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Robert Kraft, founder, chairman and CEO of the Kraft Group, is an American entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist whose portfolio of businesses and brands range across many verticals, including paper and packaging, sports and entertainment, real estate and venture investing. His holdings include the New England Patriots, New England Revolution, Gillette Stadium, International Forest Products, Rand-Whitney Group, Rand-Whitney Containerboard and a portfolio of more than 100 venture and private-equity investments.

Robert Kraft, founder, chairman and CEO of the Kraft Group, is an American entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist whose portfolio of businesses and brands range across many verticals, including paper and packaging, sports and entertainment, real estate and venture investing. His holdings include the New England Patriots, New England Revolution, Gillette Stadium, International Forest Products, Rand-Whitney Group, Rand-Whitney Containerboard and a portfolio of more than 100 venture and private-equity investments.

A lifelong football fan and 23-year New England Patriots season ticket holder before buying the team, Kraft became the chairman and CEO of the Patriots when he took ownership on Jan. 21, 1994. That day he pledged, "My objective in buying the Patriots is to help bring a championship to New England." That seemed to be a tall order considering the team's prior success rate. Now, 30 years later, the Patriots boast six Lombardi Trophies, 10 Super Bowl appearances and the highest winning percentage in all of professional sports.

In the five years prior to Kraft's ownership, the team had only won 19 of 80 games (.238 winning percentage) with no playoff appearances. In fact, in the 34-year history of the franchise (1960-93), the Patriots had won just 229 games (including playoffs), averaging just 6.6 wins per season, and had qualified for the playoffs a mere six times.

The year Kraft bought the team (1994), the Patriots advanced to the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons. In his first five years of ownership, the Patriots won 49 games and qualified for the playoffs four times, even advancing to the Super Bowl in just his third season at the helm (1996). Over Kraft's 30 seasons (1994-2023), the Patriots won an unprecedented 353 games (including playoffs) for an average of 12 wins per season.

Playoff games offer another stark contrast. Prior to 1994, Patriots fans had only been treated to one home playoff game, which the Patriots lost to the Houston Oilers in 1978. Since 1994, the Patriots have qualified for the playoffs 22 times — 19 as division champions — and hosted 27 home playoff games, in which they own a 23-4 (.852) record.

The worst-to-first ascent of the New England Patriots since Kraft purchased the team may be the greatest in sports history. Under Kraft's leadership, the Patriots are second to Pittsburgh with just five seasons with a sub .500 record since 1994, they recorded at least nine wins in 24 of 30 seasons, and they won more division titles (19) and conference crowns (10) than any other NFL team. In 2018, the Patriots claimed their sixth Super Bowl championship during Kraft's tenure. No other team has more in NFL history.

INSTALLING HIS VISION

It didn't take long for Kraft's vision to come into focus. His personal investment in the team restored the faith of Patriots fans and rejuvenated interest throughout New England. The year he bought the team, season ticket sales soared to new heights, eclipsing 40,000 for the first time in franchise history. By the start of his first season, every game was sold out, a feat that had never been accomplished in the franchise's previous 34 seasons. That achievement ensured local broadcast blackouts would be lifted and every Patriots game, home and away, would be televised throughout New England for the first time in team history. Entering the 2024 season, the Patriots have sold out 314 consecutive home games, including all preseason and playoff games, dating back to the first regular season home game in 1994 (not including the COVID-19 2020 season).

ASCENSION

The transformation of the Patriots under Kraft's leadership constitutes one of the greatest franchise revivals in sports history. After winning back-to-back Super Bowls and three titles in four years, Forbes magazine named the Patriots "The Best Team in Sports" in 2005.

In 2007, the New England Patriots won a then-franchise record fifth consecutive division title. They also became the first NFL team to win 16 games during the regular season and the only team to ever win 18 consecutive games in one season. The undefeated regular season boosted the team's regular season record from 2003-07 to 66-14 for a remarkable .825 winning percentage. The 66 regular season wins in that span are the most by any team over any five-year stretch in NFL history. Additionally, from Oct. 5, 2003, to Nov. 8, 2008, the Patriots won 81 games and lost only 19, matching the most successful 100-game stretch since the league was founded in 1920.

The Kraft-era Patriots also set three significant NFL records for consecutive wins. From 2003-04, the Patriots won 21 consecutive games, including playoffs. From 2006-08, the Patriots won 21 consecutive regular season games. Additionally, the Patriots established an NFL record by winning 10 consecutive playoff games (2001-05). During that time, the Patriots also won 21 consecutive games at Gillette Stadium, the longest home win streak in franchise history. The Patriots tied that home win streak after winning their 21st consecutive home game on Nov. 24, 2019.

The success the Patriots sustained during the first two decades of the new millennium is unrivaled. The Patriots 126 total victories (including playoffs) from 2000-09 were, at the time, the most by any team in one decade in the history of the NFL. The decade of dominance featured more Super Bowl titles (3), conference titles (4), division titles (7), playoff wins (14), victories in a single season (18) and victories in a regular season (16) than any other team. In addition, no other NFL team hosted more playoff games (9) or played in more playoff games (18) than the New England Patriots. The sustained success earned the franchise "Team of the Decade" acclaim from many publications. The ensuing decade was even more productive with 141 total victories, 10 division titles, five conference crowns, 23 playoff games and three Super Bowl wins.

GETTING HIS START

Kraft launched his career in the paper and packaging industry with Rand-Whitney Group, Inc., of Worcester, Massachusetts, a company he later acquired. Under his leadership, the Kraft Group's paper and packaging division has grown into one of the largest privately-owned and fully-integrated forest products companies in the world. The company consists of corrugated packaging facilities, paper mills, global paper and solid wood products distribution, and waste paper processing. International Forest Products, a global distributor and marketer founded by Kraft in 1972, annually does business in more than 120 countries, is the sixth-largest exporter in North America and has consistently been ranked among the top 10 in the annual rankings published by The Journal of Commerce. Within his companies, Kraft also built the first paper mill which produces product from 100% post-consumer fiber and waste water in the country. In doing so, he set a new industry standard for environmental responsibility, which he has modeled across his other businesses.

Throughout Kraft's professional career, many of his biggest risks have yielded the greatest rewards. That was true throughout his pursuit of Patriots ownership, beginning in 1985 when he first purchased an option on the land surrounding the old stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. It was a large investment for an underdeveloped parcel of land, but proved to be an important first step in a long process toward buying the Patriots. In 1988, he took another step by purchasing the stadium out of bankruptcy court. With a binding lease through 2001, the acquisition of the old stadium proved to be an invaluable asset in Kraft's quest toward owning the team.

When his opportunity came to buy the team in January of 1994, Kraft faced a difficult business dilemma. He had to decide between committing over $172 million of family resources to purchase the Patriots or accept a lucrative $75 million buyout offer to void the final years of the team's stadium lease and allow the team to move out of New England. On Jan. 21, 1994, Kraft passed on the buyout offer, choosing instead to make an 11th-hour bid to buy the team. On Feb. 26, 1994, a day after Kraft earned league approval, season tickets for the 1994 season went on sale and Patriots fans showed their support for Kraft's decision in record numbers. By the end of the first business day, amidst a winter Nor'easter, 5,958 season ticket orders were processed, shattering the previous single-day sales record of 979. The show of support validated Kraft's decision to buy the team and gave him the confidence to focus on another long-term project with great financial risk: the private financing and construction of Gillette Stadium.

In his first year of ownership, the Patriots won their final seven regular season games to qualify for the postseason, ending an eight-year playoff drought. By his fifth anniversary as owner, under the direction of two different head coaches, the Patriots had already established themselves as perennial playoff contenders, qualifying for the postseason four times, twice as division champions. In 1996, the Patriots claimed their first division title in 10 years. After defeating Pittsburgh in the playoffs that year, the Patriots hosted their first conference championship game in franchise history and defeated Jacksonville, 20-6, to advance to Super Bowl XXXI.

BUILDING GILLETTE

From 2000-02, the Kraft Group's construction and real estate development team oversaw the on-time and on-budget construction of Gillette Stadium, a privately-financed facility and the only one of its kind to be financed without the burden of personal seat license fees charged to season ticket members. The financial commitment from Kraft provided a solid foundation on which to build for the first time in the franchise's nomadic history. Moving from Foxboro Stadium into the majestic Gillette Stadium marked another worst-to-first transformation for the Krafts, who now operate New England's premier entertainment venue. After opening Gillette Stadium, Kraft was recognized as the Sports Executive of the Year by a national publication and he and Jonathan Kraft were named Sports Industrialists of the Year by another.

The construction of Gillette Stadium was the Kraft Group development team's first project. In 2007, the Kraft Group expanded the development of the site with the construction of Patriot Place, a mixed-use lifestyle center and entertainment destination.

LOVE OF SPORTS

Kraft is widely recognized as one of the most successful owners in professional sports. His long-standing support of soccer in the United States dates back to his efforts in the early 1990s to secure Foxborough as one of the nine host venues for the 1994 FIFA World Cup and become one of three principal investors in Major League Soccer when he founded the New England Revolution in 1995. In 2017, Kraft was named Honorary Chairman of the Board of the United Bid Committee of Canada, Mexico and the United States and a key principal in securing the 2026 FIFA World Cup for North America.

As Chairman and CEO of the New England Patriots, Investor/Operator of the New England Revolution and owner of Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place, Kraft has turned the underdeveloped parcel of land he purchased in 1985 in Foxborough into a world-class sports and entertainment destination in New England.

PERSONAL

A native of Brookline, Massachusetts, Kraft attended public schools before enrolling at Columbia University on an academic scholarship. Following graduation, he received a fellowship to attend Harvard Business School, where he earned his master's degree in business administration.

A Patriots fan since their AFL days in the 1960s, Kraft attended games at each of the team's Boston venues: Boston University Field, Fenway Park, Boston College's Alumni Stadium and Harvard Stadium. When the Patriots moved to then Schaefer Stadium in 1971, Kraft invested in season tickets for his family. He credits the memories and experiences shared with his family and other Patriots fans during those years for his passionate pursuit for ownership of the franchise.

Robert Kraft and his family have consistently donated time, expertise and resources to a wide range of charities, nonprofits and causes, resulting in lifetime giving in excess of $900 million. He continues to support initiatives that provide equal access and opportunities, facilitate social and economic mobility and create social safety nets where they do not currently exist.

In 2019, Kraft was awarded the Genesis Prize, referred to as the "Jewish Nobel" by Time Magazine. As Genesis Prize laureate, Kraft announced a $25 million commitment to establish the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS). Since then, he has provided an additional $100 million to FCAS as the organization continues to grow. Kraft's vision for the foundation is to raise global awareness and encourage people everywhere to stand up to all forms of hate through powerful messaging and storytelling. In the spring of 2023, he launched a national multi-channel media campaign that focused on using empathy to motivate people to stand up to Jewish hate and all hate.

Kraft became a founding partner in creating the REFORM Alliance, a foundation focused on American criminal justice reform through changing laws, policies, hearts and minds to reduce the number of long-term incarcerations resulting from minor probation and parole violations. Kraft also was a founding donor to the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund and the Black Leadership Institute at the Institute for Nonprofit Practice and the Equity Leadership Initiative at the Rhode Island Foundation. He donated a million dollars to the National Museum of African American History and Culture and has donated millions more to a collection of organizations addressing racial inequity through the Kraft Family/Patriots Players Collaborative Fund. Over the past decade, the Kraft Family Foundation has donated more than $125 million to nonprofits which serve traditionally under-served communities.

The Kraft family believes that equity of access to quality education and healthcare are the cornerstones to vibrant and successful communities and has established more than three dozen permanent endowments at educational, healthcare and social service organizations. In addition, Kraft has donated more than $50 million to Mass General Brigham to address healthcare disparities caused by race, ethnicity, geography and economic status, including the establishment of the Robert K. Kraft Endowed Chair in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and endowing the Kraft Center for Community Health, an initiative designed to develop solutions for the most difficult health problems. The Kraft Center services include Community Care in Reach, an innovative mobile health initiative which offers opioid addiction treatments, COVID-19 testing and vaccinations, as well as other health care services in under-served communities throughout Massachusetts. The Kraft family also committed $24 million to Harvard Business School to establish the Robert Kraft Family Fellowship, which will support promising young leaders from underserved backgrounds who would not be able to attend without significant financial aid.

The Kraft family supported many initiatives and donated more than $20 million to help those in need during the COVID-19 crisis. Those initiatives included the assistance in acquiring and distributing face masks to front-line workers in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York; supporting a meal distribution program that distributed over 6.5 million meals to military, veterans and their families; and hosting the first mass vaccination site in the northeast region and the largest vaccination distributor in the state, providing 610,283 vaccinations in less than five months.

In addition to serving on several NFL owner committees, Kraft also serves on the board of directors for the Apollo Theater, was a distinguished trustee for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he established the Kraft Family Blood Donor Center, and is a member of the executive committee of the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership. He is also a former member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Apollo Global Management and The Engine, a venture firm founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Kraft is a trustee emeritus at Columbia University, a trustee of Boston College and has received honorary degrees from several colleges and universities. He was awarded the Theodore Roosevelt Award, "presented annually to a distinguished citizen of national reputation and outstanding accomplishments." He has also received the Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award as well as the prestigious honor of being inducted into the 231st class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation's oldest and most learned societies. In 2012, he became the first NFL owner to receive the Pro Football Writers Association's George Halas Award. That year, he was also inducted into the Columbia University Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2013, he received the Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence. In 2016, Kraft was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame. In 2022, Kraft was selected by the Sports Business Journal for its Lifetime Achievement Award.