It was more than a simple professional milestone when Robyn Rihanna Fenty crossed the billionaire mark in 2021. With Fenty Beauty valued at around $2.8 billion at that time and Savage X Fenty making waves in lingerie, she became the first female musical artist to turn cultural influence into a beauty empire of that size.
The achievement set a precedent – and a new goal – for other stars whose influence and impact go beyond the stage and screen. It is a path also charted by celebrities like Kim Kardashian, herself a billionaire, and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter – who, after nearly two decades at the top of the music charts, has crafted her own modern blueprint toward billionaire status by positioning herself among the wealthiest performers in the music industry’s history.
Others are beginning to follow this path, to varying success. Performer Selena Gomez has been able to add the “B word” into her sphere, thanks in part to a single cosmetic brand – Rare Beauty – launched five years ago and now valued at approximately $2 billion. Hailey Rhode Bieber has similarly joined that conversation after her three-year-old beauty brand, Rhode, sold for $1 billion this year.
To be clear, celebrities have always endorsed brands, with some developing their own product lines.
“If you think of someone like Elizabeth Taylor, she had her perfume. So, this isn’t new,” said Stephanie Mattera, professor of integrated marketing and communications at New York University and lifestyle expert. “What makes this more exponentially influential is the fact they have social media leverage that drives sales and awareness.”
Knowles-Carter and husband Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, combined worth about $3.6 billion, rank No. 25 on the Business Journal’s Wealthiest Angelenos list. Kardashian, with a net worth at $1.7 billion, checks in at No. 48. Fenty caps the top 50 wealthiest in the county, with a $1.3 billion valuation.
And while there are more celebrities attaining billionaire status nowadays, being a celebrity is not the only part of the equation.
“The billionaire valuation comes with a culture-shaping business that has many moving parts,” said Miri Rossitto, founder and chief executive of Calabasas-based marketing and brand development COWE Communications.
Rossitto noted that, in the case of Knowles-Carter and Gomez, their routes illustrate two different paths to building wealth across generations: the intentional effort to accumulate assets over many years and the rapid emergence of a single breakout brand.
But overall, “you can see (these two women) setting up these legacy brands that aren’t rooted in retail and cash grabs. They are telling stories and building momentum around culture, family and legacy,” she said. “(Their success) has deep meaning and roots.”
The net worth of Knowles-Carter and Jay-Z reflects their music catalog – which they own outright – as well as touring income, investments, and stakes across various industries. Also, the couple owns a massive, eclectic art collection, featuring iconic contemporary artists like Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as emerging Black visual artists like Hebru Brantley.
Yet she truly standts on her own success, amassing a net worth of around $800 million. In the last two years, she embarked on two major tours – the 2023 “Renaissance World Tour” which grossed nearly $580 million, and she followed that with this year’s “Cowboy Carter” tour, which brought in $408 million. Her rise as a businesswoman has taken decades, starting with the launch of Parkwood Entertainment in 2008 (originally known as Parkwood Productions). Parkwood, named after the street Knowles-Carter once lived on as a child, grew into an umbrella company within its first two years, managing her entire music catalog including her time with Destiny’s Child.
Under this production house, she has starred in and produced two major films – the musical biopic “Cadillac Records” (2008) and “Obsessed” (2009). She has also developed her visual albums and concert films.
And her business ventures extend beyond music. In the past year, she has launched three new product lines: her whiskey brand SirDavis (under LVMH), a perfume called Cé Lumière, and the hair care collection Cécred. That’s in addition to her athleisure clothing line Ivy Park, introduced in 2016.
“(Beyoncé) is building multiple engines of wealth that will run for decades,” Rossitto said. And “she’s not interested in anything fast either.”
Gomez has built a lucrative career as a singer and actress, currently starring in the hit TV show “Only Murders in the Building,” through which she earns about $6 million per season, according to Bloomberg News. She also has other major investments and endorsements.
Still, there’s Rare Beauty.
Gomez debuted the company with a simple video post on her personal social media pages showing behind-the-scenes footage of her trying on lipsticks, reviewing color palettes and working with her team on the new cosmetic line.
“Being rare is about being comfortable,” she told her followers.
In less than an hour, she received more than 1 million views. The line of lipsticks, foundations and eye makeup was sold directly through the company website and at Sephora stores in North America.
Since then, it has become one of the fastest-growing companies in the beauty industry. To increase its brand awareness, Rare Beauty partnered with content creators and social media influencers to promote their message of redefining beauty standards, encouraging self-acceptance, and raising mental health awareness.
Mattera said that this highlights Gomez’s authenticity in her branding and how she communicates what her brand represents.
Matte Powder Blush.
Yet Gomez’s billionaire status, as declared by Bloomberg a year ago, may have been short-lived. Forbes reported this spring that Gomez’s struggling mental health startup, Wondermind, had dragged her valuation down to about $700 million. Bloomberg still estimates her gross income at $1.4 billion.
At the October 2024 premiere of her film “Emilia Perez,” Gomez told Entertainment Tonight that she was “very grateful” for her company’s growth and her overall success. “But I really give all the credit to the people who buy the products … they’re the ones that made this dream of mine come true, so I’m really, really honored and just happy.”
Yet she also quipped, “I personally think it’s distasteful to talk about money.”
Such controversy swirled around social media influencer Kylie Jenner in 2020, leading Forbes to revoke their initial declaration that year. The magazine accused the reality TV star of inflating her income from Kylie Cosmetics, the beauty company she launched in 2016. The truth emerged when she sold 51% of her brand to Coty Inc. in a deal valued at $1.2 billion in January; however, Coty’s public filings revealed her company was much smaller.
When building these new companies or business ventures, it involves a mix of investments from various sources – be it an angel investor, private equity firm or even a venture capitalist – to develop and scale the business, Mattera said.
“These celebrities are certainly not putting up their fortunes,” she said. “They’re maybe putting a percentage of their funds in and maybe giving a minority interest in the company to some of their angel investors.”
With that in mind, the question becomes who is really a billionaire – and who’s not?
“It’s not a full-blown crisis but it definitely questions the credibility of the information and the credibility of what their net worth is,” Mattera said.
Jenner’s net worth is estimated at around $700 million, according to Forbes. It also positions her to be part of the next wave of newcomers on the scene. Others on the path toward billionaire status include model and entrepreneur Rhode Bieber, who recently sold her lifestyle and beauty line Rhode for $1 billion to E.l.f. Beauty in June.
Rhode claimed that she had more than doubled her customer base over the past year and earned $212 million in net sales for the 12 months ending March 31. Just over a month ago, Rhode announced that its lineup of beauty products would be sold at Sephora stores nationwide and in Canada, following in the footsteps of Rare Beauty and Fenty Beauty. The Beverly Hills-based Rhode, which sold its products exclusively through its website for years, also plans to sell at Sephora stores in the United Kingdom later this year.
“My goal since day one has been to bring Rhode to as many people as possible, however they prefer to shop,” Rhode Bieber said in the statement. “Sephora, with its global footprint, was the perfect partner to help bring my vision to life.”
Social media buzz contributed to Rhode’s rapid growth. While she is married to pop star Justin Bieber and is the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin, she has over 55 million followers on Instagram and more than 15 million on TikTok. Still, her net worth is just $300 million, according to Forbes.
“These things take time,” said Rossitto.
