Rihanna has officially been named a billionaire by Forbes, reaching the milestone thanks to her successful business ventures including cosmetics company Fenty Beauty and lingerie line Savage x Fenty. Rihanna has an estimated worth of $1.7 billion, an estimated $1.4 billion of which comes from Fenty Beauty. In addition to her billionaire status, the 33-year-old has been named the world’s richest female musician and second to Oprah Winfrey as the world’s richest female entertainer.
Rihanna, real name Robyn Fenty, launched Fenty Beauty in 2017, which instantly made headlines for featuring 50 foundation shades catering to all skin tones. “A lot of women felt there were no lines out there that catered to their skin tone. It was light, medium, medium dark, dark,” said Shannon Coyne, cofounder of consumer products consultancy Bluestock Advisors. “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.’”
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The brand, a 50-50 joint venture with French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, quickly grew, and by its first full calendar year in 2018, it was bringing in more than $550 million in annual revenues, according to LVMH. In 2020, Rihanna launched Fenty Skin, which recently debuted its latest product, Fenty Parfum. Fenty Beauty is now worth a conservative $2.8 billion, and in its annual report for 2020, LVMH said Fenty Skin was off to a “very promising start” and “generated unprecedented buzz,” and that Fenty Beauty “maintained its appeal as a premier make up brand.”
Savage x Fenty is worth an estimated $270 million, and that business, combined with Rihanna’s earnings from her career as a musician and actress, makes up the majority of the rest of her large fortune. LVMH and Rihanna had also partnered on Fenty, a high-end fashion and accessories brand, which was confirmed to be shut down earlier this year after launching in 2019.
Becoming a billionaire has given Rihanna less time to work on her music, as the singer has not released an album since 2016’s Anti, much to the dismay of her fans. She teased back in March that new music was on the way “soon,” though it has yet to materialize. “She is creating a brand outside of herself. It’s not just about Rihanna,” Coyne said. “Even if you don’t like her music, she’s created a real style in the fashion and beauty space.”
