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CNBC: Rihanna is now worth $1.4 billion–making her America’s youngest self-made billionaire woman

Saucycarpdog

Saucycarpdog

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Oct 25, 2017
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www.cnbc.com

Rihanna is now worth $1.4 billion–making her America’s youngest self-made billionaire woman

The singer and philanthropist ranked 21st on Forbes' annual list of America's richest self-made women, due largely to her multiple entrepreneurial ventures.
www.cnbc.com www.cnbc.com
The youngest self-made billionaire woman in the U.S. didn't grow up in a Manhattan high rise or the Hollywood Hills. Instead, Rihanna amassed her fortune from her own music and entrepreneurial ventures.

Recently, the 34-year-old singer and Fenty Beauty CEO graced Forbes' annual list of America's richest self-made women for the third year in a row. She ranked 21st overall, and is the list's only billionaire under age 40. Some of Rihanna's $1.4 billion net worth is from her successful music career. Most of it is from her three retail companies: Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin and Savage X Fenty.

In March, Bloomberg reported Savage X Fenty lingerie was working with advisors on an IPO that could potentially be valued at $3 billion. Rihanna owns 30% of that company. She also owns half of Fenty Beauty, which generated $550 million in revenue in 2020. The other half of the company is owned by French luxury fashion conglomerate LVMH.

In 2012, Rihanna started a philanthropy fund, the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF). It aims to "support and fund groundbreaking education and climate resilience initiatives," according to its website.

One of its first initiatives, which launched a year after the foundation began, raised $60 million for women and children affected by HIV/AIDS through sales from the singer's lipstick line with MAC Cosmetics. And in January, CLF paired up with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's #SmartSmall initiative to donate a combined $15 million to 18 different climate justice groups.
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bremon

bremon

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Oct 27, 2017
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Good on her for getting that cash, but "self-made" turns me into George Costanza yelling "we live in a society!". Nobody gets to the top on their own.

That said… I'm very happy to see that a) the rich fuckers' club is starting to look a touch less old and white, and b) that she seems to be doing a lot of good with her wealth. Marta Kauffman should note that she didn't name the philanthropy after herself either (Wikipedia tells me Lionel and Clara are her grandparents).
 
Slayven

Slayven

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Oct 25, 2017
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Before the thread fulls up with "All billionares are bad" ignoring that this is about a woman of color from a small island founded to be a slavery plantation. I just want to say good on her.
 
Royalan

Royalan

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Oct 24, 2017
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Slayven said:
Before the thread fulls up with "All billionares are bad" ignoring that this is about a woman of color from a small island founded to be a slavery plantation. I just want to say good on her.
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Same.

Also, we're never getting that album now. 😭
 
Lotus

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Oct 25, 2017
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Just wild how she can be most known as a singer, and was already making huge bank from that, but then you see the main reason by far she got to that billionaire status is through stuff like her makeup line
 
Royalan

Royalan

Hey there, Summerboy. Let’s go for a drive.
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Oct 24, 2017
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JuicyPlayer said:
She put her name on cheap makeup and made a killing.
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Nah.

You can say what you want about Rihanna, but her makeup line had a legit impact on the beauty industry.

Fenty Beauty normalized inclusive shade ranges. Before Fenty very few lines prioritized foundation tones for dark and deep-dark skin complexions.

Like, she really did that.
 
Arta

Arta

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Oct 27, 2017
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She actually one of the few billionaires that actually was poor and is using her status to benefit people of colour in her makeup industry. Being poor in a Caribbean island is a whole other kettle of fish from in the Stated. Props to her.
 
GoldenEye 007

GoldenEye 007

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And to break into the beauty industry is incredibly difficult. All because established brands treated any sort of skin color as an afterthought.
 
Strike

Strike

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Oct 25, 2017
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I ain't even mad. Still remember when she was just a 16-year-old just starting out back in the Pon de Replay days.. It's wild to look back on that to see just how far she's come.
Slayven said:
Before the thread fulls up with "All billionares are bad" ignoring that this is about a woman of color from a small island founded to be a slavery plantation. I just want to say good on her.
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Way bigger fish to fry. She hasn't fucked up yet, so she ain't on that list.
 
Arta

Arta

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Being from the Caribbean, I don't think people understand how big a deal it is that she is heralding women of colour having self esteem with their natural colour and size.

Compare her to Jack Warner, who became as corrupt as the elite he joined.

She actually did work towards uplifting her community instead of flying to space or some shit.
 
Royalan

Royalan

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Oct 24, 2017
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Arta said:
Being from the Caribbean, I don't think people understand how big a deal it is that she is heralding women of colour having self esteem with their natural colour and size.

She actually did work towards uplifting her community instead of flying to space or some shit.
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Listen...

The way Rihanna loves on Barbados?
 
Dr. Nothing Loud

Dr. Nothing Loud

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Oct 25, 2017
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RastaMentality said:
Her brand was waaaay more involved than any celebrity branded fashion stuff in the last 40 years. The makeup industry is STILL catching up to what Fenty did in getting every single shade into stores.

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👏👏👏

They absolutely got it. Rihanna capitalized on a market other people had ignored because systemic racism. Let her get her change. It's about time a woman of color makes it into the billionaire's club. Clearly that club isn't going anywhere so at least make it more inclusive and have some composition made of people who helped people worldwide.
 
Hoa

Hoa

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Jun 6, 2018
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The term "self-made" it just stupid, no human now has self-made success.

But it's still a crazy accomplishment, congrats to her.
 
Royalan

Royalan

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Oct 24, 2017
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This is the first Fenty Beauty ad:



Like, if you don't realize how transformative this was for the industry at the time...

Give that Black girl her coins.
 

Deleted member 10560

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Oct 27, 2017
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Maybe I'm wrong but "self-made" always meant to me to not be born into wealth. Little F'd up this is what a couple people are focusing on here.
 
Hoa

Hoa

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LuvOfThaGame said:
Maybe I'm wrong but "self-made" always meant to me to not be born into wealth. Little F'd up this is what a couple people are focusing on here.
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Not fucked up at all. It's always coupled with that bullshit bootstraps talk too. We need to move away from that shit, tons of people involved and overlooked in someone's success. But this a personal pet peeve I've voiced a few times here 😂

Either way It's good to see more black folks who aren't doing shitty things (or at least too many shitty things, we are human) find success in this world. She is probably one of the best examples of it.
 
Sean C.

Sean C.

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Oct 27, 2017
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Hoa said:
It's always coupled with that bullshit bootstraps talk too.
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Not always, by any means.

There is a meaningful distinction between someone who inherited wealth and someone who became rich via their own initiatives, which "self-made" captures aptly enough.

By all means in cases where people want to say nobody else had any role in their success or argue against community, push back against that. But the reflexiveness with which some people react to that phrase is responding to an argument that most people do not make.
 
lorddarkflare

lorddarkflare

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Oct 25, 2017
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Slayven said:
Before the thread fulls up with "All billionares are bad" ignoring that this is about a woman of color from a small island founded to be a slavery plantation. I just want to say good on her.
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All billionaires are bad though.

But that is not reflective of her as a person though. I say get that paper. We eat her last.

LuvOfThaGame said:
Maybe I'm wrong but "self-made" always meant to me to not be born into wealth. Little F'd up this is what a couple people are focusing on here.
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I can mean that. And should.

But the label is often applied to insanely privileged folks trying to gaslight a rags-to-riches narrative into existence.
 

Mau

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,247
The odds for someone like Rihanna (black caribbean woman) to become a billionaire are infinitely small. If anybody can claim dibs on the term "self made" is probably her.

Kinda bummed she halted her music career though. Even 6 years after she last dropped an album she's still consistently inside the top top most streamed female artists. None of her peers are on that level - whenever she decides to return it will be an event.
 
Royalan

Royalan

Hey there, Summerboy. Let’s go for a drive.
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Oct 24, 2017
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Mau said:
The odds for someone like Rihanna (black caribbean woman) to become a billionaire are infinitely small. If anybody can claim dibs on the term "self made" is probably her.

Kinda bummed she halted her music career though. Even 6 years after she last dropped an album she's still consistently inside the top top most streamed female artists. None of her peers are on that level - whenever she decides to return it will be an event.
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Hey friend
 
Autumn

Autumn

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Apr 1, 2018
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Nothing Loud said:
👏👏👏

They absolutely got it. Rihanna capitalized on a market other people had ignored because systemic racism. Let her get her change. It's about time a woman of color makes it into the billionaire's club. Clearly that club isn't going anywhere so at least make it more inclusive and have some composition made of people who helped people worldwide.
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Or you can argue it probably hurts smaller black-owned brands that didn't have the backing of a massive French conglomerate.
 
Soundscream

Soundscream

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Nov 2, 2017
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IneptEMP said:
All billionaires are bad and it is literally irrelevant where they came from.
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rihanna-wtf.gif
 
Seneset

Seneset

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Oct 27, 2017
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Slayven said:
She changed the makeup and fashion industries. She put models of ALL SIZES on, and made makeup directly for folks of color.
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She was just in the place to get popular and noticed while doing so. There have been plenty of smaller brands before her that never got the chance to shine. Still, I'm just glad someone finally broke through.
 
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