Celebrities Who Earn More From Investments Than Acting

Turns out the money isn’t always on the big screen. Stars like George Clooney, Rihanna and Dr. Dre have made an absolute killing from tequila, make-up and headphones. They stuck their fame behind businesses and cashed out for millions. For some, the films are pocket money now. The faces we watch on telly are often loaded with stuff that has nothing to do with acting. The clever ones stopped waiting for the next pay cheque and bought companies instead. So here they are: the celebrities who earn more from investments than acting.

George Clooney

It began with Clooney and his pal Rande Gerber, Cindy Crawford’s other half, making tequila in Mexico. After five years and about 1,000 bottles a year, they realised they had a hit. Casamigos launched in 2013, Oprah gave it a plug, and by June 2017 Diageo bought the lot for up to £790m.

Ryan Reynolds

Reynolds grabbed a slice of Aviation Gin in 2018 and let his daft ads do the rest. Wine Enthusiast reckons it’s the eighth-best gin on the planet. Diageo bought it in 2020 for up to £482m, with £265m up front. Hola stated that his phone firm, Mint Mobile, then went to T-Mobile in 2023 for around £1.07bn. He owns a chunk of Wrexham AFC too.

Dr. Dre

Dre and Jimmy Iovine started flogging Beats headphones in 2006, with Dre on a 25% share. When Apple splashed £2.53bn on the brand in 2014, Forbes calculated that Dre got a return of £395m after tax.

Rihanna

RiRi hasn’t dropped an album since 2016, and honestly, why would she? Fenty Beauty, her 2017 tie-up with luxury house LVMH, was a runaway hit thanks to its massive shade range. Business Insider clocked £57m in sales in the first month alone. Add her 30% slice of Savage X Fenty lingerie, and she’s worth about £1.11bn, nearly all from business, not music.

Kim Kardashian

Mock her all you like, the woman can shift product. Her shapewear brand, Skims, started in 2019, with 35% ownership, smashed a £3.95bn valuation in 2025, and dragged her net worth up to £1.5bn. Before that, her mobile game “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood” raked in over £120.27m between 2014 and 2016, and her Kimoji app topped the app store.

Jay-Z

From a Brooklyn housing estate, where he sold drugs as a kid, to hip-hop’s first billionaire in 2019, Jay-Z is now worth about £1.98bn. His firm Marcy Venture Partners, named after that estate, raised £67m in 2019. But booze is where he really cleans up: Bacardi bought most of his D’Ussé cognac for £593m in 2023, and he still owns Armand de Brignac champagne, Sovereign Brands wines, and the streaming service Tidal.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah went from dirt poor to America’s richest self-made woman, worth £2.77bn. In 2015 she dropped £34m on a 10% stake in Weight Watchers, and her name shoved the value past £316m. She’s also in the gang with Jay-Z, Natalie Portman and ex-Starbucks boss Howard Schultz, who poured £160m into the oat milk brand Oatly.

Ashton Kutcher

Kutcher’s firm A-Grade Investments, run with Madonna’s manager Guy Oseary, was worth north of £79m by 2013. His best move? A £395,000 punt on Uber in 2011 that Yahoo says ballooned to £39.5m by 2016. He also got in early on Airbnb, Spotify, Shazam and SoundCloud.

Jessica Alba

Alba founded The Honest Company in 2011, flogging natural baby and cleaning bits, and by 2015, it was worth more than £1.34bn before floating on the stock market. She’s also backed the Headspace meditation app and senior-care firm Honour.

Kevin Costner

This one’s properly bonkers. Back in 1995, Costner paid the US government £19m for a firm called Ocean Therapy Solutions, which separates oil from water. It sat there until the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, when BP ordered £41m worth of his machines to mop it up.

Jared Leto

Leto isn’t just an Oscar winner and rock star. He’s a full-blown tech investor. He’s made 50-plus early bets, including Airbnb, Uber and Blue Bottle Coffee. He backed Nest before Google bought it for £2.53bn in 2014 and swears he met Instagram days before Facebook grabbed it for £790m in 2012.

More Celebrities Who Earn More From Investments Than Acting

A few more:

• Bono: His fund Elevation Partners (named after a U2 track) reportedly banked £1.11bn from an early Facebook stake, says The Independent.
• Michael Jordan: Flogged his Charlotte Hornets stake for about £2.37bn and got crowned Celebrity Investor of the Year by Investopedia.
• Magic Johnson: His empire once owned bits of hundreds of Starbucks and Burger King branches, plus a £39.5m chunk of the LA Dodgers.
• Robert De Niro: Co-founded posh Japanese chain Nobu, worth £395m by 2015.
• Serena Williams: Banked over £64m on court and owns slices of the Miami Dolphins and the UFC.
• Francis Ford Coppola: The Godfather man’s Napa winery went from £7.1m to £47m a year.
• Gwyneth Paltrow: Turned her Goop newsletter into a business that has raised £15.8m.
• Sammy Hagar: The Van Halen rocker sold his Cabo Wabo tequila for £72m.
• Nas: His QueensBridge Venture Partners backed Dropbox and Lyft before they blew up.
• Justin Bieber: Bought into Spotify aged 15 in 2009, then chucked £870,000 at Shots Studios.
• Madonna: Put £1.18m into Vita Coco coconut water and nearly sold it to Pepsi’s owner.

FAQs

Who’s made the most money?

Ans: Michael Jordan’s ~£2.37bn Hornets sale and Dr. Dre’s £2.53bn Beats deal lead the pack. Clooney’s billion-dollar tequila isn’t far behind.

Do celebs really out-earn their acting from business?

Ans: Loads do. For Rihanna and Jay-Z, the brands make way more than films or records.

What do they usually put their money in?

Ans: Booze, beauty, tech start-ups and property, mostly. Owning a stake is much better than a one-off paycheque.

Is Rihanna a billionaire because of acting?

Ans: Not a chance. It’s Fenty Beauty and Savage X Fenty that are driving her success, not her music or films.

How did Ashton Kutcher get so rich investing?

Ans: Through A-Grade Investments. Tiny early bets on Uber, Airbnb and Spotify turned into millions.

Sources & References

• Hola – Ryan Reynolds’ phone firm, Mint Mobile, went to T-Mobile in 2023 for around £1.07bn.

• Yahoo – Ashton Kutcher’s £395,000 investment in Uber in 2011 ballooned to £39.5m by 2016.

• Business Insider – Fenty Beauty clocked £57m in sales in the first month alone.

• Investopedia – Michael Jordan was crowned Celebrity Investor of the Year for his Charlotte Hornets stake.