Rihanna Named America’s Youngest Self-Made Billionaire, Booting Kim Kardashian

Rihanna has been named the youngest self-made billionaire woman in the United States. With a net worth of $1.4 billion, the artist appeared on Forbes annual list of America’s richest self-made women for the third year in a row, raking 21st overall, and she is the only billionaire under 40 on the list.

Most of her income is from her three retail companies: Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin and Savage X Fenty.

The makeup line Fenty Beauty, which launched in 2017 and brought in $550 million in revenue in 2020, is reportedly worth $2.8 billion. Rihanna owns about 50% of the company, while French luxury fashion conglomerate LVMH own the other half.

Last March, Bloomberg reported that Savage X Fenty lingerie company was working with advisors on an initial public offering that could value the company at more than $3 billion; in February 2021 it was only $1 billion. Rihanna owns 30 percent of that company.

The businesswoman has said that she uses her wealth to give back to causes that are in need. In 2012, she started a philanthropy fund called the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF), aiming to “support and fund groundbreaking education and climate resilience initiatives.” A year after the foundation was launched, Rihanna launched two lipstick campaigns with MAC Cosmetics, raising $60 million to benefit women and children affected by HIV/AIDS. In early 2020, CLF was named one of the world’s most innovative not-for-profit companies by Fast Company.

“My money is not for me; it’s always the thought that I can help someone else,” Rihanna said. “The world can really make you believe that the wrong things are priority, and it makes you really miss the core of life, what it means to be alive.”

The next-youngest billionaire on Forbes list is 41-year-old Kim Kardashian, whose net worth is $1.8 billion. Her younger sister Kylie Jenner, who is now the youngest non-billionaire on the list at 24, was originally proclaimed Forbes‘ youngest self-made billionaire in 2018, but the title was then withdrawn after a recalculation of her net worth, which is currently $600 million.