Morris is the founder and owner of Bass Pro Shops, a chain of fishing, hunting and outdoor sporting goods stores. The Springfield, Missouri-based company has locations across the U.S. and Canada and generates about $7.5 billion in annual sales. Its stores incorporate restaurants, bowling alleys and aquariums.
The majority of Morris's wealth is in his ownership of Bass Pro, a chain of fishing, hunting and outdoor sporting goods stores.
Morris owns all of the company, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, court documents and analyst statements. He paid $222 million in 2007 to buy back a 13% stake that had been held by Gaylord Entertainment, giving the entire company a $1.7 billion valuation when it had 35 stores. Private equity firm J.W. Childs Associates sold another 28.5% stake back to Morris for an undisclosed amount.
Bass Pro had about $7.5 billion in sales in 2024, according to an August 2025 Moody's report. It's valued using the enterprise value-to-Ebitda multiple of peer Dick's Sporting Goods.
Multiple foundations funded by Morris, including the Johnny Morris Foundation, Johnny Morris' Ozarks Heritage Preserve and the Johnny Morris Wonders of Wildlife Foundation, had more than $550 million in combined assets at the end of 2023, according to their most recent tax returns as of August 2025. The foundations' assets aren't included in Morris' net worth.
John "Johnny" Morris was born and raised in Springfield, Missouri, where he grew up fishing in the Ozarks with his father before attending Drury University. After graduating in 1970, Morris got the idea to sell fishing tackle in his dad's Brown Derby liquor store when the local discount store wouldn't stock the lures and other items he needed to compete on the professional bass fishing circuit. He stocked up a U-Haul with $10,000 worth of gear, then opened an eight-foot "Bass Pro Shop" inside the liquor store in 1971.
Morris published his first mail-order catalog in 1974 to help fishermen who wanted to restock their tackle boxes when they returned home. He continued to operate out of his dad's liquor store for a decade until the building that had housed the department store that wouldn't stock his gear came on the market. He didn't know what to do with all of the 80,000 square feet in the building until a visit to the Freeport, Maine, headquarters store of L.L. Bean inspired him.
That led to the installation of everything from aquariums and mounted trophy collections, to restaurants and bowling alleys. Morris's other inspiration came in 1978 with his "Bass Tracker" brand of the first fully rigged, ready-to-fish aluminum boats, complete with motors and trailers. His Tracker Marine Group owns brands that include Nitro, SunTracker pontoons, Tahoe, and Mako saltwater boats.
In 2017, the Bass Pro Group completed the acquisition of rival fishing outfitter Cabela's for $5 billion.