Craig McCaw Net Worth

Craig McCaw has an estimated net worth of $2.8 billion, according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, Craig McCaw profile (figures as of October 20, 2026). That is up from $1.8 billion in 2019.

Craig McCaw is an American businessman known as a pioneer in cellular service. He built his name in telecom after taking over his father's cable-TV business with his brothers in 1966. From there, he expanded by buying remote cable systems and later moved into cellular licenses and wireless networks. By the 1980s, his cable company had become a major carrier in the United States, giving him the base for bigger telecom deals.

His biggest payday came when the McCaw brothers sold McCaw Cellular to AT&T in 1994 for $12.6 billion in stock, according to Forbes. He later backed and built other telecom ventures, including Nextel, NEXTLINK Communications, Teledesic, and Clearwire. McCaw cofounded Teledesic in 1990 with support from Bill Gates and Boeing, though it ceased operations in 2002. He later stepped down as chairman of Clearwire in 2010, before Sprint acquired the company.

How Craig McCaw built his fortune

McCaw's wealth came mainly from telecom. He started in cable, using cash flow from a growing group of cable systems to buy more properties. When cellular licenses opened up in the early 1980s, he bought rights that others had won and stitched them into a larger wireless business. After buying MCI's cellular wing in 1986, the combined operation became an important player and set up the sale that made him one of the best-known names in wireless.

The defining deal was the 1994 sale of McCaw Cellular to AT&T. Forbes says that transaction was worth $12.6 billion in stock. After that, he stayed active in communications, taking control of Nextel by 1995 and later starting NEXTLINK Communications, which became XO Communications in 2000. He also founded Clearwire in 2004 and led it until 2010. Some later bets struggled, including Teledesic, which ended in 2002.

Forbes net worth and later business moves

Forbes estimated McCaw's net worth at $2.9 billion on the 2026 World's Billionaires List. On Forbes' real-time billionaires tracker, he was at $2.8 billion as of October 20, 2026. Forbes ties his wealth to telecom, the industry where he made his name through cable, cellular, and wireless broadband. His later career was quieter, and Forbes notes that he stayed out of the limelight after stepping down from Clearwire in 2010.

His later ventures show how broad his telecom interests were. In 1990, he cofounded Teledesic to offer internet access by satellite, backed by Bill Gates and Boeing, but the company ceased operations in 2002. He also launched Clearwire in 2004 as a wireless broadband provider. In 2008, Clearwire combined next-generation wireless broadband businesses with Sprint in a major transaction, then kept expanding before McCaw left the chairman role at the end of 2010.