Stephen Ross founded The Related Companies in 1972 after working as a tax attorney, building it into one of the largest real estate firms in the United States with more than $70 billion in assets spanning residential, office, retail, and mixed-use developments. His most prominent project is the 28-acre Hudson Yards development on Manhattan's west side, which opened to the public in March 2019.

He acquired a majority interest in the Miami Dolphins in 2008 and has since expanded his sports portfolio to include the Formula One Miami Grand Prix, the Miami Open tennis tournament, and stakes in Equinox Fitness, Equinox Hotels, and SoulCycle. In 2024, Ross formed Related Ross, a new firm based in West Palm Beach focused on large-scale development in South Florida; that firm secured a record USD 772M construction loan in December 2025 and broke ground on a 28-story waterfront condominium tower in April 2026. In March 2026, Ross sold a 1% stake in the Dolphins holding company to Xiaomi co-founder Lin Bin at a USD 12.5 billion valuation, and at 86 he has stepped back from day-to-day team leadership, with his son-in-law Daniel Sillman now overseeing operations.

Business Relationships

Ross brought Ares Management and the owners of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets in as minority stakeholders in the Dolphins holding company in December 2024 at an $8.1 billion valuation, then sold an additional 1% stake to Xiaomi co-founder Lin Bin in March 2026 at a $12.5 billion valuation. He co-founded RSE Ventures, a multi-national technology, sports, and media company, and has partnered with Vanderbilt University on the planned West Palm Beach graduate campus that broke ground in 2026.

Justice Department documents released in January 2026 show correspondence naming Ross recurring in emails between his associate Andrew Farkas and Jeffrey Epstein between 2009 and 2018, including a 2014 apology to Epstein over a disappointing tour of a property connected to Ross, a 2015 message in which Farkas told Epstein that Ross would provide up to USD 100M for a project Epstein was helping arrange investors for, and a 2017 note about a shared interest between Ross and Epstein in purchasing the same airplane.

Ownership

Ross holds majority ownership of the Miami Dolphins under a holding company structure that also encompasses the Formula One Miami Grand Prix and Miami Open. He sold a 13% stake in December 2024 and an additional 1% in March 2026, most recently at a $12.5 billion enterprise valuation. He serves as non-executive chairman of Related Companies and CEO of Related Ross, the South Florida development entity he formed in 2024. He maintains investment stakes in Equinox Fitness, Equinox Hotels, and SoulCycle. At 86, Ross has stepped back from day-to-day Dolphins operations while retaining ownership.

Family & Heirs

Ross is married with four children. He has designated his daughters Jennifer and Kim as his successors for Dolphins ownership in the team's required NFL succession plan, and Kim's husband, Daniel Sillman, now oversees the franchise's day-to-day operations as Ross has stepped back from daily leadership.

Evidence

2013-05-07 - 😇 - Ross signs the Giving Pledge, committing to give away the substantial majority of his assets to charitable causes

2013-09-04 - 😇 - Ross donates USD 200M to the University of Michigan — the largest single gift in U-M history at the time — split between the Ross School of Business and athletics

2014-05-19 - 😇 - Ross gives USD 30.5M to the World Resources Institute to establish the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, the largest single donation to WRI at the time

2017-09-20 - 😇 - Ross donates an additional USD 50M to the University of Michigan for student career development and junior faculty programs, bringing his total lifetime giving to USD 378M

2019-08-09 - 😈 - Ross hosts a high-end Trump re-election fundraiser at his Southampton home, drawing widespread backlash from athletes, celebrities, and civil rights advocates over the direct contradiction with his own anti-racism nonprofit RISE

2020-02-21 - 😇 - Ross commits USD 100M to launch construction of the University of Michigan's Detroit Center for Innovation, a downtown Detroit campus for AI, mobility, data science, and sustainability programs

2020-06-26 - 😇 - Ross commits an additional USD 13M to RISE, the anti-racism sports nonprofit he founded in 2015, bringing his total investment to USD 30M across 40 states and 12,000-plus participants

2020-12-07 - 😇 - Ross commits USD 63.5M more to the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, bringing his total contribution to USD 100M for resilient and inclusive urban development in developing countries

2021-07-23 - 😈 - Three affordable housing lottery winners sue Related Companies, alleging the firm created a separate address and lobby at 15 Hudson Yards to segregate lower-income residents from market-rate tenants in violation of New York City fair-housing principles

2022-02-01 - 😈 - Former Dolphins coach Brian Flores sues Ross and the NFL, alleging Ross offered him USD 100,000 per loss to tank the 2019 season and that Ross contributed to a racist culture in NFL coaching hiring

2022-08-02 - 😈 - NFL suspends Ross through October 2022 and fines him USD 1.5M for tampering violations the commissioner called "unprecedented in scope and severity," involving impermissible contacts with Tom Brady and Sean Payton; the Dolphins also forfeit two draft picks

2023-12-18 - 😇 - The Stephen M. Ross Emerging Scholars Program launches with an USD 8M commitment to fund tuition-free postsecondary education for graduates of two West Palm Beach high schools through Palm Beach State College

2025-04-02 - 😇 - Ross commits USD 50M to Vanderbilt University's planned West Palm Beach graduate campus, which is designed to serve 1,000 students annually in business, AI, data science, and finance programs

2026-01-30 - 😈 - Justice Department Epstein document release shows correspondence naming Ross recurring across 2009-2018, including a 2014 apology to Epstein over a disappointing tour of a property connected to Ross, a 2015 message in which Ross's associate Andrew Farkas told Epstein that Ross would provide up to USD 100M for a project Epstein was helping arrange investors for, and a 2017 note about a shared interest between Ross and Epstein in the same airplane

Analysis

Ross's philanthropic record is one of the largest among American billionaires in education and urban sustainability, totaling well over USD 500 million in documented gifts. His WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities operates across dozens of countries, working on climate resilience, equitable transport, and urban planning in developing nations. His RISE nonprofit reached 40 states and worked with 12,000-plus students, athletes, and coaches on racial equity.

Set against that record is a pattern of conduct that has repeatedly contradicted his stated commitments. His 2019 Trump fundraiser drew immediate backlash from civil rights advocates, with a major RISE donor withholding funding and a board member resigning over the direct contradiction between his political action and RISE's anti-racism mission.

The Hudson Yards housing lawsuit documented affordable residents being separated into a building with a different address and no access to shared amenities; a federal judge dismissed the suit in August 2022, ruling the plaintiffs had not shown the treatment was based on race under the Fair Housing Act. The NFL tampering suspension confirmed years of impermissible conduct that the league called unprecedented in scope, and the Flores lawsuit, which raised documented claims of racial bias in how Ross managed his coaching staff, ended in a confidential settlement in October 2025.

Justice Department documents released in January 2026 add another thread: years of correspondence in which Ross's name recurs in Epstein's emails through his associate Andrew Farkas, touching on a property tour, a proposed USD 100M investment, and a shared interest in the same airplane.

Questions

Can a billionaire who has spent hundreds of millions championing racial equality simultaneously fund political campaigns that his own nonprofit's partners viewed as antithetical to that mission? Does the contradiction matter if the philanthropic work continues regardless?

The Hudson Yards development project has Ross's fingerprints as the founder and chairman of Related Companies. How does his stated commitment to equitable and sustainable cities square with his flagship development's documented practice of separating affordable residents from the rest of the building's tenants?

What was the nature and outcome of the USD 100M project that Ross's associate told Epstein Ross would help fund in 2015, and does the multi-year correspondence documented in the 2026 Epstein files reflect a closer relationship than a shared acquaintance through Andrew Farkas?

Redemption Arc

Ross's most recent philanthropic commitment is a USD 50M gift to Vanderbilt's West Palm Beach campus in 2025. His NFL suspension expired in 2022, the Hudson Yards lawsuit was dismissed in 2022, and the Flores lawsuit was resolved through a confidential settlement in October 2025. The Epstein-related correspondence disclosed in January 2026 introduces a new, still-undeveloped thread in his public record.