Min Kao Net Worth

Min Kao has an estimated net worth of $8.9 billion, according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, Min Kao profile (figures as of October 20, 2026). That is up from $3.5 billion in 2019.

Min Kao is an electrical engineer and business leader best known for cofounded Garmin with Gary Burrell in 1989. Before that, they led development of the first GPS navigator at Allied Signal. Garmin grew into a major navigation company that sells products for cars, airplanes, boats, outdoor use, and fitness. Forbes tracks his wealth in technology, tied to navigation equipment, and describes him as self-made.

Kao built his career through engineering work and product development. While working toward graduate degrees at the University of Tennessee, he did research for NASA and the U.S. Army. He later worked at Teledyne Systems, Magnavox Advanced Products, King Radio Corporation, and AlliedSignal. In 2011, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for leadership in developing and commercializing compact GPS navigation devices. He stepped down as Garmin CEO in 2012 but remains executive chairman and a board member.

How Min Kao built his wealth

Kao’s fortune comes mainly from Garmin, the navigation company he started with Gary Burrell. The company name combines parts of Gary and Min. What began with GPS devices expanded into several markets, including automotive, outdoor, fitness, aviation, and marine. Garmin also makes products such as weather radar for airplanes. That broad product lineup helped turn a specialist GPS business into a larger technology company with about $6 billion in annual revenue.

His path to that business started in engineering, not finance. Kao studied electrical engineering, earned graduate degrees in the United States, and worked on research for NASA and the U.S. Army while pursuing his Ph.D. He then held technical roles at several companies before Allied Signal, where he and Burrell worked on the first GPS navigator. That experience gave him the technical base and industry focus that later shaped Garmin’s products and his long-term wealth.

Forbes net worth timeline

Forbes valued Kao at $3.5 billion in 2019, and that same figure appeared again in 2020. The estimate then moved to $4.5 billion in 2021 and $4.6 billion in 2022 before dipping to $4.2 billion in 2023. A year later, Forbes put him at $5.2 billion. Those changes followed the value of his stake in Garmin, the company at the center of his wealth.

The gains continued after that. Forbes placed Kao at $6.9 billion in 2025 and $7.7 billion in 2026. As of October 20, 2026, Forbes' real-time billionaires tracker estimated his net worth at $8.9 billion. The business behind that estimate is still Garmin, where he remains executive chairman and a board member while the company sells navigation and wearable technology across several markets.