Business Ventures Have Made Rihanna a Billionaire

Barbados-born star Rihanna now has a fortune bigger than the economies of some of her homeland's Caribbean neighbors. Forbes reports that the 33-year-old is now officially a billionaire—and the world's richest female musician—with an estimated net worth of $1.7 billion. But while she has had plenty of chart-topping hits, the vast bulk of her wealth comes from her business ventures, especially Fenty Beauty, which she launched in 2017. Her 50% stake in the company is worth an estimated $1.4 billion. Her stake in the Savage x Fenty lingerie line, which made its debut in 2018, is worth another $270 million.

Both brands got their name from the star's full name, Robyn Rihanna Fenty, CBS notes. The beauty line got a boost from Rihanna's big presence on social media—she has more than 100 million followers on both Instagram and Twitter—and its focus on inclusivity, with more than 50 shades of foundation. "A lot of women felt there were no lines out there that catered to their skin tone. It was light, medium, medium dark, dark," Shannon Coyne at consultancy Bluestock Advisors tells Forbes. "We all know that’s not reality. She was one of the first brands that came out and said, 'I want to speak to all of those different people.'" (More Rihanna stories.)