Jersey Mike’s CEO is almost as rich as Mark Cuban

The sub sandwich chain and buyout firm Blackstone are nearing a deal valuing Jersey Mike’s at about $8 billion, Reuters reported, launching Cancro into the list of the richest people in the world. 

Jersey Mike’s Subs officially announced Tuesday it had reached an agreement in which private equity giant Blackstone would acquire majority ownership of the fast-casual sandwich chain, which has more than 3,000 locations. This makes Jersey Mike’s the second-largest sub chain in the U.S., behind Subway, which is reportedly worth up to $10 billion.

Cancro will maintain a “significant equity stake” and continue to lead the business, according to the announcement. The transaction is expected to be completed in early 2025.

Following the announcement, Cancro climbed the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and is worth about $7.54 billion, according to the list. This ranks him close to Shark Tank star and serial investor Mark Cuban, who’s worth $7.86 billion; and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who’s worth $7.65 billion.

Jersey Mike’s didn’t immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

Who is Peter Cancro?

Cancro has been with the company for more than 50 years. He started working at the company’s original Point Pleasant, N.J. location at age 14. At the time, the sandwich shop was called Mike’s Subs. 

“I would sprinkle the subs as they came down the line, wrap them, and work the cash register,” Cancro wrote in a “How I Got Started” article published in Fortune in 2020. “I did everything, except I wasn’t old enough to work the slicer.”

Cancro made a whopping $1.75 per hour, “which was big money in 1971,” he wrote. But he started dreaming bigger when he learned the shop owner wanted to sell.

“One night my mother said, “Mike’s is for sale. Why don’t you buy it?” I laughed, went up one flight of stairs,” Cancro wrote. “By the time I reached the top, I decided to do it.”

To make it happen, Cancro tried knocking on people’s doors to raise money. After that proved unsuccessful, Cancro called up his football coach, Rod Smith, who also happened to be a banker. 

“He knew me, and he said I always get the ball across the goal line,” Cancro…