Papa John’s Net Worth: Pizza Mogul John Schnatter Started Business In Broom Closet 33 Years Ago Now Stock Is Soaring

RTR2U9FY — Shares of Papa John's (PZZA) have jumped 58 percent in the last year alone. Reuters

Almost 33 years ago, John Schnatter started the pizza chain “Papa John’s” in a broom closet. Today, the CEO is now a billionaire, Forbes reported Thursday. Schnatter has since expanded from that closet to 44 countries and territories around the world, with more than 4,900 locations and sales reaching $1.64 billion in 2015 alone.

But it’s the stock price and Schnatter’s considerable shares that have made him a billionaire. Since early 2012, when Papa John’s stock (PZZA) was at roughly $19, it was quadrupled and in the last 12 months more than doubled (58 percent), according to Forbes. As of publishing Thursday, the stock was trading at $86.56 per share, up 0.36 or 0.42 percent.

"He’s very passionate about (Papa John's) and takes a lot of pride in the performance of the company," managing director of financial firm BTIG Peter Saleh told Forbes. "I think he’s a visionary that keeps this engine humming along."

Schnatter, 55, has blown passed Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, who sold his stake in the pizza franchise in 1998 for $1 billion, but has since donated more than $451 million of his fortune to charity. Today, Monaghan’s wealth is estimated at $500 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

Forbes report delves into Schnatter’s life and details his rise to the top of the business world. He is the great-grandson of a German immigrant who came to the country in 1867. By age 12 Schnatter had already started two businesses.

After graduating from Ball State University in Indiana in 1983, Schnatter started to work in his father’s bar but didn’t like the atmosphere. So he started selling pizza at the bar and a year later opened his first Papa John’s in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

From there, the first franchise was sold two years later and in 1993 Schnatter took the company public.

Today, most know Schnatter from Papa John’s commercials with former NFL superstar Peyton Manning, who became the top spokesman for the company.