Forbes has now crowned Rihanna (real name: Robin Fenty) the youngest self-made billionaire, confirming once and for all that bitches did indeed have her money.
From humble beginnings in Saint Michael, Barbados to the headquarters of LVMH, the nine-time Grammy Award winner has amassed a three-comma fortune at just 34 years of age thanks to her best-selling Fenty brands — one of which is co-owned by Bernard Arnault’s powerhouse luxury conglomerate:
- Fenty (Fashion House)
While the high-fashion line didn’t progress as well as she or LVMH had hoped, halting operations around the same time Savage x Fenty took off, there was still some coin to be seen here. - Fenty Beauty (Cosmetics)
Fenty Beauty generated over US$550 million / AU$805 million worth of revenue back in 2020 with a total valuation of approximately US$2.8 billion / AU$4.1 billion. 50% of the entire business belongs to Rihanna. The other 50% belongs to LVMH via Kendo. - Fenty Skin (Skin Care)
Fenty Skin was launched to supplement Fenty Beauty. - Savage x Fenty (Lingerie)
Savage x Fenty achieved a total valuation of US$1 billion / AU$1.46 billion back in early 2021. This year, Bloomberg indicated an IPO was on the horizon which could potentially revise this figure to US$3 billion / AU$4.4 billion. 30% belongs to Rihanna.
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So what’s it all for? Aside from giving her an excuse not to drop the album a la Frank Ocean.
“My money is not for me, it’s always the thought that I can help someone else,” Rihanna has previously explained.
“The world can really make you believe that the wrong things are a priority and it makes you really miss the core of life, what it means to be alive.”
In 2012, Rihanna established a philanthropy fund known as the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF). According to its mission statement, the CLF’s objective is to “support and fund groundbreaking education and climate resilience initiatives.”
One of its first initiatives raised US$60 million / AU$88 million for women and children impacted by HIV/AIDS through sales from her lipstick collaboration with MAC Cosmetics. More recently, the CLF teamed up with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s #SmartSmall initiative to distribute US$15 million / AU$22 million across 18 different climate justice groups.
With a considerable net worth of US$1.4 billion / AU$2 billion, Rihanna has effectively dwarfed the likes of Bumble Founder & CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd (32 years old | US$740 million / AU$1 billion), fellow chart-topper Taylor Swift (32 years old | US$570 million / AU$834.6 million), and Kylie Jenner (24 years old | US$600 million / AU$878.5 million); the latter of whom you may recall was stripped of the youngest self-made billionaire woman by Forbes almost immediately after receiving it.
Check out the Forbes rankings here.
