Aliko Dangote, Abdulsamad Rabiu and Mike Adenuga are three Nigerians who make up the list of top 17 richest black people in the world.
Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group, tops the list, according to Forbes.
See the full list below…
1. Aliko Dangote ($10.8 billion)
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, founder, and chairman of Dangote Cement, Africa’s largest cement producer.
Dangote owns 85% of publicly-traded Dangote Cement through a holding company.
After many years in development, Dangote’s fertilizer plant in Nigeria began operations in March 2022.
Dangote Refinery in Lagos has been under construction since 2016 and is expected to be one of the world’s largest oil refineries once complete.
2. Robert F. Smith ($8 billion)
Robert F. Smith founded private equity firm Vista Equity Partners in 2000. It focuses exclusively on investing in software companies.
With $96 billion in assets, Vista is one of the best-performing private equity firms, posting annualized returns of 31% since inception.
3. David Steward ($7.6 billion)
David Steward is the founder and chairman of IT provider World Wide Technology.
In the early days, Steward sometimes went without a paycheck and once watched his car get repossessed from the office parking lot.
4. Abdulsamad Rabiu ($5.6 billion)
Abdulsamad Rabiu is the founder of BUA Group, a Nigerian conglomerate active in cement production, sugar refining and real estate.
In early January 2020, Rabiu merged his privately-owned Obu Cement company with listed firm Cement Co. of Northern Nigeria, which he controlled.
The combined firm, called BUA Cement Plc, trades on the Nigerian stock exchange; Rabiu owns 98.2% of it.
Rabiu, set up his own business in 1988 importing iron, steel and chemicals.
5. Mike Adenuga ($3.6 billion)
Now Nigeria’s second richest man, Adenuga built his fortune in telecom and oil production.
His mobile phone network, Globacom, is the third largest operator in Nigeria, with 55 million subscribers.
His oil company, Conoil Producing, operates 6 oil blocks in the Niger Delta.
Adenuga made his first million at age 26 selling lace and distributing soft drinks.
6. Jay-Z ($2.5 billion)
In 2021, fashion giant LVMH purchased a 50% stake in Jayz’s champagne empire Armand de Brignac, otherwise known as Ace of Spades.
Jay-Z sold a majority of his stake in his cognac brand D’Usse to Bacardi in February 2023.
His other assets range from a fine art collection including works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, his music catalog and shares in companies like Block and Uber.
7. Oprah Winfrey ($2.5 billion)
Profits from her TV show of 25 years combined with profits from films like The Color Purple, Beloved and Selma (which her Harpo Productions coproduced) add to an estimated more than $2 billion.
In 2011, Winfrey launched cable channel OWN.Winfrey bought a 10% stake in Weight Watchers in 2015, though she owns less now.
Her sprawling real estate portfolio includes homes in California, Nashville and over a dozen properties in Hawaii.
8. PATRICE MOTSEPE ($2.3 billion)
Patrice Motsepe, the founder and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, became a billionaire in 2008 – the first black African on the Forbes list.
9. Michael Jordan ($2 billion)
Regarded by most as the NBA’s greatest all-time player, Michael Jordan won six titles with the Chicago Bulls.
His salary during his career totaled $90 million, but he has earned $1.8 billion (pre-tax) from such corporate partners as Nike, Hanes and Gatorade.
10. STRIVE MASIYIWA, ($1.8 billion)
Strive Masiyiwa overcame protracted government opposition to launch mobile phone network Econet Wireless Zimbabwe in his country of birth in 1998.
11. Alexander Karp ($1.8 billion)
Alex Karp is co-founder and CEO of data mining firm Palantir Technologies, which received early backing from CIA investment arm In-Q-Tel.
The company does contract work for government agencies like the Department of Defense, the FBI and the Danish National Police.
12. Rihanna ($1.4 billion )
Rihanna, is a billionaire thanks to the success of cosmetics line Fenty Beauty.
The cosmetics company, which she co-owns with French luxury retailer LVMH, doubled its revenue in 2022.
She also has a 30% stake in the Savage x Fenty lingerie line, which raised money at a $1 billion valuation in February 2021.
13. Michael Lee-Chin ($1.4 billion each)
Michael Lee-Chin made a fortune investing in financial companies like National Commercial Bank Jamaica and AIC Limited.
The native of Jamaica acquired AIC in 1987, when it had less than $1 million in assets under management.
He now has a valuable 60% stake in National Commercial Bank Jamaica, which now makes up much of his wealth.
14. MOHAMMED IBRAHIM ($1.2 billion)
Mohammed “Mo” Ibrahim founded Celtel International in 1998, one of the first mobile phone companies serving Africa and the Middle East.
He sold Celtel to Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Company for $3.4 billion in 2005 and pocketed $1.4 billion.
Ibrahim also chairs the board of Satya Capital, a private equity fund that invests in African businesses, education and healthcare.
15. Tiger Woods ($1.1 billion)
Woods has earned roughly $1.8 billion during his pro golf career, including a PGA Tour-record $121 million in prize money. In 2022, Forbes certified him as a billionaire, making him only the second active athlete ever with that distinction, after LeBron James.
Woods reached that rarified air despite reportedly turning down a “mind-blowingly enormous” offer from the upstart LIV Golf tour, a deal that LIV CEO Greg Norman told the Washington Post would have been in the “high nine digits.”
Woods and fellow golf star Rory McIlroy announced in 2022 that they had founded TMRW Sports, a tech-focused venture with plans to launch a new golf league called TGL.
The superstar is also a partner with Justin Timberlake and British billionaire Joe Lewis in Nexxus, a luxury real-estate venture.
16. LeBron James ($1 billion)
James is the first active NBA player to become a billionaire, with Forbes estimating his net worth at $1 billion in June 2022.
James has reportedly earned more than $430 million in pretax salary from stints with the Cavaliers, the Miami Heat and his current team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
He has raked in upwards of $900 million (pretax) off the court, according to Forbes estimates from business ventures and endorsement deals with the likes of PepsiCo, Walmart and Nike.
He has equity in brands he works with, including Beats by Dre and the fast-growing Blaze Pizza chain.
17. Tyler Perry ($1 billion)
A director, actor, producer and writer, Tyler Perry is best known for his “Madea” franchise, which has grossed more than $660 million.
Perry’s wealth comes both from his cut as a producer and from a library dating back to the early 1990s: he owns 100% of the content he’s created.
In 2019, he opened Tyler Perry Studios, a 330-acre property in Atlanta with 12 sound stages and custom sets that include a to-scale White House.
After seven years creating content for Oprah Winfrey’s OWN, Perry struck a deal with Viacom in 2019, getting 25% of streaming service BET+. He now has a multi-million dollar four movie deal with Amazon Prime .
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