Stars on the World's Billionaires List 2024

August 6, 2024, 11:53 am EDT

In October 2023, Taylor Swift accomplished a feat no other musician has ever done: becoming a billionaire based solely on her music and performance earnings. Three months later, TV mogul Dick Wolf was also named a billionaire by Forbes, thanks in large part to his TV shows Law & Order and the FBI, the latter of which has netted him an estimated $1.9 billion (pre-tax) in career earnings.

The two entertainers bring added celebrity to the Forbes list of the world's billionaires. The number of celebrities on the list has surged in recent years. As artists have set up their own brands to cash in on their fame, 10 of the 14 top-tier stars on this year's list have become billionaires in the past four years.

Most of those on this list earned their billions through entrepreneurship and business ventures outside the realm of fame. Pop star Rihanna, for example, made her fortune largely from her holdings in two multibillion-dollar companies, Fenty Beauty, a makeup brand that is a joint venture with luxury goods giant Louis Vuitton Group (LVMH), and Savage X Fenty, a lingerie maker.

Jay-Z also became hip-hop's first billionaire with his holdings in two liquor companies, D'Usse Cognac and Armand de Brignac Champagne. Although he has sold 50% of the latter to LVMH, he also holds shares in Uber and Block, as well as other investments. Michael Jordan has earned less than $100 million in basketball career earnings, but has reaped the rewards of his partnership with Nike. His biggest payday came last August, when he sold his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets at a sky-high valuation of $3 billion.

Here are the 14 sports and cultural celebrities on this year's Global Richest List, in order of net wealth - theirs turned their fame into fortune, totaling $31 billion. (Wealth statistics are as of March 8, 2024.)

George Lucas

Net worth: $5.5 billion｜Age: 79｜Nationality: American

The "Star Wars" director made his debut on the list of the world's billionaires in 1997. He is this year's richest celebrity thanks in large part to his production company Lucas Film, which he sold to Disney in 2012 for more than $4 billion in cash and stock.

Steven Spielberg

Net wealth: $4.8 billion｜Age: 77｜Nationality: American

Spielberg made his debut on the list in 1994, the first director to make it to the list of the world's richest people, after making a string of hit movies including Jaws, Jurassic Park and Schindler's List. He told Forbes back then, "I can say I'm a gambler because I haven't had a paycheck in almost 10 years." However, he negotiated a portion of the grosses of the movies he directed, and on top of that, through the Raiders of the Lost Ark franchise, he was able to get a piece of every ticket sold at Universal theme parks.

Michael Jordan

Net Worth: $3.2 billion｜Age: 61｜Nationality: American

Jordan became the world's first billionaire athlete in 2015, but his wealth didn't come from his storied basketball career or gambling income. Instead, Jordan has earned more than $1.8 billion from brand partnerships, most notably Nike's Jordan brand.In 2010, he also made a very smart investment, purchasing the NBA's Charlotte Hornets for $175 million, which he later sold in August 2023 for $3 billion.

Oprah Winfrey

Net worth: $2.8 billion｜Age: 70｜Nationality: American

The daytime talk show host became the first black female billionaire in 2003. In the years that followed, she built her brand into a media and business empire, including investing in real estate and starting her own production company. Shortly after Winfrey revealed that she started taking diet pills, the longtime WeightWatchers board member and major shareholder announced plans to step down from the WeightWatchers board.

Jay-Z

Net Worth: $2.5 billion｜Age: 54｜Nationality: American

Hip-hop's first billionaire sold a 50 percent stake in his champagne brand Armand de Brignac to luxury goods giant LVMH for at least $300 million in 2021 and a majority stake in his cognac brand D'Usse to Bacardi for $750 million in 2023. He also owns shares in Uber and Block. His fortune does not include the $500 million fortune of his wife, Beyoncé.

Kim Kardashian

Net Worth: $1.7 billion｜Age: 43｜Nationality: American

No one has profited more from reality TV star fame than Kim Kardashian: she became a billionaire with her beauty and clothing brands. Her shapewear brand Skims was valued at $4 billion in a 2023 funding round, and she also sold a 20 percent stake in KKW Beauty makeup company to Coty in 2020 for $200 million. since then, she's shuttered the brand.

Peter Jackson

Net Worth: $1.5 billion｜Age: 62｜Nationality: New Zealand

The creative director behind The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film franchises, much of Jackson's wealth comes from his visual effects company, Weta Digital, which sold some of its assets to game maker Unity Software in 2021. the deal brought the New Zealand director nearly $1 billion in cash and stock.

Tyler Perry

Net Worth: $1.4 billion｜Age: 54｜Nationality: American

In a three-decade-long acting career, Perry earned more than a billion dollars before taxes by creating and performing in TV shows, movies and stage plays. He lent Prince Harry and Meghan Markle one of his homes in Los Angeles when they resigned as senior members of the British royal family.

Rihanna

Net Worth: $1.4 billion｜Age: 36｜Nationality: Barbados

The pop star owns two multibillion-dollar brands: cosmetics company Fenty Beauty, which she shares with luxury goods giant LVMH, and lingerie company Savage X Fenty, both of which are named after the Barbados-born singer because her real name is Robyn Fenty.

"Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods

Net Worth: $1.3 billion｜Age: 48｜Nationality: American

"Tiger Woods, along with LeBron James, is one of only two athletes to become a billionaire before retiring from sports. But it was his fame that was the most important factor in making him a ten-figure millionaire. The five-time Masters champion earned more than $1.7 billion during his career, most of which came from endorsements. His most famous brand partnership was a nearly three-decade endorsement relationship with Nike, which ended not long ago this past January. Woods then quickly announced the launch of his own clothing brand, Sun Day Red.

LeBron James

Net Worth: $1.2 billion｜Age: 39 ｜Nationality: American

Over the course of his two-decade career, the basketball superstar has earned a combined on-court and off-court income of more than $1 billion. He has used this money to invest in real estate, take a stake in businesses such as Blaze Pizza, start his own production and entertainment company SpringHill, and, of course, invest in sports. James owns shares of Fenway Sports Group, which owns the MLB Boston Red Sox, Liverpool Football Club and the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins.

Magic Johnson

Net Worth: $1.2 billion｜Age: 64｜Nationality: American

Johnson became famous because of basketball, but at the time of his rise to fame, the basketball world was not characterized by the crazy high salaries and endorsement contracts that exist today. Instead, he amassed his wealth through business, especially through partnerships with other billionaires. He owns the NFL's Washington Commanders (with Justin Harris), Major League Baseball's (MLB) Los Angeles Dodgers (with Todd Boehly), the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks, and Major League Soccer's (MLS) Los Angeles Football Football Club (LAFC) in Major League Soccer (MLS). Most of his wealth came from his holdings in EquiTrust, an Iowa life insurance company.

Dick Wolf

Net Worth: $1.2 billion｜Age: 77｜Nationality: American

The mastermind behind several of the highest-rated crime shows in television history (such as Law & Order and The FBI), Wolf made his debut on the billionaires' list this year, thanks to nearly $2 billion in pre-tax income from his 30-year career in television production.

Taylor Swift

Net wealth: $1.1 billion｜Age: 34｜Nationality: American

The "Miss America's Sweetheart" (from a Taylor Swift documentary) became a billionaire last October, capping off one of her most culturally influential years ever. Forbes estimated that Taylor earned about $190 million after taxes from her historic Eras Tour, helping the country and pop singer enter the "Billion Dollar Club" -- and she was the first singer to become a billionaire in just one year. -- and she's the first person to do so based on songwriting and performance alone.

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