Glow Hydration, which use the reverse-osmosis technology he previously honed with his water purification venture Hans Power and Water. That venture, launched in 2019, seeks to solve the world's fresh-water shortage by removing contaminants from water.

Philanthropy

Bhargava is a putative member of the Giving Pledge, by which he pledged to give 99% of his wealth away to philanthropic causes during his lifetime. However, he told Crain's magazine in 2021 that he was no longer doing philanthropy as part of the Giving Pledge, calling it "a bunch of hocus pocus." Elsewhere, Bhargava is a supporter of the Hans Foundation and the Rural India Supporting Trust. In 2016, he announced that he was going to distribute 10,000 stationary power-generating bikes to rural residences and villages in India.