Behdad Eghbali (; born May 6, 1976) is an Iranian–American billionaire businessman and a co-founder and managing partner of the investment firm

Clearlake Capital Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. is a private equity firm founded in 2006 that focuses on the technology, industrial and consumer sectors. The firm is headquartered in Santa Monica with affiliates in Dallas, London and Dublin. In 2022, the firm was ...

. According to Forbes, Eghbali had a net worth of US$4.4 billion as of June 2025. Eghbali was first placed on the ''Forbes 400'' and ''Forbes Billionaires'' lists in 2021.

Early life

Eghbali was born in Iran and moved to the U.S. with his family when he was a child. He graduated from the

Haas School of Business The Walter A. Haas School of Business (branded as Berkeley Haas) is the business school of the University of California, Berkeley, a Public university, public research university in Berkeley, California. It was the first business school at a pub ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

with a

Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...

Career

Eghbali began his career in investment banking in the technology group at

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

and later joined San Francisco-based private equity firm

TPG Capital TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. TPG manages investment funds in growth capital, venture capital, public equity, and debt investments. The firm in ...

, where he focused on buyouts and turnarounds. In 2006, Eghbali and José E. Feliciano co-founded Clearlake Capital, described by ''Financial Times'' in 2022 as "one of the fastest-growing buyout firms in the world." In May 2022, a consortium of investors co-led by Clearlake acquired

Chelsea Football Club Chelsea Football Club is a professional football club based in Fulham, West London, England. The club was founded in 1905 and named after neighbouring area Chelsea. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football, pl ...

for £2.3 billion. After the deal, Clearlake owned about 60% of the club. Among consortium members, Eghbali is considered among the most visible owners. Eghbali is on the boards of several Clearlake portfolio companies, including

Confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

Constant Contact Constant Contact, Inc. is an online marketing company, headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, with additional offices in Boston, Massachusetts; Loveland, Colorado; Gainesville, Florida; Los Angeles, California; Brisbane, Australia; Waterloo, ...

, Cornerstone OnDemand,

DigiCert DigiCert, Inc. is a digital security company headquartered in Lehi, Utah. DigiCert provides public key infrastructure (PKI) and validation required for issuing Public key certificate, digital certificates or Transport Layer Security, TLS/SSL cert ...

, Diligent, EagleView,

Ivanti Ivanti () is an IT software company headquartered in South Jordan, Utah, United States. It produces software for IT Security, IT Service Management, IT Asset Management, Unified Endpoint Management, Identity Management and supply chain mana ...

Newfold Digital Endurance International Group, Inc. (EIG), previously named BizLand, now part of Newfold Digital, was an IT services company specializing in web hosting. The company was founded in 1997 and headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA. In 2021 ...

Perforce Perforce Software, Inc. is an American developer of software used for developing and running applications, including version control software, web-based repository management, developer collaboration, application lifecycle management, web applic ...

, and

Quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. It serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of every nat ...

Personal life

Eghbali is married. He is on the boards of nonprofits, including Noor Foundation, his family foundation. In 2024, Ehbali paid £56 million for a penthouse in

Grosvenor Square Grosvenor Square ( ) is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of Westminster, Greater London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was deve ...

in London's

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

district.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eghbali, Behdad Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Haas School of Business alumni Morgan Stanley people American people of Iranian descent Businesspeople of Iranian descent Chelsea F.C. chairmen and investors TPG Capital people American billionaires 1976 births Iranian billionaires