Utah Couple Builds $2.2 Billion Fortune From E-Commerce Reselling Business

A decade ago, husband-and-wife co-founders of e-commerce company Pattern, Melanie Alder and David Wright, were reselling refrigerator magnets online from Alder's living room.

Pattern co-founders David Wright and Melanie Alder built their e-commerce business from a small reselling operation into a multibillion-dollar company. [Photo: Pattern Facebook]

Today, they are among Utah's newest billionaire couples, Forbes Daily reported.

Since the company's IPO in September, Pattern's stock price has nearly doubled, with a four-month surge beginning in March pushing its market capitalization above $4 billion.

In July, when Pattern's stock reached a record high of $29, CEO Wright's net worth reached $1.7 billion, while chief strategy officer Alder's climbed to $1.1 billion.

Although Pattern's stock has since declined, the couple, who together own 55% of the company, held a combined $2.2 billion stake as of Aug. 7, along with nearly $90 million in cash from selling some of their shares shortly after the IPO.

Pattern's core business is to relieve consumer brands of the challenges associated with selling through lucrative but complex online marketplaces such as Amazon, according to Scott Needham, a former reseller and founder of Amazon market research firm SmartScout.

Pattern buys brands' products in bulk, manages the sales process from setting up online storefronts to handling delivery logistics, and earns money by selling the products at a markup.