The former US senator and Tennessee native is known for being one of the richest senators at his time in office, so how did he come to experience such a rise in his wealth?
Bob Corker started his own business in 1978, a construction company called Bencor, before selling it in 1990. In 1999, he then bought some real estate properties in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and eventually sold those assets in 2006. He was left with a series of loans, prompting him to begin making trades.
Continue reading to discover more about Bob’s early life and career before retiring from the Senate in 2019, and how he reached an estimated net worth of $69 million at its peak.
Hard Working Early Days
Born Robert Phillips Corker Jr. in 1952, Bob grew up in South Carolina in Orangeburg before moving with his family to Tennessee at 11 years old.
Determination was a trait he showed from a young age, speaking to Esquire magazine in 2006 about his drive to work:
“I started working when I was 13, picking up trash, bagging ice. I worked at Western Auto, became a construction laborer. I had no thoughts about public life as a young person.”
“Well, I was president of student body in high school, I will say that, but I didn’t campaign for the job. I just woke up one day, and I was president.”
He also mentions influence from his father:
“My dad just imprinted in my mind from a very young age that you always do what you say you’re gonna do when you say you’re gonna do it.”
In 1970, Corker graduated from Chattanooga High School, and decided to attend the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He received a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management just four years later.
His introduction to construction came when he started a job as a construction superintendent, during which he saved $8,000 to start his own business called Bencor.
In 2019, he shared his experience as a young entrepreneur, stating, “Along the way in my late 20s, I realized that I was going to be financially well-off, I knew that I knew how to do business and if I just paid attention I was going to be independent.”
Watch him speak about his early days in the construction industry in the full interview below:
Business and Politics
Bencor launched in 1978, and business each year continued to thrive until it grew by up to 80% annually with holdings in a grand total of 18 states. 12 years later, his company was sold.
Some time later, Bob came across Osborne Building Corporation and Stone Fort Land Company, two companies in the real estate sector and the biggest in Chattanooga at the time. He then bought them in 1999.
2006 arrived and Corker decided to sell the real estate and its assets to a businessman named Henry Luken. By this year, it’s estimated that his assets were worth over $19 million.
According to Bob, his longstanding history with business had proven to be quite useful in his political ventures.
Through his experiences in construction, and their ties with the government, he became intrigued by politics and ran for the US Senate in 1994. Although unsuccessful, he continued moving up the ladder and ended up becoming the US Senator in 2007 on the 4th of January.
Just before being sworn into office, Bob was reportedly in some financial trouble with loans.
To counteract this, he began investing in trades. Rolling Stone reported in 2017 that it was during his first year in office that he essentially became a “full time day-trader” and within nine months of 2007 he had made “1,200 trades, over four per day, including 332 over a two-day period.”
Corker retired from office in 2019, after not searching re-election for a third term.