Serena Williams’ daughters, Olympia and Adira, are already well on their way to financial security — and the eldest girl has not even finished third grade. Thanks to a savvy investment made by their father, Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, the two girls have become multi-millionaires before most kids learn to read.
Ohanian recently sat down for an interview on the podcast “20VC with Harry Stebbings,” and talked about the how he set up his daughters’ futures, calling it the “smartest thing he ever did,” when setting up a sports league.
Generational Wealth Busilding
In 2020, when Olympia was just 2 years old, Ohanian made a bold move and invested $250,000 through a trust into the newly launched Angel City Football Club, a women’s soccer team based in Los Angeles on behalf of his daughter. This decision didn’t just secure his position as a lead investor — it also made Olympia the youngest co-owner in professional sports history.
He said he asked the league’s LPAC (the Limited Partner Advisory Committee) if he could include Olympia.
“I asked our LPAC said, ‘Listen, I believe it’s going to help this deal a lot, if I can invest 250K personally via a trust for my daughters. Because the storytelling around, at the time one daughter, is that Serena and Alexis’ daughter is the youngest owner in pro sports. That’s going to be valuable for helping us tell the story,’” Ohanian said.
He said that while crafting the deal he made sure there were clauses that would allow for his daughters’ children to also benefit from earnings from the team.
“Their now actually, because of this latest round, they’re literally multi-millionaires,” he shared, “Because of that one investment four years ago.”
Ohanian’s investment wasn’t just about securing his daughters’ futures; it was also about setting up the Angel City Football Club for long-term success.
However, he admits he made one misstep in the process. According to serial entrepreneur, he set up the team like a startup, and positioned himself as the control owner in the eyes of the league but did not insist on board control.
