ERNEST GARCIA II
OWNER, CHAIRMAN
DRIVETIME AUTOMOTIVE GROUP
MAJOR SHAREHOLDER
CARVANA

THE MONEY: Major shareholder in Carvana Co. (NYSE: CVNA), an online site for selling used cars and arranging car loans. Revenue jumped 49% to $20.3B in 2025. Shares have soared from below split-adjusted $1 each in 2023 to over $65 and a $72B market cap. Also owns majority of Tempe, Arizona-based DriveTime Automotive Group, reported to be among the largest used car retailers in the country, with 147 locations in 27 states. Reportedly the richest person in Arizona.

SELL, SELL, SELL: His son, Ernest Garcia III, spun off Carvana in 2017 from privately held DriveTime. Ernest Garcia II, Carvana’s largest private shareholder, has been selling more than $1B of company stock in past two years; he still owns estimated 7% of shares, according to proxy, indicating a $5.1B value. Both Bloomberg and Forbes say he’s worth around $22B-$23B. Since Carvana’s shares down about 5% in the past year, we estimate other assets have grown, pegging Garcia II’s wealth as rising 5% overall in the past year.

IN THE NEWS: Last year, Garcia II’s real estate firm Verde Investments completed the acquisition of 80-acre former mall site in Mesa, Arizona, with plans to develop a $2.5B mixed-use redevelopment called the Palo District.

THE HOME: Has owned several homes in the area over the years; housing blogs indicate Garcia II was the seller of one pricey home in Laguna Beach to fellow wealthy lister Patrick Soon-Shiong (see this page) over a decade ago. Informed sources previously told the Business Journal that Garcia owns a home in Crystal Cove, though it is not his main residence.

THE FAMILY: Garcia II’s father was a mayor of Gallup, New Mexico, and a liquor store owner. Garcia III wasn’t known to have any ties to OC but that appears to have changed when an LLC tied to a Tempe-based family trust overseen by the younger Garcia a couple years ago closed on the purchase of the Racquet Club of Irvine, paying the property’s long-time owners, the Spearman family, nearly $6.3M for the site just off Culver Avenue.

PHILANTHROPY: Phoenix-based Garcia Family Foundation, with est. $61M in assets, gives to a variety of educational and other nonprofit groups with a focus on Arizona.