Erik Prince - American businessman

An American businessman Erik Dean Prince is also a former U.S. Navy SEAL, who is best known for founding the world’s largest private military company, Blackwater USA, now called Academi. Moreover, he served as Blackwater’s CEO until 2009 but it was sold to a group of investors in 2010 where he was chairman until then.

Childhood and Early Life

Prince was born on June 6, 1969, in Holland, Michigan. Regarding his educational background, he completed his schooling and graduated from Holland Christian High School. After graduation, Prince and his father toured the world together. Later on, Prince was accepted into the United States Naval Academy and perceived for three semesters. He had a great love for the Navy but disliked the Academy. So, after that, he went for a bachelor’s degree in economics from Hillsdale College in 1992. According to sources, it was said that Prince dropped out of the Naval Academy. While others said that he transferred to Hillsdale for achieving a degree. For instance, during his time at Hillsdale, he served as a volunteer firefighter and as a cold water diver for the Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Department. Eventually, Prince became an emergency medical technician.

The career of Erik Prince

Erik Prince started his internship in the White House under George W. Bush in 1990 but soon left to intern for California congressman Dana Rohrabacher, President Ronald Reagan’s former speechwriter. He also commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy via Officer Candidate School in 1992 which was after his college.

After becoming Navy SEAL he was deployed with SEAL Team 8 in Haiti, the Middle East, and the Balkans. Eventually, he ended his U.S. Navy service prematurely in 1995 when his father expired. He also swayed daily operations at Prince Machine Corporation for a year until 1996 when his mother sold the company for $1.35 billion in cash to Johnson Controls.

Furthermore, after moving to Virginia Beach, he personally financed the formation of Blackwater Worldwide in 1997. He was accorded $2 million in government security contracts and more than $1.6 billion of which were unclassified federal contracts and an unknown amount of classified work from 1997 to 2010. And again from 2001 to 2010, the Central intelligence
Agency (CIA) awarded up to $600 million in classified contracts to Blackwater and its affiliations. For instance, it became the largest of the State Department’s three private security companies, providing 987 guards for embassies and bases abroad. Prince has always defended Blackwater’s work. Finally, on March 2, 2009, Prince resigned as CEO of Blackwater and
remained as the chairman of the board until he sold the company to a group of particular investors in late 2010. With his own mind, he was also part of the CIA special task force created to kill the terrorist groups.

After his resignation, he was hired by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and moved to Abu Dhabi in 2010. The main task that was needed to assemble an 800-member troop of foreign troops for the UAE. In addition, he also helped the UAE found a new company named Reflex Responses with 51% percent local ownership. In January 2011, Prince also trained a force of 2,000 Somalis for anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden. Prince had different modes of the plan for investment. It was reported that he had planned to build a diesel refinery in South Sudan in which $10 million had already been invested in May 2014 which was suspended later on. He also purchased a 25% stake in the Australian aviation company Airborne Technologies.

Wife, Children, and Personal life

Prince is the son of Edgar D. Prince and his wife Elsa. He is the youngest of four children. One of his siblings Betsy DeVos is US secretary of Education. Joan Nicole is the first wife of Prince who died of cancer in 2003 at the age of 36. They had four children together Christian Edgar, Sophia Nicole, Erik Xavier Prince, and Isabella Grace. He had an affair with his nanny, Joanna Ruth Houck, while his wife was in her last days of cancer. Later on, they married in 2004. But this relation could not last forever, and they divorced in 2012. Currently, he is married to Stacy Deluke who is a former Blackwater spokeswoman. According to the source, it is said that Prince has seven children, among which the other son is Charles Donovan but remaining two children’s name has not yet been disclosed.

Net worth

According to various reports, Erik prince has an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion as of 2021. He has made his career as an entrepreneur, successful businessman as well as a U.S Navy Seal officer. He is one of the accomplished entrepreneurs who hold the credits for being CEO and chairman of several organizations to date. His project is one of the most famous projects, Blackwater which was awarded a huge amount of money. Blackwater USA, several chairs, CEO of government services and security firms gave him supreme fame and wealth in his career.

Facts other activities

Regarding his recent involvements, “The New York Times” reported that Prince had recruited former intelligence agents to infiltrate Democratic Congressional Campaigns and other groups hostile to the Donald Trump agenda in March 2020. His efforts were to assist Project Veritas. Moreover, in April 2020, Prince has also offered his services as a subcontractor to the Russian Wagner group’s activities in Mozambique and Libya. Beyond his service and business, he has also written a book called “Civilian Warriors”. Talking about his facts, he was named Blackwater USA till the year 2009 as CEO and security firm. Currently, he is the founder chairman of Frontier Services Group.