Rihanna will be among the most famous performers to ever grace the stage during a Super Bowl. She'll also be among the richest.
The Barbadian musician is a pop culture icon, having dropped hit after hit throughout her 17-year career.
Yet, it isn't just her music that has made her rich. In fact, of all of Rihanna's business holdings, it might be music that proves the most inconsequential.
RiRi is the magnate behind Fenty Beauty, one of the world's most profitable makeup brands. Lending her name and likeness to the company, Rihanna and Fenty have taken the cosmetics industry by storm. That has proved not only popular, but lucrative, too.
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With that, here's everything you need to know about Fenty Beauty, Rihanna's lovechild that has thrust her up Forbes' lists.
How did Rihanna become a billionaire?
Rihanna came from humble beginnings in Barbados, dropping out of school to pursue her music career. It was a big risk, admittedly, especially for a teenager. However, it paid off in spades; RiRi has nabbed nine Grammys over the course of her career, earning critical and commercial acclaim.
That brings with it opportunity. For the beloved singer, those opportunities came in the cosmetics industry.
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In 2013, Rihanna conspicuously trademarked Fenty, her last name, prompting speculation that she could attach to something. That she did in 2017, forming Fenty Beauty — her own makeup brand — in conjunction with luxury goods company LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy). RiRi had already made a foray into the industry years earlier, teaming up with MAC Cosmetics to release a line of fragrances.
Fenty Beauty was a different kettle of fish, however. Rihanna would reap the rewards from her business, one that revolved around offering a reasonable cosmetics option for those who have traditionally been left out of industry narratives in the past: Black women.
"In every product I was like: 'There needs to be something for a dark-skinned girl; there needs to be something for a really pale girl; there needs to be something in-between,'" Rihanna told Refinery29 in 2017.
To that end, Fenty Beauty offers 50 different shades of makeup for consumers.
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The move into cosmetics foreshadowed a similar approach into fashion for RiRi, who proceeded to start Savage X Fenty — a lingerie company — in 2018. She also had a brief entry into the world of high fashion, although the company halted production in 2021 after failing to perform to expectations.
Nevertheless, couple her various business holdings with an effervescent personality on stage and it seemed likely that Rihanna would hit the $1 billion mark. She did just that in 2021, making her first appearance on Forbes' billionaire list. She repeated the feat in 2022 and looks on pace for a long reign in the upper crust of society.
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Rihanna net worth
Per Forbes' real-time net worth tracker, Rihanna is valued at $1.4 billion.
Most of that stems from Fenty Beauty, which earned an estimated $550 million between 2018 and 2020. She owns 50% of the stake in the company, with LVMH holding the other 50%. LVMH reportedly saw its profits double in 2022, although it did not provide actual figures.
The benefits of having your finger in multiple pies is you have multiple streams of income. Savage X Fenty, which came along after her beauty brand took off, is reeling in the dough, as well; Forbes valued the lingerie company at $1 billon. RiRi has a 30 percent stake in the company, so she's certainly making a pretty portion of those gains, as well.
