Obama Biggest Donors 2012: 10 Rich People Helping Obama to Win Election 2012
President Barack Obama has some deep-pocketed donors hoping to see the commander-in-chief stay in the White House.
Here is a list of 10 of the largest individual donors to his campaign:
Jeffrey Katzenberg, $2,334,092
Katzenberg is one of CEOs of DreamWorks Animation, the company he founded with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen.
Katzenberg has a net worth of $860 million and is one of the most influential executives in Hollywood.
Although the official report is lists his contributions to the Obama campaign at $2.3 million, some sources have said that Katzenberg has raised as much as $6.6 million for the president.
Irwin Jacobs, $2 million
Jacobs is the founder of chipmaker Qualcomm and a former M.I.T. professor. Although he’s better known for his philanthropy, Jacobs has long blessed Democratic causes with four- and five-figure contributions.
Jacobs was dubbed the “philanthropist-in-chief” by his hometown newspaper, the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Jacobs has a net worth estimated to be $1.4 billion and Forbes lists him as one of the richest men in America.
Peter Buttenweiser, $1,746,482
Buttenwieser is a wealthy philanthropist whose mother's family founded the investment bank Lehman Brothers. Since 1990, he has donated millions to Democratic causes, and has hosted fundraising events for scores of Democratic candidates. He's one of the biggest donors to the Democratic Party nationally, and the single biggest political donor in Pennsylvania.
Jon Stryker, 1.5 million
Stryker is a gay rights activist and is the founder and president of Arcus Foundation, an international foundation supporting Great Ape conservation and social justice endeavors. Stryker is an architect and heir to the Stryker Corporation fortune.
The medical-products company was founded by his grandfather, Homer Stryker, a surgeon who invented the mobile hospital bed.
He a leading philanthropists in America. Stryker has a net worth $1.8 billion.
Fred Eychaner, 1.5 million
Eychaner, who has long been active as a Democratic donor, is the president and CEO of Chicago-based Newsweb Corp.
The company owns several radio stations in the Chicago area and a television station in Colorado. The reclusive Chicago media-mogul is one of the nation's top Democratic donors. Eychaner has a net worth of $500 million.
Barbara Stiefel, $1.1 million
Stiefel is a longtime Democratic fund-raiser from Florida. The South Florida philanthropist has multiple foundations and has given generously to children's charities in Africa.
Franklin L. Haney, $1 million
Tennessee native Franklin Haney is a real estate developer who owns 15 million square feet of office space in the southeast and Washington, D.C. The multi-millionaire and financier built hotels and office buildings reportedly worth a combined $10 billion. In 1999 Haney was acquitted of using straw donors to mask his own political donations and lying about it in filings to federal regulators.
Steve Mostyn, $1 million
Mostyn is the head of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. He and his wife, Amber Anderson Mostyn, have become perhaps the most important donors in the Texas Democratic Party. Mostyn's political influence comes from his success in the courtroom. He doesn't come from money. He grew up in the East Texas town of Whitehouse, and he was the first in his family to get a college degree.
Bill Maher, $1 million
Maher is an American stand-up comedian, television host, political commentator, author and actor. He is the host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.
Maher eschews political labels, referring to himself as "practical" but his commentary often targets conservative ideology.
Mel Heifetz, $1 million
Heifetz is a LGBT advocate, Philadelphia entrepreneur and philanthropist. A former Human Rights Campaign Humanitarian of the Year award winner, Heifetz’s trail of endowments and donations can be found in virtually every pocket of Philadelphia’s LGBT political and community organizations.
