Thomas Peterffy

Following Brexit, in 2021, Interactive Brokers moved its European headquarters in London and outsourced its operations to two new continental centers. Thereafter, their Western European clients were served by a subsidiary in Ireland, while their Central European operations were based in Budapest. According to Peterffy, he chose Budapest because he was convinced that the Hungarian language and the “unique Hungarian logic” would result in above-average profitability; he also wanted to pay off the debt he owed to his native Hungary. The Budapest-based subsidiary, Interactive Brokers Central Europe Zrt., was established in Hungary and became a member of the Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) upon its incorporation.

Peterffy owns 75% of Interactive Brokers and his net worth is estimated at 25 billion dollars as of 2021. He was the 65th richest person in the world, and the richest Hungarian in the World in 2021.

During the 2016 presidential election cycle, Peterffy donated $100,000 to the campaign of Republican nominee Donald Trump. Discussing the 2016 election in 2021, he said "I am actually not a Trump fan at all. I hope he won’t run again." Peterffy also says the Republican Party is "completely adrift". However, he did donate $250,000 to the 2020 Trump reelection campaign because he is "very committed to antisocialism, anticollectivism". Peterffy lives three doors down from Mar-a-Lago and is a member.

He is divorced, with three children. He is an avid equestrian. He lives in Palm Beach, Florida. In 2015 it was reported that he had listed his 80-acre Connecticut estate for $65 million, but it eventually sold for $21 million.

During the 2012 United States presidential campaign, Peterffy created political ads in support of the Republican Party. Peterffy bought millions of dollars of air time on networks such as CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. The ads consisted of a minute-long spot narrated by Peterffy that warned against creeping socialism in the United States. The ads were considered remarkable in part because Peterffy was not a candidate and did not buy the ads through a 527 group but instead paid for them directly.

Voter registration records in Connecticut show that Peterffy has been registered as an independent voter. Campaign contribution records show that he donated at least $60,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2011 and that over the past few years (as of 2016) has mostly donated to Republican candidates.

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IB) is an online discount brokerage firm in the United States. The company traces its origin to 1977 when Peterffy bought a seat on the American Stock Exchange as an individual market maker, and formed T.P. & Co. the following year. IB consists of many subsidiaries operating on most major stock, futures, bonds, forex, and options exchanges worldwide. The company commenced a public offering on 4 May 2007 under the ticker symbol Nasdaq: IBKR on the Nasdaq exchange. On October 5, 2018, Interactive Brokers moved its listing to IEX, becoming the exchange's founding issuer. Barron's Magazine stated in 2009 that Interactive Brokers maintains a position as "the least expensive trading venue for investors", and continued to be ranked by Barron's as the lowest cost broker as well as the Best Online Broker in 2019.

In 1999, Peterffy was influential in persuading the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that US options markets could be linked electronically, which would ensure that investors receive the best possible options prices. He has also testified before the United States Senate Banking Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment about adding banking regulations.

Peterffy left his career designing financial modelling software and bought a seat on the American Stock Exchange to trade equity options. During his career in finance, he has consistently pushed to replace manual processes with more efficient automated ones. He wrote code in his head during the trading day and then applied his ideas to computerized trading models after hours. Peterffy created a major stir among traders by introducing handheld computers onto the trading floor in the early 1980s. His business related to his AMEX seat eventually developed into Interactive Brokers.

Thomas Peterffy (born September 30, 1944) is a Hungarian-born American billionaire businessman. He is the founder, chairman, and the largest shareholder of Interactive Brokers. Peterffy worked as an architectural draftsman after emigrating to the US, and later became a computer programmer. In 1977, he purchased a seat on the American Stock Exchange and played a role in developing the first electronic trading platform for securities. Forbes magazine's 2021 list of The World's Billionaires estimated his net worth at US$25 billion, ranking him as the 65th richest man in the world.

Peterffy was born in Budapest, Hungary on September 30, 1944, in a hospital basement during a Russian air raid. His father emigrated to the US after the failure of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. Peterffy left his engineering studies in Hungary and emigrated to the United States to rendezvous with his father in New York in 1965. When his father, who was living with his second wife, did not have room to accommodate his son, he gave Thomas $100 and told him to "make something of himself".