Tag: Eric Smidt

$11.1 billion

up 31%

Harbor Freight Tools ranks No. 19 on the National Retail Federation’s list of 2025 Hot Retailers, with sales growth of 8.6%. Smidt, 65, fully owns the company, which estimates its annual revenue at $9 billion. He started the company with his father Allan Smidt in 1977 in North Hollywood. Currently in a growth spurt, the Calabasas-based automotive parts and tool chain has 1,600 stores. Smidt, who lives in Beverly Hills, became sole shareholder in 1999, when he paid $21 million for his father’s stake. In 2010, the 81-year-old father and his 76-year-old wife filed a lawsuit accusing their son of “looting” the company. The dispute was settled out of court. With control of the company, Smidt leveraged debt to turn a successful specialty seller into a retail giant. Moody’s has revised its outlook on Harbor Freight downwards because of its exposure to tariffs on Chinese imports. Education: Smidt did not attend college. Harbor Freight officially launched when he was just 17, although his father had run a predecessor company for nine years. Philanthropy: In January, Harbor Freight Tools Foundation and the Smidt Foundation committed $5 million to rebuilding from the L.A. fires, in addition to cash and power generators donated to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center announced in 2018 a $50 million gift from Smidt and his wife Susan and the Smidt Foundation to create the Smidt Heart Institute. In 2013, the Smidts created Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, which supports skilled trades education. Family: Smidt and his wife live in a 35-room Beverly Hills mansion called The Knoll.