These founders have blazed trails in nearly every industry, from sports to IT to media production. Here’s how they made it big.
Some of these businesses have achieved major success, launching their founders into the ranks of the mega-wealthy–and breaking barriers in so doing. Of the 3,000 billionaires in the world, fewer than 1 percent are Black, per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Listed in order of total net worth at the time of publication, here are some of the wealthiest Black founders in the U.S. today:
1. Robert F. Smith: $9.2 billion
Smith founded private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, a multi-year Inc. Founder-Friendly Investor, in 2000 with an exclusive focus on investing in software companies. Vista, headquartered in Austin, Texas, now has more than $100 billion in assets under management and employs about 98,000 people across its portfolio of over 85 companies.
2. David Steward: $7.6 billion
Steward is the co-founder and chairman of World Wide Technology, a St. Louis, Missouri-based IT provider and a previous Inc. 5000 honoree. WWT, founded in 1990, is the largest Black-owned business in the country, per USA Today. With an annual revenue of $20 billion, according to the company, WWT employs more than 10,000 employees across 55 global locations.
3. Michael Jordan: $3.2 billion
Considered by many to be the greatest basketball player of all time, Jordan has been successful both on the court and in his various business ventures. Partnering with brands including Nike, Gatorade, and Hanes has netted him $2.4 billion (pre-tax), according to Forbes. And in 2010, Jordan purchased a majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets for $275 million, making him the only Black team owner in the NBA. Thirteen years later, in June 2023, Jordan sold his stake, with the team valued at approximately $3 billion.
Jordan also co-founded luxury tequilla brand Cincoro Tequila in 2016 along with four others, has an ownership stake in sports betting platform DraftKings, and co-owns a NASCAR team.
4. Alex Karp: $3 billion
Karp is the co-founder and CEO of Denver, Colorado-based Palantir Technologies, a data mining and software firm. The company, founded in 2003, works with the U.S. government on counterterrorism operations and offers software platforms for commercial and civil government sectors like health care. In 2023, Palantir generated nearly $2.23 billion in revenue, with a year-over-year growth of 17 percent. Karp co-founded the company alongside PayPal co-founder and venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who currently serves as Palantir’s chairman.
5. Oprah Winfrey: $3 billion
One of the most well-known talk show hosts of all time, Winfrey is also a successful businesswoman. In 1986, she founded multimedia production company Harpo Productions in Chicago, which she relocated to West Hollywood in 2015. And in 2011, Winfrey established her own cable channel, OWN, which hosts lifestyle and entertainment content aimed at African American and female audiences. Her reach extends across other media sectors too: She founded O, The Oprah Magazine (now known as Oprah Daily) in 2000. According to Forbes, Winfrey is the richest self-made Black woman in the country.
6. Jay-Z: $2.5 billion
Jay-Z’s music catalog alone is worth around $75 million, but he also has a wide range of other successful business interests. Jay-Z, or Shawn Carter, co-founded clothing brand Rocawear in 1999 and sold it eight years later for $204 million. Shortly after, in 2008, he founded New York City-based Roc Nation, which includes a sports agency, record label, and artist-management service. The company names top artists like Rihanna, DJ Khaled, and Alicia Keys as clients.
Expanding into the premium alcohol industry in 2012, Jay-Z founded his own luxury cognac brand, called D’Usse (Bacardi recently purchased a majority stake in the brand for around $750 million). Together with his music, these ventures helped Jay-Z become the first hip-hop billionaire in 2019.
7. Rihanna: $1.4 billion
A nine-time Grammy Award winner, Robyn Rihanna Fenty is one of the most well-known singers in the world. She’s also America’s youngest self-made female billionaire, as of 2021. Rihanna achieved the title thanks in part to her business empire, which includes a $582 million inclusive cosmetics line, Fenty Beauty (co-owned with French luxury retailer LVMH). She recently announced the brand will be a premium partner of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The singer also owns around 30 percent of lingerie line Savage x Fenty, which raised $125 million in a January 2022 funding round, per Forbes.
8. Tyler Perry: $1.4 billion
An actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, Perry’s business as of late has been making the behind-the-scenes movie magic happen. He founded Tyler Perry Studios in 2006 and embarked on a major expansion in 2015: According to AfroTech reports, he purchased 330 acres at former military base Fort McPherson in Atlanta to the tune of $30 million to house massive production facilities. This made Perry the first African American to own a major film studio without any partners or corporate backing, according to the LA Times, and indeed, Perry “considers it the crown jewel of his enterprises.” Tyler Perry Studios is nearly three times larger in acreage than Warner Bros. Studios and more than six times the size of the Walt Disney Studios.
9. Tiger Woods: $1.3 billion
In the course of his professional golf career, Woods netted 82 PGA tour wins and around $1.8 billion in earnings–some from winnings, but most from brand endorsements, according to Forbes. Off the course, though, he founded and serves as the CEO of Jupiter, Florida-based multibrand enterprise TGR. The brand encompasses golf course design firm TGR Design, live events production company TGR Live, and sports restaurant The Woods. Despite turning down an offer of between $700 million and $800 million in 2022 to compete in the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour, Woods remains solidly positioned in the billionaires club due to his endorsements and real estate investments.
10. LeBron James : $1.2 billion
The first active NBA player to achieve a $1 billion net worth, James is both one of the highest-paid athletes in professional basketball today and an entrepreneur in his own right. Along with his business manager, Maverick Carter, James co-founded entertainment development and production company SpringHill in 2020. They sold a minority stake of the Los Angeles-based company in 2021 at a $725 million valuation, but this year, James and Carter teamed up again to found a men’s grooming line inspired by the talk show “The Shop.”
