Woody Johnson

Robert Wood Johnson IV (born April 12, 1947) is an American businessman and the owner and chairman of the NFL's New York Jets and was the United States ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2017 to 2021 during Donald Trump's first term. He is a great-grandson of Robert Wood Johnson I and an heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune. In 2000, he purchased the Jets for $635 million alongside his younger brother, Christopher Johnson.

A long-time Republican Party donor, Johnson was a supporter of Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2016 and was subsequently appointed as the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Events during his tenure included Britain's exit from the EU and the relocation of the United States embassy in London. His brother Christopher took over Jets operations during his tenure.

Upon his return to the New York in 2021, Johnson resumed his role as chairman of the Jets. In 2023, he pursued Aaron Rodgers, with the Jets finalizing a trade with the Green Bay Packers in April. In 2022, Johnson made a £2 billion bid for Chelsea but withdrew from the bidding process later that month. In July 2025, Johnson completed the purchase of a 43% stake in Crystal Palace from Eagle Football Holdings, becoming a partner and director of the club.

Johnson was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the son of Betty Johnson (née Wold; 1921–2020) and Robert Wood Johnson III, and the great-grandson of Robert Wood Johnson I, who founded the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical company, along with his brothers James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson. Robert Wood Johnson IV grew up with four siblings: Keith Johnson, Billy Johnson, Elizabeth "Libet" Johnson, and Christopher Wold Johnson, in northern New Jersey, and attended the Millbrook School. He graduated from the University of Arizona. He worked for J&J for a single summer.

Johnson was the chairman and chief executive of The Johnson Company, Inc., a private investment firm.

In 2006, a Senate subcommittee produced a 370-page report that said that some prominent figures, including Johnson, purchased capital gain losses as a way to reduce their own income tax bills. Johnson settled with the IRS in 2006, agreeing to pay the owed taxes plus interest.

Johnson was the committee president of the Pre-Commissioning Unit for the San Antonio-class ship USS New York (LPD-21).

In January 2000, Woody Johnson purchased the New York Jets from the estate of Leon Hess for $635 million. At the time, it was the third-highest price ever paid for a professional sports team, and the highest for a New York professional sports team. As of December 2024, Forbes estimated the value of the team at $6.9 billion.

Following his acquisition of the Jets, Johnson moved the team to the newly constructed Meadowlands Stadium, sharing it as an equal partner with the New York Giants. The stadium, later named MetLife Stadium, officially opened on April 10, 2010.

By the year 2000, Johnson had given more than $1 million to various Republican candidates and committees. Between 1997 and 1998, he donated $130,000 to the Republican Party, along with donating $22,583 to George W. Bush's 1998 gubernatorial re-election campaign of Texas. He was later a major New York fundraiser for Bush's 2000 presidential campaign.

In May 2008, he orchestrated a fundraiser in New York City that brought in $7 million in a single evening for John McCain's presidential campaign, by far the largest amount collected up to that point by a campaign that had been struggling to raise money. Johnson also provided significant funding to 2008 Republican National Convention host committee; from a $10 million shortfall, Johnson contributed personally and solicited friends to assist in covering the convention deficit. In 2011, Johnson endorsed former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the 2012 Republican presidential primaries. In September 2013, Johnson hosted a fundraiser for the Republican National Committee (RNC) at his home in New York City.

By 2016, Johnson had known Donald Trump for about 30 years, with the two men having social connections. Nevertheless, in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, Johnson initially endorsed Jeb Bush over Trump. In June 2015, Johnson was named the national finance chairman for Bush's campaign. On several occasions, Trump singled out Johnson in a speech attacking Bush for accepting "special interest" money from donors. In May 2016, after Trump became the presumptive nominee, Johnson endorsed Trump for president. He met with Trump at Trump Tower and was named one of the RNC's six finance vice chairmen, responsible for an effort to raise $1 billion on behalf of Trump's campaign.

Johnson had by August 2019 donated $1.5 million to Donald Trump's presidential campaigns and inaugural committee. In February 2020, Johnson gave $575,000 to a fundraising committee for Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, and $355,000 to the RNC. In May 2020, he gave $1 million to America First Action, Inc., a pro-Trump super PAC.

On January 8, 2021, Johnson released a statement condemning the 2021 United States Capitol attack.

On January 19, 2017, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he planned to nominate Johnson to become United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. On June 22, 2017, Trump nominated Johnson for the position. Prior to becoming ambassador, he had no diplomatic experience.

Following a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Johnson was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 3, 2017, by voice vote. He was sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence on August 21, 2017, in the Oval Office. Johnson presented his credentials to Queen Elizabeth II on November 8, 2017.

In 2018, Johnson oversaw the relocation of the United States Embassy in London from Grosvenor Square, where it had been since 1938, to a new location in Nine Elms.

During Johnson's tenure, Britain withdrew from the EU. Johnson advocated for a bilateral US-UK trade deal post-Brexit, in line with President Trump's hopes during that time. Johnson had a private dinner with Queen Elizabeth II at Winfield House on March 14, 2019, just two days after British Parliament rejected Theresa May's Brexit plan.

In June 2019, he further stated that a post-Brexit deal between the US and the UK would cover "all things that are traded", including the National Health Service and agricultural sector. In January 2020, Johnson stated that the US was never interested in the NHS, but reiterated American interest in a free-trade deal with the UK.

In 1977, Johnson married former fashion model Nancy Sale Johnson. They had three children before divorcing in 2001. In early 2010, daughter Casey Johnson died of diabetic ketoacidosis. He started a research foundation, the Alliance for Lupus Research, after his daughter Jaime was found to have lupus.

In 2009, Johnson married Suzanne Ircha, a former actress and equities managing director at Sandler O'Neill & Partners. They have two children. Suzanne's father emigrated from Ternopil, Ukraine after World War II, and her mother was a first-generation Ukrainian American. She grew up in a Ukrainian neighborhood in Greenwich Village.

Johnson is known for philanthropy, especially donations to medical research. He raised money and lobbied to increase federal funding for lupus and diabetes. Johnson is also a trustee of the Robert Wood Johnson Jr. Charitable Trust. He is the only member of the Johnson family to be invited to join the board of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Johnson was the chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International. He and his wife became involved with diabetes charities after his daughter Casey was diagnosed with diabetes in 1988. In 1994, he co-wrote the book Managing Your Child's Diabetes with his wife Nancy, and Casey. As of 2000, he had donated $12 million to the foundation. Johnson was a chairman on the Council on Foreign Relations, and successfully lobbied Congress to approve a five-year, $750 million package for funding diabetes research in 2002.

Casey died of diabetic ketoacidosis on January 4, 2010. On October 24, 2012, Johnson wrote an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal titled "The Folly of Defunding Diabetes Research", which urged Congress to approve long-term funding for the Special Diabetes Program. He visited the University of Birmingham in 2018 to discuss the university's diabetes research and research library.

Johnson is the founding chairman of the Lupus Research Alliance (formerly the Alliance for Lupus Research), which grants funding for research on improved diagnostics, treatments and prevention of lupus. He founded the legacy organization, Alliance for Lupus Research, in 1999 after his daughter Jaime was diagnosed with lupus. Johnson stated that the organization was meant to encourage public and scientific interest in lupus, which was understudied in comparison to many other chronic diseases. In 2023, the LRA partnered with the FDA to establish the Lupus Accelerating Breakthroughs Consortium, which works to improve the efficacy of clinical trials for lupus treatments.

During the ongoing 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Johnson and his wife Suzanne, who comes from a Ukrainian background, have organized aid efforts for Ukraine. Their family visited Poland, which is the primary destination for Ukrainian refugees displaced by the crisis. While in Poland, they made visits to community centers, shelters, and orphanages housing Ukrainian refugees. In an article for The Telegraph, Johnson urged the United States and the United Kingdom to aid Ukraine.