Mo Siegel Net Worth 2026: Celestial Seasonings Founder
No reputable net worth estimate exists for Mo Siegel. Here is what is documented about the Celestial Seasonings co-founder, his company's sales and his investing.
- Full name
- Morris J. Siegel
- Known as
- Mo
- Profession
- Co-founder of Celestial Seasonings; owner, Capital Peaks Investments
- Nationality
- American
- Spouse
- Jennifer Cooke
- Relationship
- Married
- Children
- 5
- Source of wealth
- Celestial Seasonings, Hain Celestial, private investing, board seats
In this article
No reputable publisher, including Forbes, Bloomberg and Celebrity Net Worth, has released a net worth estimate for Mo Siegel. The $39 million figure that circulated on older profile sites has no source behind it. What is documented is the business that made him wealthy: Siegel co-founded Celestial Seasonings in Boulder, Colorado, sold it to Kraft in 1984, came back to lead it in the 1990s, and steered it into the 2000 merger that created the Hain Celestial Group. Today he invests through his own firm, Capital Peaks Investments.
What is Mo Siegel's net worth?
There is no published, sourced estimate. Siegel has been a private investor since leaving Celestial Seasonings for the second time in 2002, and his holdings are not disclosed in any public filing that reporters have summarized. Any exact number you see online for him, including the old $39 million figure and the income table that accompanied it, was not attributed to a publisher and has been removed from this page.
What can be said from the record is that his wealth dates back decades. In an April 1983 profile, The New York Times described him as a co-founder who started the company at 20 and was a millionaire by 26. The company was then the largest herbal tea maker in the United States, with about 40 percent of the herbal tea business.
Where the money comes from
- Celestial Seasonings. The tea company he started with $500 of seed money, by his own account on the Unreasonable Group mentor page, grew into the largest specialty tea company in North America. He was an owner through its sale to Kraft in 1984 and again after the 1988 buyback.
- Hain Celestial. In 2000 Celestial merged with the Hain Food Group to form the Hain Celestial Group, a publicly traded natural foods company.
- Board seats. Great Outdoors Colorado says he has sat on five public company boards and 17 private company and non-profit boards, including Whole Foods Market, Annie's and Hain Celestial. Siegel says he served 14 years on the Whole Foods board.
- Capital Peaks Investments. His private investment firm in Boulder. He is also listed as an investor and mentor with the Unreasonable Group, which backs growth-stage companies working on social and environmental problems.
None of these sources gives a dollar value for his share of any sale, so this page does not estimate one.
Early life and education
Siegel spent two years, starting in 1967, living and studying at a Catholic monastery, according to Wikipedia's account of the company. He began reading The Urantia Book in 1969, the same year he and Wyck Hay started gathering wild herbs in the Rocky Mountains to blend into tea. Older claims on this page about his grades and a career in the education sector had no source and have been removed.
Career timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1969 | Siegel and Wyck Hay gather herbs near Boulder and sell the first blends, Mo's 36 Herb Tea and Mo's 24 Herb Tea, to health food stores |
| 1972 | Red Zinger launches in January; Sleepytime, still the company's best seller, follows the same year |
| 1975–1989 | Siegel founds the Red Zinger Bicycle Classic, later the Coors Classic, which became America's largest international stage race |
| 1983 | Company reports about $27 million in sales and roughly 40% of the U.S. herbal tea market |
| 1984 | Celestial Seasonings is sold to Kraft |
| 1986 | Siegel retires for the first time |
| 1988 | After a court blocks Kraft's plan to sell the brand to Lipton, Kraft sells it to a management group backed by Vestar Capital Partners |
| 1991 | Siegel returns as chairman and CEO |
| 1993 | Celestial goes public |
| 1995 | The company launches a green tea line, the first sold in mainstream U.S. stores |
| 2000 | Merger with Hain Food Group creates the Hain Celestial Group |
| 2002 | Siegel retires a second time |
| 2013 | Receives Naturally Boulder's Lifetime Achievement award |
| 2019 | Appointed to the Great Outdoors Colorado board, representing Congressional District 2 |
Sources for the timeline: Wikipedia, The Denver Post and Great Outdoors Colorado. The Denver Post dates his repurchase with Vestar to 1989, while Siegel's own bio and Wikipedia say 1988.
Related Article: Shannon Willardson Net Worth
Celestial Seasonings today
The brand is still based in Boulder and now sits inside Hain Celestial. In 2019, its 50th year, The Denver Post reported that tea made up about 5% of Hain's consolidated net sales and that Celestial held a 10.3% share of the U.S. bagged, loose leaf and single-cup tea market, with about $132.8 million in yearly sales, according to Mintel. The company blends around 200,000 pounds of tea a week and sells more than 100 varieties. Siegel spoke at the anniversary celebration for past and current staff.
Public roles and philanthropy
Siegel has been a trustee of the Urantia Foundation since 1998 and has led a Urantia Book study group since 1972; Wikipedia lists him as the foundation's president as of 2024. He also serves on the board of Great Outdoors Colorado, the state's lottery-funded conservation trust, in a term that runs to 2027. His board list includes the Himalayan Cataract Project, Boulder Community Hospital and the Colorado Impact Fund.
Mo Siegel's wife and family
Siegel married actress Jennifer Cooke, known for the NBC series V, in 1989, and the couple live in the Boulder area. Great Outdoors Colorado describes him as a father of five; his Unreasonable Group bio mentions seven grandchildren. An avid outdoorsman, he has climbed all of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks and says he has visited about 100 countries.
Read Also: Aaron Brockett Net Worth
How old is Mo Siegel?
His exact birth date is not in the sources we checked. The 1983 New York Times profile gave his age as 33, which puts his birth around 1949 or 1950, and he says he started Celestial at 20. The old claims of a height of 5 feet 7 inches and a weight of 73 kg had no source and were removed.
Net worth compared
Other food and consumer founders on this site include Adam Eskin of the restaurant chain Dig and Abhi Ramesh of Misfits Market. Like Siegel, neither has a widely published net worth tied to a disclosed sale price.
Why no estimate is given
Celestial Seasonings changed hands several times while private, and the terms of Siegel's personal stake in the 1984 sale, the 1988 buyback, the 1993 IPO and the 2000 merger were not reported in the sources we opened. Without those numbers, or a figure from an outlet that tracks wealth, any estimate would be a guess. This page will add one if a reputable publisher releases it.
Frequently asked questions
What is Mo Siegel's net worth?
No reputable outlet has published a net worth for Mo Siegel. A $39 million figure seen online has no source. His wealth comes from co-founding Celestial Seasonings, which he sold to Kraft in 1984 and later merged into Hain Celestial in 2000, plus board seats and his investment firm, Capital Peaks Investments.
Who currently owns Celestial Seasonings?
Celestial Seasonings is owned by the Hain Celestial Group. It became part of Hain when Celestial merged with the Hain Food Group in 2000, a deal Mo Siegel oversaw as chairman. The brand is still based in Boulder, Colorado, and sells more than 100 tea varieties.
Who is Mo Siegel's wife?
Mo Siegel has been married to Jennifer Cooke since 1989. Cooke is a former actress best known for playing Elizabeth Maxwell on the NBC series V in the mid-1980s. The couple live in the Boulder, Colorado area.
Is Mo Siegel still alive?
Yes. Mo Siegel is serving a term on the Great Outdoors Colorado board that runs until 2027, and Wikipedia lists him as president of the Urantia Foundation as of 2024. He also appears as a current investor and mentor with the Unreasonable Group.
How old is Mo Siegel?
His exact birth date has not been published in the sources we checked. The New York Times gave his age as 33 in April 1983, which places his birth around 1949 or 1950. He has said he started Celestial Seasonings at 20.
What does Mo Siegel do now?
Since retiring from Celestial Seasonings in 2002, Mo Siegel has invested through Capital Peaks Investments in Boulder, mentored companies through the Unreasonable Group, and served on boards including Great Outdoors Colorado. He has sat on five public company boards, including Whole Foods Market.
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_Seasonings
- The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/03/business/health-food-millionaire-celestial-seasonings-pins-its-hopes-on-more-herbal-tea.html
- The Denver Post: https://www.denverpost.com/2019/09/14/celestial-seasonings-tea-50-years/
- Great Outdoors Colorado: https://goco.org/about/board/mo-siegel-d
- Unreasonable Group: https://unreasonablegroup.com/people/mo-siegel
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Cooke
