You’ve probably heard of Apple, Google, or Microsoft. You definitely know the names Musk or Bezos. But mention David Steward, the World Wide Technology owner, and most people just blink. It’s wild. This guy built a massive $20 billion empire in St. Louis, Missouri, while staying almost entirely under the national radar. Honestly, the scale of World Wide Technology (WWT) is hard to wrap your head around unless you're in the deep weeds of enterprise IT or supply chain logistics.
He didn't inherit a fortune. He wasn't some Silicon Valley wunderkind with a garage and a venture capital check. Steward grew up in the Jim Crow era in Clinton, Missouri. We're talking about a kid who had to use separate swimming pools. Fast forward a few decades, and he’s one of the wealthiest Black men in America, sitting atop a private tech juggernaut that employs over 10,000 people. It’s a story about grit, but also about a very specific, boring-to-most-people type of tech: infrastructure.
Who is the World Wide Technology owner exactly?
David Steward is the majority owner and chairman. He co-founded the company back in 1990 with Jim Kavanaugh. If you’re looking for the breakdown, Steward holds the majority stake, which is why he consistently shows up on the Forbes 400 list. He’s a guy who values his faith and his family—often citing his Christian values as the literal blueprint for how he runs the business.
It wasn't always a $20 billion powerhouse. In the early nineties, WWT was basically a small reseller. They were moving hardware. They were trying to find their footing in a market that was rapidly changing. There’s this famous story about Steward’s car being repossessed from the company parking lot during the lean years. Imagine that. You’re trying to build the future of tech, and you’re watching your car get towed away because you can't make the payments. That’s the reality of the World Wide Technology owner journey that doesn't make it into the shiny corporate brochures.
He’s not alone in the leadership, though. Jim Kavanaugh, the CEO, was a pro soccer player before he jumped into the tech world. That partnership—Steward’s vision and Kavanaugh’s operational drive—is basically the secret sauce. They didn't go public. They didn't take the IPO route that every other tech company obsesses over. They stayed private. That’s a huge deal because it means they don't have to answer to Wall Street's quarterly temper tantrums. They can think ten years ahead instead of three months.
What WWT actually does (It’s not just "Tech")
If you ask a random person what WWT does, they’ll probably guess they make apps or laptops. Wrong. They are the plumbing of the digital world.
Think about it this way. When a massive federal agency or a Fortune 500 bank needs to overhaul their entire data center, they don't just go to a website and click "buy." They need someone to design the architecture, source the hardware from companies like Cisco or Dell, configure it, test it, and then ship it out ready to plug in. WWT does all of that. They have these massive "Advanced Technology Centers" (ATCs) which are basically giant playgrounds for engineers. You can simulate a whole city’s network in there before you actually build it in the real world.
- Cloud Computing: They help legacy companies migrate away from dusty on-premise servers.
- Security: This is the big one lately. Everyone is terrified of being hacked. WWT builds the moats.
- Digital Transformation: A corporate buzzword, sure, but for WWT it means actually making a retail giant's mobile app talk to their inventory warehouse without crashing.
- AI and Data: They're currently pouring resources into helping companies actually use AI instead of just talking about it.
The company is a massive partner for Cisco. In fact, they are often Cisco’s largest partner globally. That relationship alone is worth billions. But the World Wide Technology owner didn't just stop at reselling. He pushed the company into services. That’s where the real margin is. It’s the difference between selling someone a hammer and building them a skyscraper.
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The St. Louis Connection and Why It Matters
Most tech giants are in Palo Alto or Austin. WWT is headquartered in Maryland Heights, Missouri. This isn't an accident. Steward has stayed deeply rooted in the Midwest. He’s a huge benefactor for local institutions like the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and various educational programs.
There’s a specific culture there. They call it the "Integrated Management System." It’s a bit formal, but basically, it’s a set of rules about how to treat people. It sounds like corporate fluff, but WWT consistently lands on "Best Places to Work" lists. People stay there for decades. In the tech world, where people jump jobs every 18 months for a slightly better stock option package, that kind of loyalty is basically a unicorn.
Why you haven't heard of him
Steward isn't a loud guy. He isn't tweeting memes or trying to buy social media platforms. He’s a billionaire who stays in his lane. He’s written books like Doing Business by the Good Book, which pretty much sums up his vibe. He’s focused on the intersection of faith and profit. For a lot of people in the secular world of high tech, that’s an unusual mix. It’s probably why he doesn't get the same "tech bro" coverage as the guys out West.
Also, WWT is B2B. Business-to-business. They don't sell anything to you. They sell to the people who sell to you. Since they don't have a consumer product, they don't need a consumer brand. They just need the CTO of JPMorgan or the head of the Pentagon to know who they are. And believe me, those people definitely know who David Steward is.
The $20 Billion Question: How did he do it?
It wasn't a straight line. The dot-com bubble in 2000 almost wiped out everyone in tech. WWT survived because they weren't built on "eyeballs" or "clicks." They were built on physical infrastructure. When the bubble burst, people still needed routers. They still needed servers.
Steward’s approach to being the World Wide Technology owner is remarkably disciplined. He focused on diversity, not just as a social goal, but as a business advantage. WWT is one of the largest Black-owned businesses in the United States. That status has helped them win government contracts, yes, but they’ve kept those contracts because they out-executed the competition.
- Supply Chain Mastery: They figured out how to move massive amounts of hardware across the globe faster than almost anyone else.
- The ATC Lab: By letting customers "test drive" multi-vendor environments, they lowered the risk of big tech spends.
- Relationship Capital: Steward and Kavanaugh are famously focused on long-term partnerships. They don't do "one-and-done" deals.
What’s next for World Wide Technology?
The world is shifting to AI. Everyone is scrambling. If you're David Steward, you’re looking at this as the next big infrastructure boom. AI requires massive amounts of compute power. It requires specialized chips (like those from Nvidia) and specialized networking. WWT is positioning itself as the bridge for companies that want AI but don't know how to build the physical foundation for it.
They are also expanding globally. They have a huge presence in Europe and Asia now. It’s no longer just a Missouri success story; it’s a global logistics and consulting firm. But the ownership remains tight. There’s no sign of the company going public anytime soon. Steward seems perfectly happy keeping the reins within the family and the current leadership.
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Actionable Insights from the WWT Story
If you're looking at the World Wide Technology owner and wondering what you can actually take away from his success for your own career or business, it's not just "work hard." It’s more specific than that.
- Focus on Infrastructure: Everyone wants to build the "next big app." Very few people want to build the systems that run the apps. There is massive, sustained wealth in being the person who provides the tools and the foundation.
- Stay Private if You Can: By avoiding the public markets, WWT avoided the pressure to make short-term, stupid decisions to please shareholders. If you can bootstrap or stay private, your culture will be stronger for it.
- Build a "Sandpile": WWT’s Advanced Technology Center is a "sandpile"—a place where people can play, fail, and experiment. If you provide value to your customers by letting them solve problems before they buy, you’ll win their trust forever.
- Culture isn't secondary: Most tech companies treat "culture" as free snacks and ping-pong tables. For David Steward, culture is a rigorous management system based on specific values. It’s what kept the company together when his car was being repossessed.
The story of the World Wide Technology owner is basically a masterclass in quiet, massive scaling. It’s a reminder that some of the biggest players in the world aren't the ones making the most noise. They’re the ones making sure the world’s data actually gets where it needs to go.
If you want to understand the modern economy, stop looking at the apps on your phone and start looking at the companies that build the data centers. That's where the real power is. That's where David Steward lives. It’s a $20 billion view, and he earned every bit of it.
To really understand WWT’s current trajectory, you should look into their recent partnerships with Nvidia and how they are re-tooling their St. Louis labs for generative AI workloads. That is where the next decade of their growth is coming from. Keep an eye on their private white papers and "Case Studies"—they often signal where enterprise tech is headed two years before it hits the mainstream news.