- Harvard Medical School professor Timothy Springer has seen a 17,000% return by investing early in Moderna.
- Now Timothy Springer has a net worth of over $1 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Harvard Medical School professor Timothy Springer was profiled on Bloomberg today about how he saw a 17,000% return by investing early in Moderna. Even before becoming a billionaire, Springer believed his net worth was excessive.
“I’ve had more than enough wealth for myself for some time,” said Springer in a 2018 interview with Bloomberg. “I don’t feel I need more.”
About 6 months ago, Moderna’s stock price was below $17 per share and now it is trading at over $51 per share. The spike in growth is largely driven by the company’s attempts at developing a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. Now Timothy Springer has a net worth of over $1 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Moderna’s mRNA-1273 vaccine is one of the first to start human trials. Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agreed last week to pay over $400 million for Moderna to develop the vaccine — which could see final-stage testing this year. Currently, there are about 70 vaccines in development.
With a net worth of over $1 billion, it makes Springer one of the wealthiest academics in the U.S. Springer’s net worth surged back in 1999 when his first venture LeukoSite was acquired by Millennium Pharmaceuticals in 1999 as part of a $635 million deal. Springer made around $100 million at that time.
Since then, Springer has been investing in a number of companies. Springer had put in $5 million as part of an early investment in Moderna, giving him 17.3 million shares in the company. The stake in that investment is now valued at over $800 million. When Moderna first went public at the IPO price of $23 per share, his stake was valued at about $400 million.
Springer has also invested in companies like Editas Medicine, Selecta Biosciences, and Morphic Therapeutics. Springer is the founder of Morphic Therapeutics. Springer also founded Scholar Rock Holding and took it public this year.
And Springer also runs a nonprofit called the Institute for Protein Innovation with an effort of finding more effective antibodies. Some of the antibodies discovered by the nonprofit will be made open-source.
