2022 has not been a good year for most people, including high-net-worth individuals. Several of them lost money due to high inflation, a rough run for the stock market and market contractions that were occasioned by the war in Ukraine. The number of ultrarich people fell by 6% this year.
However, there are still several millionaires in the entertainment sector who have seen their fortunes grow, amassing much more from their recent projects. The entertainment scene grew when several other markets were going down, as the general population tended to consume more entertainment during lockdowns and hard times. Among the richest celebrities is one from New Zealand. Here is an overview of the celebrities and how much they are worth.
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg is arguably the richest person in entertainment alive, despite having lost $850 million in 2022. He took the spot from his friend and business rival, George Lucas. Known for directing Schindler’s List, the 75-year-old director is now worth a whopping $7.25 billion, according to the Billionaire Index published by Bloomberg. This is a 10.5 percent drop compared to a similar period last year.
He is currently the principal partner in the DreamWorks Studios, which have seen him direct some of the blockbusters currently enjoyed around the globe, including Jaws, Jurassic Park and Saving Private Ryan. All these films have grossed over $25 billion in a few months at the box office.
Some of his work, such as Jurassic Park and Star Wars, has been turned into video games and casino slots. There are several slot titles out there related to these movie series. Casino gamers can check casinos offering no deposit free spins in New Zealand that have these slots on their catalogue and make some money while getting entertained.
Steven also runs a movie production company called Ambling Partners Production, which recently entered into a multi-year production agreement with Netflix. Celebrity Net Worth puts his annual income at about $150 million, while his celebrity wife, Kate Capshaw, has invested over $200 million in property.
George Lucas
Lucas is famous for his role in creating Star Wars and Indiana Jones, two large franchises that have been his major cash cows. He has been at the top of the entertainment billionaires list, but the two franchises above have experienced a decline in the year 2022. This caused his wealth to decline by a whopping $2 billion for the period and settle at $6.47 billion by the end of the year.
A bulk of the fortune comes from the $4.1 billion that the entertainer received from the sale of his film production company to Disney. The film director has now retired and focuses much of his energy on philanthropic activities through his family’s charitable organization.
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah makes to the list as the top entertainment woman according to her net worth. Like most celebrities, she has seen her total net worth drop by a whopping 10% over 2021 and 2022. The media mogul is 68 years old and ends the year with a net worth of $2.5 billion, down from $2.7 billion at the same period last year.
Her vast media empire, which includes The Oprah Magazine and Harpo Productions, accounts for the majority of her fortune. She ended her famous Oprah Winfrey show in 2011 but continues to do TV interviews on different platforms, including on Apple TV+.
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan is one of the few celebrities whose wealth grew while everyone else saw their investments go down. Forbes estimates that he grew his wealth from $1.6 billion to about $1.7 billion over the year 2022.
The legendary basketball player made his mark in the Basketball Hall of Fame, where he earned a whopping $90 million over the course of his career. He has appeared in a few talk shows and movies during and after his career in basketball. Jordan also owns the Charlotte Hornets basketball team, the Miami Marlins baseball team and the 23XI Nascar team. He has also invested in technology companies, including the eSports firm aXiomatic and the headphones brand Muzik.
Peter Jackson
The New Zealand national, Peter Jackson, makes the list at position five. He became a billionaire late last year after selling his visual effects company, Weta Digital, to Unity Software, a video gaming company based in the US, for a whopping $1.62 billion. The entertainer has also directed the Lord of the Rings series.
His net worth is estimated to be about $1.5 billion. Apart from the proceeds of the sale of his company, he received about $10 million for each of the three films produced under the name Lord of the Rings. These films have grossed over $3 billion at the box office, where he went home with about 10% of the profits. Jackson has also made some cash from The Hobbit, estimated at $20 million a film, with about 20% of the income coming from back-end sources.
Rihanna
The Barbados-born musician and entertainer Rihanna is arguably the richest female musician, with a net worth of about $1.4 billion. This is a whopping $300 million lower than her net worth for the same period last year. The 34-year-old made his name in the music industry. However, the bulk of her income comes from her fashion and makeup businesses.
The biggest of her investments is in the Fenty Beauty company, which is worth $2.8 billion and which she co-owns with the French luxury company LVMH. She also owns 30% of the Savage x Fenty fashion house, which focuses on lingerie and is valued at about $1 billion.
There are several more celebrity billionaires out there, including Jay-Z, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tiger Woods and Tyler Perry. Several more are edging closer to $1 billion. If the year 2023 gets better, we expect many more to join the billionaires club.
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