The late Subway founder left a multibillion-dollar donation to a charity run by his sons when he dies in 2021: half of the privately owned sandwich chain.
Subway started in 1965 when 17-year-old Fred DeLuca asked Dr. Peter Buck, a nuclear physicist who was a family friend, for advice on paying for college. Buck invested $1,000 to help DeLuca open a sandwich shop in Bridgeport, Conn.—starting a business that now spans more than 100 states.
Having never gone public, Subway remains in family hands – but much of the business will now be run by private charities.
The Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation – founded by Buck and his late wife in 1999 – announced Monday that the late Subway founders have donated 50% of their shares in Subway to charity.
“Dr. Buck designed this generous bequest more than a decade ago as the final part of his philanthropic plan to build PCLB into an institution designed to promote the highest quality of humanity,” the organization said.
The charity provides grants and other assistance including guidance and professional connections to give “motivated people the tools they need to help themselves.” His interests include education, medicine and journalism.
A spokeswoman for Subway and the Peter and Carmen Foundation Lucia Buck was unavailable when contacted fortune.
Members of the Buck family sit on the charity’s board of directors. Forbes-Citing a copy of Buck’s Will-it is reported that the late Dr. Buck’s sons Christopher and William, both of whom are board members, and Ben Benoit, its CFO, are executors of the estate.
At the time of Buck’s death, the publication estimated his net worth at $1.7 billion.
Earlier this month, the The Wall Street Journal It is reported that the sandwich giant is exploring a sale that could value the company at $ 10 billion, which means that Buck’s gift to the foundation could be worth as much as $ 5 billion.
The deal, if it goes through, could make Subway heirs some of the richest people in America. When news of the potential sale broke, representatives of the sandwich chain fortune that the company would not comment on its ownership structure and business plans.
The Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation said in an announcement Monday that the Buck and DeLuca families “remain close.” according to an insidermembers of both families are members of Subway’s board of directors.
“This award will allow the foundation to greatly expand its philanthropic endeavors and impact many other lives, especially our work to create educational opportunities for all students, the work Dr. Buck cares very much about,” Carrie Schindele, executive director of the charity said. statement.
In recent years, Subway has appeared to face financial and operational struggles, reportedly closing 10% of its stores by 2020 and laying off hundreds of company employees.
In 2021, a “concerned group of Subway franchisees” wrote to co-owner Elisabeth DeLuca asking her to fix what they called a “nightmare” franchise term.
But last year, the company said it saw record sales with a transformation strategy that included menu overhauls, store remodels and app upgrades.
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