Here's how Howard Schultz and other business titans stack up against the potential 2020 presidential field

  • Howard Schultz is just one of several business titans whose possible political aspirations might influence the next campaign for the White House.
  • Here are some of the professional politicians and business players who are widely speculated to consider challenging Trump in 2020 – and how they stack up in the money race.

Starbucks Executive Chairman Howard Schultz is preparing to step away from the coffee chain he built into a global behemoth – and stoking speculation about a possible 2020 presidential run.

Yet, in the era of real estate magnate-turned-President Donald Trump, Schultz is just one of several business titans whose possible political aspirations might influence the next campaign for the White House.

For more than two centuries, most candidates for U.S. president had some public or military service on their resume before mounting a successful bid for the White House. But Trump's election in 2016 has opened the door for an extensive list of wealthy business titans who long to notch a place in history.

"There's a huge barrier that Donald Trump tore down," Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a senior associate dean at the Yale School of Management, told CNBC. "And that pathway is now open for the Mark Cubans and the Bob Igers" to consider running for president.

Schultz left the door open to a run Tuesday, although he stressed that he's exploring all of his options for public service.

"There's a lot of things I can do as a private citizen other than run for the presidency of the United States," the Starbucks executive said in a CNBC interview. "Let's just see what happens."

Read more: Howard Schultz could have access to a superior campaign war chest come 2020

But experienced politicians aren't about to step aside at the first sight of another billionaire candidate with tons of personal funds on hand.

Here are some of the professional politicians and business players who are widely speculated to consider challenging Trump for the White House in 2020 – and how they stack up in the money race.

The Politicians

Joe Biden

Joe Biden
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Joe Biden

Former Vice President Biden, a Democrat, has more experience running for president than any of the other possible contenders in his party. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and again in 2008. First elected to the Senate in 1972, Biden also has a longer record of national public service.

For all of his political experience, though, his financial position is among the weakest. On his 2016 government ethics filing – his last as vice president – Biden listed a collection of investments worth at most a few hundred thousand dollars. His liabilities included a mortgage of between $500,000 and $1 million, taken out in 2013; a home equity loan; and a small loan against several insurance policies.

His last campaign finance report, in 2009, listed $3.6 million in cash on hand, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Cory Booker

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) testifies to the Senate Judiciary Committee during the second day of confirmation hearings on Senator Jeff Sessions' (R-AL) nomination to be U.S. attorney general in Washington, January 11, 2017.
Joshua Roberts | Reuters
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) testifies to the Senate Judiciary Committee during the second day of confirmation hearings on Senator Jeff Sessions' (R-AL) nomination to be U.S. attorney general in Washington, January 11, 2017.

The former mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and the state's junior senator shows up on numerous lists of possible presidential contenders in 2020. And Booker has done little to dampen that speculation. In the past year, for example, he campaigned in Alabama for Democratic Senate nominee Doug Jones. He also campaigned in Georgia for another high-profile Democrat, gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

Booker also a big social media presence, with 3.8 million Twitter followers.

While he raised $23.5 million for his 2012 Senate campaign, he had just $3 million cash on hand, according to his latest filing. Roll Call estimates his net worth at $700,000

Andrew Cuomo

Gov. Andrew Cuomo
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Gov. Andrew Cuomo

Cuomo is running this year for his third term as New York's governor. The state's former attorney general also served as HUD secretary in the Clinton administration.

Cuomo has raised a sizable war chest – some $30 million as of the latest state campaign finance filing – to fund his gubernatorial campaign.

He also has had plenty of time to consider a run for the White House. He was campaign manager for his father Mario Cuomo, a three-term New York governor, who rose to national attention with a rousing keynote speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. The senior Cuomo was considered a front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and again in 1992, but declined to run both times.

Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris
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Kamala Harris

After serving two terms as California's attorney general, Harris ran a successful race for Senate and has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration.

The former San Francisco district attorney drew attention for her role in the Senate Intelligence Committee hearings, when Republican committee members took issue with her sharp questioning of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former FBI Director James Comey.

Harris raised $20.6 million for her 2016 Senate race and has $2.5 million in cash.

Roll Call estimates her personal net worth at about $400,000.

John Kasich

Ohio Governor John Kasich (R-OH)
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Ohio Governor John Kasich (R-OH)

Ohio Gov. Kasich raised a respectable war chest of $36 million in his bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, but his campaign ran out of steam in a crowded field.

Kasich, a leading Republican critic of Trump's, is considering another run for the White House. Yet he spent a total of $45.3 million before the race was over in 2016, leaving his campaign committee more than $8 million in debt, according to the latest data available from the CRP.

Kasich could dip into his own savings, but it would likely amount to just seed money. Forbes estimates his net worth at $10 million.

Elizabeth Warren

Sen. Elizabeth Warren
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren

The former Harvard Law School professor is running this fall for her second term as the senior senator from Massachusetts and, as vice chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus, is a leading figure in the progressive wing of the party.

Warren has also demonstrated an impressive knack for fundraising, pulling in one of the largest campaign funds of the 2018 Senate races. As of her latest filings, Warren had raised $30.7 million, with cash on hand of some 15.2 million

Her personal net worth is estimated at $4.7 million by Roll Call.

Bernie Sanders

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

Vermont's Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, served eight terms in the House before his successful run for Senate in 2006. Voters in the state apparently still "feel the Bern" and polls show him easily winning re-election this November.

His campaign finance committee still has roughly $7 million in cash, according to CRP.

Forbes estimated Sanders' net worth at $700,000 in 2016, but since his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for president Sanders generated sizable income from book royalties last year.

That still leaves him among the poorest members of the Senate. Roll Call estimates he has some $300,000 in assets and $400,000 in liabilities, which would mean he has a negative net worth of $100,000.

The Business Titans

Donald Trump

President Donald Trump
Al Drago | Reuters
President Donald Trump

Aside from his advantage as the incumbent, Trump still enjoys a substantial financial edge over his potential rivals in a 2020 re-election bid.

His net worth is something of a controversial mystery; his tax return remains undisclosed and the annual ethics filing he is required to file offers only a vague accounting of the value of his far-flung assets. Forbes has estimated his net worth at $4.5 billion.

As his party's standard bearer, he also enjoys a substantial fundraising advantage. In the 2016 election cycle, he raised $408 million, according to CRP, and has about $10.7 million in cash on hand.

Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban
Steve Jennings | Getty Images
Mark Cuban

Billionare businessman and Dallas Mavericks owner Cuban hasn't been shy about his presidential ambitions.

On Monday, Cuban told the New York Times in an email that he hasn't ruled out a presidential bid.

"Based off what's happening in the White House, based off what's happening in the country and the world, we need better leadership. And I think I could do a better job," he told CNBC in October.

If he does run, he won't have trouble bankrolling his own campaign. Forbes has estimated his net worth at $3.7 billion.

Jamie Dimon

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase
David A. Grogan | CNBC
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase

The CEO of J.P. Morgan Chase, one of the largest U.S. banks, is a former board member of the New York Fed but hasn't run for public office. Still, that hasn't deterred Dimon from daydreaming about working in the Oval Office

"I would love to be president of the United States of America, OK?" he told the Economic Club of New York in September 2016. "Until Donald Trump got to where he was, they said you'll never see a rich businessman who's never been in politics be president."

Dimon wouldn't have to worry about financing his campaign if he decides to run. Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.6 billion.

Bob Iger

CEO of the Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger
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CEO of the Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger

While Iger is among the highest-paid CEOs in the country, the Disney chief doesn't make the Forbes billionaires list.

Last year, Iger had confirmed his plans to leave the company in mid-2019, sparking speculation by media outlets that he could be considering a presidential bid.

But those presidential ambitions could be sidelined if Disney prevails in a possible bidding war with Comcast for parts of 21st Century Fox, CNBC has reported. (CNBC's parent company, NBC Universal, is owned by Comcast.)

Howard Schultz

Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks

Starbucks' outgoing executive chairman said this week that he has been considering "for some time" ways in which he could give back to the country once he's stepped away from the company.

"One of the things I want to do in my next chapter is to figure out if there is a role I can play in giving back," Schultz said. "I'm not exactly sure what that means yet."

Yale's Sonnenfeld said that likely involves the 2020 presidential election. "I would say he's running," Sonnenfeld told CNBC.

Schultz would have no trouble financing a White House bid. Forbes estimates his net worth at $2.8 billion.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey accepts the 2018 Cecil B. DeMille Award speaks onstage during the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California.
NBC
Oprah Winfrey accepts the 2018 Cecil B. DeMille Award speaks onstage during the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California.

If Trump's presidency has demonstrated that wealth, celebrity and business assets alone are sufficient for a successful run for the White House, media mogul Winfrey would seem eminently qualified.

After an impassioned speech at the Golden Globe Awards in January, the hashtag #Oprah2020 went viral on social media.

But Winfrey has sought to quell the rumors.

"It's not something that interests me," Winfrey said in a magazine interview. "I don't have the DNA for it."

If she changes her mind, she could help finance a campaign with some of her estimated net worth of $3.1 billion, according to Forbes estimates.

WATCH: Will Howard Schultz run for president? Experts weigh in