Robyn Fenty, popularly known as Rihanna is now officially a billionaire.
Gatekeepers News reports that Forbes has officially declared Barbadian singer, Rihanna, a billionaire and the wealthiest female musician in the world.
Rihanna’s cosmetics company, “Fenty Beauty” which she established in 2017, to make “women everywhere (feel) included” has helped her attain the height of the world’s most exclusive ranks: Billionaire.
According to Forbes, Rihanna is now worth $1.7 billion, making her second only to Oprah Winfrey who is the richest female entertainer in the world.
However, Rihanna’s music didn’t fetch her this wealth, as the bulk of her fortune (an estimated $1.4 billion) comes from the value of Fenty Beauty, of which Forbes confirmed she owns 50%. Much of the rest lies in her stake in her lingerie company, Savage x Fenty, which is worth an estimated $270 million, in addition to her earnings from her career as a chart-topping musician and actress.
The “Faithful” star maximized her 101 million followers on Instagram and 102.5 million on Twitter to build a beauty brand and now become the most successful beauty entrepreneur to do so.
The cosmetics company which is a 50-50 joint venture with French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH (run by the world’s second-richest person, Bernard Arnault) launched in 2017 with the goal of inclusivity.
Fenty Beauty products come in a diverse range of colours: the foundation is offered in 50 shades, including harder-to-find darker shades for women of colour; and are modelled in its advertising by an equally diverse group of people.
According to LVMH, Fenty Beauty on its first full calendar year – 2018, brought in more than $550 million in annual revenues, beating out other celebrity-founded brands like Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics, Kim Kardashian West’s KKW Beauty, and Jessica Alba’s Honest Co.
Co-founder of Consumer Products Consultancy Bluestock Advisors,
Shannon Coyne said, “A lot of women felt there were no lines out there that catered to their skin tone. It was light, medium, medium-dark, dark.
“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.’”
According to Forbes estimates, Fenty Beauty is worth a conservative $2.8 billion, adding that all signs point to the company continuing to grow. In its annual report for 2020, LVMH said Fenty Skin, which launched last year, was off to a “very promising start” and “generated unprecedented buzz,” and that Fenty Beauty “maintained its appeal as a premier makeup brand.”
Meanwhile, Fenty Beauty isn’t Rihanna’s only billion-dollar brand, as her lingerie line Savage x Fenty raised $115 million in funding at a $1 billion valuation in February.
