This real estate billionaire prepared his son for succession by forcing him to work for a different boss: ‘You’re not going to work for me’

• Billionaire Jorge Pérez shocked his son Jon Paul by refusing him a job at the family real estate company until he earned experience working elsewhere. Decades later, the hard work has paid off, and Jon Paul is now taking over as CEO.

If the hit HBO drama Succession taught the business world anything, it is that you should never expect to be handed anything from your family’s business—especially a billion-dollar one. Jon Paul Pérez learned it the hard way.

After graduating college, the son of Miami real estate billionaire Jorge Pérez asked his father when he could begin work at the family company, Related Group, but his response was not what he wanted to hear.

“You’re not going to work for me,” Jorge recalled to CNBC’s Inside Wealth. 

While Jon Paul admitted he was shocked by the sternness, it’s perhaps unsurprising that his dad didn’t want to risk his reputation managing $60 billion in assets by hiring his son—just because they’re related. So, Jorge took a simple but unconventional approach: He put his son’s abilities to the test by making him work for his close friend and business partner instead.

Billionaire kids who had to earn their seats at the table

So just like that, rather than beginning his career at Related Group after graduating from the University of Miami, Jon Paul begrudgingly headed to New York to climb the business ranks himself. 

Jorge told all of his children that in order to one day work for him, they had to spend at least five years working in the tough New York real estate market and get a master’s degree from a top business school first.

Jorge’s strict policy was to ensure his children weren’t just following his own career path, having seen how lucrative it can be.

“I told them just because I’ve been successful in real estate, don’t pick something you don’t have a passion for,” Jorge told CNBC. “Because life is very tough the way it is and if you wake up every day and do something just for making money or that you don’t really like, it’s not going to work.” 

“I didn’t want the rest of the company to feel that they were brought in because of their last name,” Jorge added. 

Jon Paul eventually started as an analyst at Related Companies, a firm owned by a close family friend and billionaire, Stephen Ross (up until 2022, Ross also owned a minority stake in Perez’s company). He later obtained an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management—the No. 3 business school in the country, according to Fortune’s rankings.  

Earning the corner office: A CEO’s climb to the top

By 2012, Jon Paul had gained enough experience (in his father’s eyes) to join Related Group but was still not immediately handed a high-profile portfolio; he started as leader of the rental business and worked his way up. 

But his father’s tough love eventually paid off. Jon Paul is now taking over as chief executive of the family business, where he will run it alongside his brother, Nick. Their father, who will become executive chairman, says his sons have finally earned it.

“Both have earned their positions in the company having worked for over a decade in responsible positions both outside and inside the company,” Jorge told The South Florida Business Journal.

And while taking over for the family patriarch is nothing short of intimidating after being forced to jump through flaming hoops to prove himself for the job, Jon Paul appears up for the new challenge.

“I just want to produce—I don’t care who gets the credit,” he said in 2022.

Fortune reached out to Related Group and the Pérez family for comment.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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2025-03-28 16:07:26