When it comes to money, many of us are behind in ways to provide passive income strategies for our families. Particularly, something that many of us in the culture don't do enough of, is investing. It's simple, to the point, a way to make sure your family is comfortable without putting much effort into doing so.
Well, the celebrities of today does lots of it. In fact, many of their careers take a backseat to the opportunities they have to build their portfolios and create generational wealth for years to come. Now, celebs do more than just sing, act, play a sport, or secure a few little endorsement deals. Additionally, now, they push the limits on those contracts, or with building that business, or capitalizing on their brands. And I ain't mad at them. In fact, I celebrate and welcome them. So, join me as we do just that.
Here's a list of the leading Black celebrity investors in the world:
Note: Data is complied from money.co.uk. They were surveyed on five factors: net worth, number of investments (personal and partner investments), highest investment sum, estimated total amount of funding and average investment sum.
Jay Z + Beyonce
Rapper turned billionaire entrepreneur, a.k.a. Jay Z, obviously topped the list as the celebrity with the most investments. He has made stacks from his album sales and tours, sure, but most of his coins come from his business moves, which include music, tech, art, and luxury alcohol brands. Jay is very well aware of his influence and uses it to his advantage. Buying art for a small(ish) price, rapping about said artist in multiple songs to increase the value, and sitting back and watching it collect prestige, is what he does. And now, the rest of his portfolio, according to money.co.uk, has at least 11 personal and partner investments with a total investment sum of $983M--tech and champagne being his biggest investment areas.
This means that the once kid from Marcy projects, is now worth a cool $1.2 billion.
As far as Bey, she recently announced that she was investing in a hemp farm to obtain her own CBD. She also has a partnership with Adidas, as well as many upcoming business ventures on the way (you know she doesn't give too much away until she's ready).
Oprah
Up next is Oprah Winfrey--also a billionaire, but that has found huge success in media with a career that spans well over 20 years. From here, she pivoted her talk show into a business, and her brand into an empire.
Oprah has a 25.5% stake in her created cable channel OWN. She also has a 10% stake in Weight Watchers. Her other investments includes Maven clinic, Oatly, Apeel Sciences, True Food Kitchen and Waywire.
Dr. Dre
The one and only Compton doctor, Dr. Dre came in next. Dr. Dre is the epitome of what a music producer is and has held this title in a way that no other has. His entrepreneurial journey began in 1996 when he created The Aftermath, shortly after leaving Death Row records that March. And as we all know, he eventually founded Beats by Dre, and sold it to Apple for $3 billion. He still has 20% stake in the company. #whew
Serena Williams
The greatest athlete of all time, Ms. Serena Williams, through her Serena Ventures, has invested in 34 startups over the past five years, with 60% of the investments focused on companies founded by women and minorities. OK, I'm going to say that again: The greatest athlete of all time, Ms. Serena Williams, through her Serena Ventures, has invested in 34 startups over the past five years, with 60% of the investments focused on companies founded by women and minorities.
She launched a self-funded, direct-to-consumer clothing line, S by Serena, in 2018. She also owns stakes in the NFL's Miami Dolphins and Dana White's UFC. Flex on the people, sis!
Will.i.am
Williams Adams, a.k.a. the brainchild of popular eclectic group, Black Eyed Peas, is quite the entrepreneur. He invested in (and acquired) a $4.6 million stake in app-only bank Atom in 2017, and he has also dabbled in tech in the last few years, putting his money in startups such as the app 'Knock Knock', and he's even launched his own line of headphones.
Will.i.am is even international with his investments, as he's invested £5m ($6m) in Music Messenger's Series A round, followed by a further investment of £5m in Shellanoo Group and £3m investment in Honest Dollar.
Nas
Nasir Jones has quietly established himself as one of the most prolific investors in the world. In April, Yahoo News reported that he could be $100 million richer following his 2013 investment in Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange expected to reach over $100 billion in valuation once going public. He's also the founder of QueensBridge Venture Partners, which has reportedly invested in more than 40 start-ups across a range of sectors like financial technology, health care, and music production.
Additionally, Nas has invested in Lyft, Dropbox, Tradesy, and LANDR, a start-up that uses big data and artificial intelligence to produce music.
Will Smith
According to Crunchbase, Will Smith has made 21 investments across multiple industries. He has invested in companies such as Superhuman, Titan, Sundae, Sandbox VR, Flockjay among others. He also happens to have one of the best pages on the 'gram.
Rihanna
We're never going to get anymore music from Rihanna with the way she collects the bag elsewhere. Sis is making billions from her side hustles! Rihanna is the richest female musician in the world with a net worth of $1.7 billion. Her investment portfolio includes a 50% stake in Fenty Beauty which accounts for $1.4 billion of her worth. The rest of her worth comes from her stake in her lingerie company, Savage x Fenty, worth an estimated $270 million, and her earnings from music and acting. She's even venturing into the perfume business, because, why not?
50 Cent
Outside of music, 50 Cent famously invested in Vitamin Water, which was sold to Coca-Cola for $4.1 billion. His other ventures include footwear, headphones, Casper mattresses, Le Chemin du Roi Champagne and Branson Cognac.
Tyra Banks
Tyra has been lowkey these days, but that doesn't mean that sis hasn't been quietly getting those coins too! We know her as an actress, author, television personality, supermodel, and founder of TZONE. But she's also an investor in TheSkimm, Videogram, The Muse and Shop Tap Industries.
Featured image by Amy Sussman/Getty Images for ABA
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Catch We Got Time Today now streaming on Tubi!
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