Two-time NFL MVP with three Super Bowl rings founded $79bn company after retiring

Jan 15, 2026 - 13:00

Steve Young has always been an over-performer.

On the NFL field, he was a three-time Super Bowl champion with the San Francisco 49ers, and the man who revolutionized the quarterback position with his duel-threat ability on the pass and run.

Steve Young #8 of the San Francisco 49ers throws a pass during a rainy National Football League game against the Buffalo Bills played on September 13, 1992 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco — Young won three Super Bowls with the 49ers during a Hall of Fame career

To this day, he holds the record for the most touchdown passes in a single Super Bowl game (XXIX), with six.

Young was also named Most Valuable Player in two of his 15 years in the league, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame back in 2005 — becoming the first left-handed QB to receive that honor.

But more than two decades on, the legendary quarterback lives a very different life.

What does NFL legend Steve Young do now?

Following retirement from football, Young became intent on making a name for himself in investing, and resisted leveraging his on-field fame for many years.

He earned a law degree during his playing career, and recently detailed how he balanced that commitment with winning Super Bowl rings.

“What’s funny now, but wasn’t funny at the time, is we went to three Super Bowls in that time,” Young said during a recent appearance on the The Tim Ferriss Show, recalling his studies.

“The Super Bowl is in February, or the end of January. School starts right after the new year. So I’m showing up a month late.

“And no one in law school cares — you’ve still got to do the work. So I remember going to the parade down Market Street in San Francisco and jumping on the Delta plane back to Salt Lake City in the evening.

“Every class is Socratic method, they walk in and they say, ‘Miss Jones, can you please brief us on blah blah’. The whole day was, ‘Mr. young, could you please brief us?’

“I think I loved that in a weird way, but I look back, I was like, ‘What are you doing, man?'”

ESPN analyst Steve Young broadcasts before the AFC Wild Card Playoff game between the Houston Texans and the Buffalo Bills at NRG Stadium on January 04, 2020 — Young swapped the NFL field for finance and has made billions in a new career

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young hugs the Vince Lombardi trophy 29 January 1995 after being named the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XXIX. — He balanced winning Super Bowls with law school during his NFL career

Steve Young #8, Quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers calls the play on the line of scrimmage during the National Football Conference West Divisional game against the Washington Redskins on 9 January 1993 — Young was the first-ever left-handed QB to go into the Hall of Fame

While Young earned his own law degree, he also had a front row seat to the tech ‘explosion’ in Silicon Valley thanks to his time with the Niners.

He credits that experience for guiding him towards a career in finance instead of law, and all these years on, the NFL icon has quietly built an investment firm that has done more than $79 billion in deals.

What private equity firm does Steve Young work with?

In 2007, Young co-founded the private equity firm Huntsman Gay Global Capital (HGGC), with billionaire industrialist Jon M. Huntsman and former Bain Capital executive Robert C. Gay.

As of 2026, the firm has successfully completed over 730 platform investments, add-on transactions, and exits, totaling nearly $80bn in enterprise value.

Having retired from the NFL aged 39, Young knew that he had ‘half of his life’ to build a different type of empire, and it was one he initially tried to keep it separate from his on-field achievements.

His longtime business partner, Rich Lawson, would hang Young’s former college and pro jerseys in the headquarters of HGGC.

Steve Young #8 of the San Francisco 49ers drops back to pass during a National Football League game against the New England Patriots played on September 17, 1995 — Young has learned to accept his legendary NFL status, after initially keeping it separate

Steve Young #8 of the San Francisco 49ers greets his teammates prior to a National Football League game against the Los Angeles Rams played on September 22, 1991 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco — His old jerseys hang on the way of his office in California

The legendary quarterback, though, would take them down, and bring them home.

“I thought, the more famous you are as a player, the more accomplished you are, the more I thought it would be difficult to have people take you seriously,” Young told Bloomberg in an interview back in 2022.

“Maybe I overplayed it. I can admit that at this point, but if you’re going to start from the beginning and be a founder and kind of claw out from the beginning, you can’t bring that with you.”

Young’s outlook has changed in more recent years, and after completing billions worth of deals, he is no longer running from his past life.

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The jerseys now have a place on the wall, and Young’s side of the Palo Alto office he shares with Lawson is ‘crammed with a mash-up of Wall Street deal toys, football helmets and NFL memorabilia.’

“My previous life was amazing, throwing Jerry Rice a touchdown in front of 80,000 people, and winning games, there’s nothing like it,” the former quarterback said.

“It’s not 80,000 people watching it, but (this) feels familiar, and that’s why I think there’s magic in private equity.”

Hall of Famer believes football return would be like ‘riding a bike’

While Young last stepped foot on the NFL field before the turn of the millennium, and has since founded a company that manages billions in assets, he still believes he could do a job under center.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young(R) hugs wide-receiver Jerry Rice(L) after he threw him a touchdown pass in the second half 26 November in San Francisco. The 49ers defeated the Rams, 41-13. — Young believes he still possesses the ability to read NFL defenses all these years on

Inspired by the shock return of Philip Rivers in 2025, he recently noted that he could still take a few snaps in the league, despite being 64.

“The one thing I will tell you, as a quarterback, I really do believe — if you could somehow do the Benjamin Button thing and just go back and play — one of the things that would be like riding a bike is sitting in the pocket and reading defenses,” Young said.

“That’s not going to go away, and it didn’t for Philip. You could see that he could do that.

“I absolutely feel confident that I could take the snap, run the screen game, throw the ball in the flat, maybe throw a slant.

ESPN personality and former San Francisco 49er Steve Young stands on the field before the last regular season game played at Candlestick Park between the San Francisco 49ers and the Atlanta Falcons on December 23, 2013 — Young co-founded a business that manages billion-dollar assets

“It’s not like, ‘Put on the pads and go play.’ Still, if it was Hunger Games? If they said, you had to do this or die? Yeah, you could pull off something.”

Any kind of football return, of course, is a dream well beyond 64-year-old Young, no matter how many rings he won in his hayday.

Dominating the world of finance, though, is very much a reality.

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