Fame and fortune often go hand in hand. While many celebrities are wealthy, it’s rare for their net worth to stretch all the way to ten figures.
Forbes estimates that fewer than two dozen people on the planet have reached that feat. Most have obtained their billionaire status in the past decade, as the economics of their industries have shifted significantly.
Sports has seen massive spikes in salaries and endorsement deals, with athletes building companies now more than ever. This has helped stars like NBA great LeBron James add a third comma to their fortunes.
In pop music, it’s becoming more common to leverage fame to garner attention for other business ventures. Rihanna and Jay-Z, for example, became billionaires through the brands they started in fashion, beauty, and liquor, rather than through their music.
Naturally, defining “celebrity” isn’t always easy. For this World’s Billionaires list, Forbes chose to feature people who became famous first, then massively rich. This definition skews heavily in favor of entertainers and athletes, and excludes those who are famous for being wealthy or for the success of their businesses, such as Donald Trump and Mark Cuban.
This year, Forbes identified 18 celebrity billionaires, worth a collective $39 billion—up from 14 and $31 billion in 2024. New additions to the list include Jerry Seinfeld, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vincent McMahon, and Bruce Springsteen.
Here are the 18 celebrities rich enough to make Forbes’ 2025 World’s Billionaires list, in net worth order:
Jerry Seinfeld
Net Worth: $1.1 Billion | Age: 70 | Citizenship: U.S.
The comedian is best known for starring in the ‘90s hit show Seinfeld, and indeed, that’s where most of his fortune originates: He and Larry David each rake in 15% of all its profits. But Seinfeld is much richer than his co-creator, in part due to David’s 2007 divorce. Seinfeld continues to make money through his comedy tours and TV specials, including 23 Hours to Kill, for which Netflix recently paid him $20 million.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Net Worth: $1.1 Billion | Age: 77 | Citizenship: U.S.
The former California governor is best known for his approximately 50-film catalog, which includes iconic roles like the Terminator, and earned him roughly $500 million for the lot of them. But he built another fortune through venture capital (including investing in Google’s Series A funding round), commercial real estate, private equity, and other investments.
Dick Wolf
Net Worth: $1.2 Billion | Age: 78 | Citizenship: U.S.
The television writer and producer’s company Wolf Entertainment is responsible for legendary franchises like Law & Order and FBI. Forbes estimates that Wolf, who’s been in the business for 30 years, makes up to $350,000 per episode for his top shows. He’s also collected yachts, multiple homes, and an extensive art collection.
Bruce Springsteen
Net Worth: $1.2 Billion | Age: 75 | Citizenship: U.S.
The “Born to Run” singer’s biggest payday came in 2021, when he sold his music catalog to Sony for around $500 million. But Springsteen also had a lucrative run on Broadway with an eponymous show and has made hundreds of millions from touring and album sales. The Boss has declined to comment to Forbes about his wealth but claimed to The Telegraph last year that he’s not a billionaire because he “spent too much money on superfluous things.”
LeBron James
Net Worth: $1.3 Billion | Age: 40 | Citizenship: U.S.
LeBron James, the first person to become a billionaire while still an active NBA player, has made more than $500 million (pre-tax) from salaries over his 22 seasons on the court. He’s earned hundreds of millions more through endorsement deals with the likes of Nike and PepsiCo, and through his own business ventures, including production company SpringHill. James is also a sports owner, with stakes in soccer club Liverpool, the Boston Red Sox, and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Rihanna
Net Worth: $1.4 Billion | Age: 37 | Citizenship: Barbados
Rihanna rose to fame with pop hits like “Pon de Replay” (2005) and “Umbrella” (2007), and continued to release successful music through her last album Anti (2016). But it’s her lingerie company Savage X Fenty—which raised $125 million in a 2022 funding round—and cosmetics business Fenty Beauty that made her a billionaire.
Tiger Woods
Net Worth: $1.4 Billion | Age: 49 | Citizenship: U.S.
Woods’ prolific golf career made him the world’s highest-paid athlete for the decade up until 2011, when he earned $75 million that year alone, according to Forbes estimates. The majority of that came from endorsements. He’s also invested in luxury real estate, a premium mini-golf chain, and a golf-course design company.
Tyler Perry
Net Worth: $1.4 Billion | Age: 55 | Citizenship: U.S.
Tyler Perry rose to fame in the theater, playing his renowned “Madea” character—a comedic Black matriarch—on stages across the U.S. He took Madea to film and TV, hitting it big. Today, Perry’s two most valuable assets are his content library and Tyler Perry Studios, the film production company behind movies like 2022’s A Madea Homecoming and 2024’s The Six Triple Eight, co-starring fellow celebrity billionaire Oprah Winfrey.
Magic Johnson
Net Worth: $1.5 Billion | Age: 65 | Citizenship: U.S.
The basketball Hall of Famer made his fortune through smart post-career investments, including buying minority stakes in MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers (with Todd Boehly) and the NFL’s Washington Commanders (with Josh Harris), and buying a majority of Iowa-based insurer EquiTrust in 2015. He grew the provider’s assets from $16 billion to $26 billion during his first eight years of ownership.
Taylor Swift
Net Worth: $1.6 Billion | Age: 35 | Citizenship: U.S.
Taylor Swift became a billionaire in 2023, after taking home an estimated $190 million after taxes for just the first leg of her famous Eras Tour. The rest of her fortune is based on the value of her music catalog, plus music royalties and additional touring. She’s stashed about $115 million in homes across locations from Rhode Island to Tennessee.
Peter Jackson
Net Worth: $1.7 Billion | Age: 63 | Citizenship: New Zealand
Jackson’s esteemed Lord of the Rings films made him $10 million apiece up front. But that’s small change compared to what he earned when he sold part of his visual effects business, Weta Digital, to Unity Software in 2021. Weta gave Jackson $1.6 billion in cash and stock, from which he netted almost $1 billion.
Kim Kardashian
Net Worth: $1.7 Billion | Age: 44 | Citizenship: U.S.
Kardashian rose to prominence through reality TV but reached the billionaire stratosphere thanks to her shapewear line Skims, which a 2023 funding round valued at $4 billion. The star launched a skincare brand, SKKN By Kim, in 2022. She also owns a collection of houses, including a $40 million home outside L.A. that she previously shared with ex-husband Kanye West.
Jay-Z
Net Worth: $2.5 Billion | Age: 55 | Citizenship: U.S.
The hip-hop icon’s portfolio is vast, encompassing assets like his champagne brand Armand de Brignac, his cognac label D’Usse, a stake in Uber that he bought in the app’s early days, an impressive art collection (including pieces by Jean-Michel Basquiat), and of course, his own music catalog. Jay-Z cashed in on his liquor brands in 2021 and 2023, selling stakes to LVMH and Bacardi for hundreds of millions each.
Vincent McMahon
Net Worth: $3 Billion | Age: 79 | Citizenship: U.S.
McMahon started off as a TV announcer for his father’s wrestling company (then WWF, now WWE) in the 1970s. He purchased the business in 1982 and transformed it into a global powerhouse. McMahon merged WWE with UFC in 2023 to form TKO Group Holdings, over which he was briefly executive chairman before stepping down last year amid sexual misconduct allegations (which he denies). He’s been cashing out his stake in the company.
Oprah Winfrey
Net Worth: $3 Billion | Age: 71 | Citizenship: U.S.
The media mogul came to fame as host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, which aired from 1986 to 2011. By 2003, her hosting, acting, and production earnings had made her a billionaire—the first-ever Black woman to reach that status. Winfrey continues to make money in entertainment, co-starring in the 2024 war drama The Six Triple Eight. She also owns over 2,000 acres of real estate in California and Hawaii.
Michael Jordan
Net Worth: $3.5 Billion | Age: 62 | Citizenship: U.S.
The NBA legend became the first athlete to rank on Forbes’ list of the 400 wealthiest people in the U.S. in 2023, eight years after becoming the first-ever billionaire athlete. Jordan made the bulk of his fortune through brand partnerships. Nike currently pays him over $100 million per year in royalties on his namesake Jordan brand.
George Lucas
Net Worth: $10 Billion | Age: 80 | Citizenship: U.S.
The creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones sold his production company Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 for $4.1 billion. He continued making money through Star Wars sequels, spinoffs, and licensing deals with Disney.
Steven Spielberg
Net Worth: $5.3 Billion | Age: 78 | Citizenship: U.S.
Spielberg got rich by making some of the most popular movies of the late 20th century, including Jaws, E.T., Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park. Having secured himself a fortune long ago—he first appeared on Forbes list of the wealthiest Americans in 1994—he shows no sign of slowing down, continuing to direct hits like 2021’s West Side Story remake. In addition to film earnings, Spielberg has negotiated to get 2% of ticket sales at Universal theme parks in perpetuity.