One of our favorite pop princesses, entrepreneurs and general badass, Robyn Rihanna Fenty’s foray into the world of beauty and cosmetics has officially made her a billionaire… When she launched Fenty Beauty in 2017, she aimed to create a line of cosmetics that were inclusive and made “women everywhere (feel) included,” and just 3 years on, the brand has helped Rihanna reach one of the world’s most exclusive ranks: Billionaire.
Now worth around $1.7 billion, it seems that she could well be the wealthiest female musician on the planet, and second to Oprah Winfrey, who is the wealthiest female entertainer. Above all, as much as we learned to love and appreciate Rihanna-the-popstar, is's not her music that has helped her obtain her billionaire status, but her business acumen.
An estimated $1.4 billion USD is attributed to the success and value of Fenty Beauty, of which Riri owns 50%, and the rest of her wealth is from her stake in her lingerie company, Savage x Fenty, which is worth an estimated $270 million, after which come her earnings as a chart-topping musician and actress. Rihanna, much like a number of other celebrities, has managed to capitalize on her social media presence to build her beauty brand, as she has over 101 million Instagram followers, 102.5 million on Twitter – and has been the most successful out of her peers, including the likes of Kim Kardashian West and Kylie Jenner.
Fenty Beauty is a joint venture between Rihanna and French luxury conglomerate, LVMH, (which is run by Bernard Arnault, the world’s second-richest person), and was selling out the minute it hit the shelves of Sephora and online in 2017. Why? In recent years, there has been an even louder demand for inclusivity, and Fenty Beauty not only offers up a plethora of products to suit every skin tone, including her foundations which come in around 50 shades, but it is made sure of that the brand’s advertising features an equally diverse group of people. By 2018, within it’s first year, the cosmetics brand earned over $550 million USD in annual revenues, according to LVMH – outranking Kylie Cosmetics, KKW Beauty and Jessica Alba’s Honest Co.
Following the success of Fenty Beauty, last year, Riri announced the launch of Fenty Skin, and according to LVMH, the clean skincare brand was “off to a very promising start,” while Fenty Beauty maintains its consistency and status as a leading cosmetics line. Not Rihanna’s only billion-dollar venture, her lingerie line Savage x Fenty raised $115 million in funding at a $1 billion valuation. The lingerie line launched in 2018 as a joint venture with TechStyle Fashion Group, and has a number of high profile investors including Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners, as shareholders in the brand, while it has been estimated that Rihanna owns 30% of the company.
