This has been a year of record-setting in billionaire philanthropy. In September, Stewart and Lynda Resnick, owners of POM Wonderful and Fiji Water, pledged $750 million to the California Institute of Technology for environmental sustainability research. 



In June, Blackstone cofounder Stephen Schwarzman donated $189 million to the University of Oxford—the largest single gift to the school since the Renaissance—to fund its work on humanities. The same month, Broadcom billionaire Henry Samueli pledged $100 million to UCLA’s engineering school, the largest gift ever to the department. 



Forbes tracks gifts and pledges like these as part of our ongoing coverage of charitable giving by the country’s richest people.



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For the second year in a row, Forbes tracked the philanthropic giving of the richest 400 individuals in the U.S. and gave each member of The Forbes 400 list a philanthropy score. The score ranged from 1 to 5,  with 5 being the most philanthropic. List members for whom we could find no charitable giving information received an N.A. (not available).



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5da485de6763cb000608aa94/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Philanthropy Forbes 400"/><figcaption>FORBES</figcaption></figure>



Though the number of the biggest givers—those who scored a 5—stayed flat in 2019, those who received scores of 4 and 3 increased compared with a year ago. 



The changes reflect two things: The country’s richest have gotten somewhat more generous, and Forbes had more information to work with this year. Some billionaires were willing to share information on charitable giving for the 2019 list who didn’t in 2018. As a result, four dozen people got higher scores this year than a year ago. 



This year, Warren Buffett led the list of top givers with $38.8 billion in lifetime giving, which is 32% of his net worth, and earned the top score of 5. 



He was followed by last year’s biggest giver, Bill Gates, who has donated $38.5 billion so far. Two people who scored a 5 last year—Paul Allen and David Koch—passed away. 



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Billionaires like DreamWorks Pictures founder David Geffen and WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton moved up to the top score after each scored a 4 last year. According to the latest tax filings, Geffen gave $38 million to his foundation in 2017, which brought his lifetime giving to about $1 billion. 



Acton and his wife Tegan, on the other hand, have been expanding their philanthropic network, Wildcard Giving, which they founded in 2014 after Acton sold WhatsApp to Facebook. The couple has given away more than $1 billion to charitable causes.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5da48621cd594c000620fe51/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="2019 Forbes 400 Giving"/><figcaption>FORBES</figcaption></figure>



Forty-one billionaires, including Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings and software billionaire Philip “Terry” Ragon, got higher scores this year than last year. Some, like Stephen Schwarzman, earned a higher score thanks to giving in the past year. 



Others scored higher because we were able to find more information about their lifetime giving, through new public documents or details provided to us by Forbes 400 members or their spokespeople. In September, a Los Angeles Times report revealed that B. 



Wayne Hughes, cofounder of self-storage behemoth Public Storage, had anonymously donated about $400 million to the University of Southern California in his lifetime. Hughes, who scored a 2 last year, jumped up to a 4.



Private equity tycoon Robert F. Smith’s pledge in May to wipe out the student debt of the entire 2019 graduating class of Morehouse College generated lots of headlines but did not end up changing his score because the gift wasn’t big enough to move him up a notch. In many cases, fortunes grew faster than lifetime philanthropic giving. 



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To come up with the information on which we based our score,&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;reporters looked at tax filings for charitable foundations, annual statements, SEC filings and news about new gifts.&nbsp;When possible, we interviewed Forbes 400 members and executives from their foundations. Some Forbes 400 members said they have chosen to donate anonymously, citing religious or privacy concerns.&nbsp;



Our score is based on total lifetime giving and what percent of their fortune members had given away. We weighted these two factors equally. Some individuals were then bumped up or down based on several other factors, including whether they had signed the Giving Pledge, whether they had pledged significant donations, how personally involved they were in their charitable giving, and how quickly and effectively their private foundations distributed dollars. We didn’t count pledges or announced gifts that have yet to be paid out, but we took commitment to philanthropy—or lack thereof—into account.



Forbes has been tracking the wealth of the richest Americans since 1982. “Some of [the members] told us to drop dead,” James Michaels, veteran editor of Forbes, told the New York Times in a 1982 story about the list’s debut. “They said they wanted no part of it, that they’d sue us. 



This happens in reporting.” At times, our reporting on philanthropic giving received a similar response. “The new philanthropy ranking is fundamentally flawed, in that it is biased in favor of those who make their gifts widely known, and against donors who choose to make their charitable contributions anonymously,” one current Forbes 400 member (who did not wish to be named) wrote to us last year.



-Deniz Çam; Forbes

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These Are The Biggest Givers On The Forbes 400

Roger Federer,&nbsp;Novak Djokovic&nbsp;and&nbsp;Rafael Nadal&nbsp;are kicking off play at the U.S. Open as the three favorites to win the title and take home a Grand Slam-record $3.85 million payday as the singles champion. The Big Three are a good bet, having captured 53 out of 63 Slams since the start of 2004, including the last 11.



The on-court dominance has produced a combined $373 million in career prize money for the trio, light years ahead of their peers. But the money off the court is even sweeter for Federer, Djokovic and Nadal, to the tune of a cumulative $1.2 billion during their careers from endorsement partners and appearance fees.



Federer is the highest-paid tennis player for the 14th straight year, with $93.4 million from prize money, endorsements and appearance fees in the 12 months ending June 1. It is a record tally by a tennis player.



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His sponsor portfolio is unmatched in sports, with a dozen partners together paying him more than $60 million a year, well ahead of other global sports icons like&nbsp;Tiger Woods,&nbsp;LeBron James&nbsp;and&nbsp;Cristiano Ronaldo. 



Credit Federer’s long run at the top—his Slam titles span 15 years—and the strong demographics of tennis fans, who spend heavily on equipment, apparel, cars, watches and financial services. The global nature of the sport also allows brands to use the players in marketing around the world.



Federer turned 38 this month, and Father Time will catch up at some point, but Japanese apparel brand Uniqlo is&nbsp;betting $300 million&nbsp;that Federer will continue to resonate with fans long after he hangs up his racket. 



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After two decades with Nike, Federer signed a ten-year deal with Uniqlo last year that is guaranteed whether he is playing or not. In the coming months, Federer will also likely take back control of his RF logo, which stayed with Nike after their split.



After a two-year Slam drought, Djokovic has roared back to capture four of the past five majors. The titles helped push his 12-month earnings to $50.6 million, including $30 million off the court from appearances and sponsors Lacoste, Head, Asics, Seiko, NetJets and Ultimate Software. He ranks as the second-highest-paid tennis player.



Rounding out the top five players are&nbsp;Kei Nishikori&nbsp;($37.3 million), Nadal ($35 million) and&nbsp;Serena Williams&nbsp;($29.2 million).



Tennis is the only major sport in which women and men are in the same zip code in terms of earnings. The U.S. Open was the first Slam to offer equal payouts for the men’s and women’s events, and now each of the four Slams has equal pay. While Williams was the only woman to crack&nbsp;Forbes&#8216; 100&nbsp;highest-paid athletes&nbsp;this year, the top ten earners in tennis are split evenly between men and women.



The top ten collectively made $312 million,&nbsp;up 23% from last year, fueled by huge gains by Federer, Djokovic and&nbsp;Naomi Osaka. See the full top ten below.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">10. Sloane Stephens</h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/1142602393/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Mutua Madrid Open Masters v day 7"/><figcaption>GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



Total earnings: $9.6 million



Prize money: $4.1 million



Endorsements: $5.5 million



The 2017 U.S. Open champion returns to Flushing Meadows this year&nbsp;wearing a tennis shoe&nbsp;based on the “Aqua” colorway of Nike’s retro Air Jordan VIII. Her Nike pact, which began last year, is one of the biggest in the sport. Stephens recently announced her engagement to soccer star Jozy Altidore.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">9. Simona Halep</h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/1163387350/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="The Championships - Wimbledon 2019"/><figcaption>CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



Total earnings: $10.2 million



Prize money: $6.2 million



Endorsements: $4 million



Halep has won only one event in 2019, but it was a big one: Wimbledon, and its $3 million payday, her second career Grand Slam title. The Romanian pro counts Nike, Wilson, Mercedes-Benz and Hublot among her sponsors.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">8. Angelique Kerber</h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/1158622069/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Nature Valley International - Day Four"/><figcaption>GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



Total earnings: $11.3 million



Prize money: $5.3 million



Endorsements: $6 million



Kerber triggered lucrative bonuses from sponsors, namely Adidas, with her 2018 Wimbledon title and year-end rank of second in the world. In addition to Adidas, the German pro has also renewed deals with SAP, Generali and NetJets since Wimbleon and recently inked a new pact with Procter &amp; Gamble’s Head &amp; Shoulders brand. Other endorsements include Yonex, Porsche, Rolex and Lavazza.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">7. Alexander Zverev</h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/1160486313/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Rogers Cup Montreal - Day 8"/><figcaption>GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



Total earnings: $11.8 million



Prize money: $6.3 million



Endorsements: $5.5 million



The 22-year-old German is a rising star on the ATP Tour and has 11 career titles, including the 2018 year-end ATP Finals, which was worth $2.5 million in prize money. He has a large deal with Adidas, in addition to endorsements with Head, Peugeot, Richard Mille and Zegna.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">6. Naomi Osaka</h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/1168056730/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Western &amp; Southern Open - Day 5"/><figcaption>GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



Total earnings: $24.3 million



Prize money: $8.3 million



Endorsements: $16 million



Osaka will see her endorsement number soar even higher, having signed a series of deals since her 2018 U.S. Open win. The biggest is with Nike, which was inked just ahead of our June 1 cutoff and is worth an estimated $10 million annually. She also recently added a series of endorsement partners—Hyperice, BodyArmor and Muzik—where&nbsp;she received equity stakes&nbsp;in the businesses.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">5. Serena Williams</h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/1160435948/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Rogers Cup Toronto - Day 6"/><figcaption>GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



Total earnings: $29.2 million



Prize money: $4.2 million



Endorsements: $25 million



The world&#8217;s&nbsp;highest-paid female athlete&nbsp;four years running had a record year off the court after her return to tennis following the birth of daughter Olympia. She added deals with Pampers, Axa Financial and General Mills to her roster.&nbsp;Williams&#8217; next act is&nbsp;tackling venture investing, focused largely on companies led by women or people of color.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">4. Rafael Nadal</h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/1161098596/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Rogers Cup Montreal - Day 10"/><figcaption>GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



Total earnings: $35 million



Prize money: $9 million



Endorsements: $26 million



The Spaniard is one of the biggest draws in tennis and can command appearance fees of more than $1 million a pop. His primary sponsors include Nike, Babolat, Kia Motors, Telefónica, Richard Mille and Mapfre.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">3. Kei Nishikori</h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/1160287842/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="TENNIS: AUG 07 Coupe Rogers"/><figcaption>ICON SPORTSWIRE VIA GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



Total earnings: $37.3 million



Prize money: $4.3 million



Endorsements: $33 million



Nishikori and Zverev are the only non-Slam winners among the ten highest-paid tennis players. But Nishikori&#8217;s robust endorsement portfolio is fueled by his status as the most successful Japanese player ever. He is set to be one of the faces of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. His sponsors Asahi, NTT, Japan Airlines, Lixil, Procter &amp; Gamble and Nissin are all official Olympics partners.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">2. Novak Djokovic</h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/1168302451/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Western &amp; Southern Open - Day 6"/><figcaption>GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



Total earnings: $50.6 million



Prize money: $20.6 million



Endorsements: $30 million



There have been ten tennis seasons in which a player won more than $12 million in prize money. Djokovic owns seven of those years. His $135 million in career prize money has him $9 million ahead of Federer. Djokovic&#8217;s Lacoste endorsement is one of the richest deals in the sport.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">1. Roger Federer</h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/1161645059/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Day Eleven: The Championships - Wimbledon 2019"/><figcaption>GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



Total earnings: $93.4 million



Prize money: $7.4 million



Endorsements: $86 million



In addition to his blockbuster Uniqlo pact, Federer added a multimillion-dollar deal with Rimowa last year. The luggage brand joined Credit Suisse, Mercedes-Benz, Rolex, Moet &amp; Chandon, Barilla and others in Fed&#8217;s endorsement stable.



-Kurt Badenhausen; Forbes

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The Highest-Paid Tennis Players 2019: Roger Federer Scores A Record $93 Million

A bankable leading man is still one of Hollywood’s surest bets, even if your name isn’t Leonardo DiCaprio. While the lucrative twenty-twenty deal ($20 million upfront and 20% of gross profit) doled out to the likes of Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise may be more or less gone, Hollywood still has its big-money brands, those actors who can promise an audience so big that they command not only an eight-figure salary to show up on set but also a decent chunk of a film’s nebulous “pool”—or the money left over after some but not all of the bills are paid. 



Dwayne Johnson, also known as the Rock, tops the Forbes list of the world’s ten highest-paid actors, collecting $89.4 million between June 1, 2018, and June 1, 2019.



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“It has to be audience first. What does the audience want, and what is the best scenario that we can create that will send them home happy?” Johnson told Forbes in 2018.



It seems he makes the audience happy. Johnson has landed a pay formula as close to the famed twenty-twenty deal of yore as any star can get these days. He’ll collect an upfront salary of up to $23.5 million—his highest quote yet—for the forthcoming Jumanji: The Next Level. 



He also commands up to 15% of the pool from high-grossing franchise movies, including Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which had a worldwide box office of $962.1 million. And he is paid $700,000 per episode for HBO’s Ballers and seven figures in royalties for his line of clothing, shoes and headphones with Under Armour.



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While Johnson’s deal is the biggest in the business right now, he’s not the only one with a lucrative deal. Robert Downey Jr. gets $20 million upfront and nearly 8% of the pool for his role as Iron Man, and that amounted to about $55 million for his work in&nbsp;Avengers: Endgame, which grossed $2.796 billion at the box office.&nbsp;



That gross was so big that it secured spots on this year’s top-earner list for Chris Hemsworth, Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd, in addition to Downey; together, they earned $284 million, with most of that coming from the franchise.&nbsp;



“Celebrities such as Downey and (Scarlett) Johansson currently have extreme leverage to demand enormous compensation packages from studios investing hundreds of millions of dollars in making tent-pole films, such as The Avengers series,” entertainment lawyer David Chidekel of Early Sullivan Wright Gizer &amp; McRae told Forbes. 



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Cooper is the rare actor who can thank a bet on himself for his 2019 ranking. The actor earned only about 10% of his $57 million payday for voicing Rocket Raccoon in Avengers. 



Seventy percent came from A Star Is Born, the smaller musical drama that he directed, produced, cowrote and starred in with Lady Gaga. The movie was a passion project for Cooper, and he forfeited any upfront salary to go into the film and Gaga’s salary. It paid off—the movie, which had a production budget of only $36 million, grossed $435 million worldwide, leaving Cooper with an estimated $40 million. 



The full list is below. Earnings estimates are based on data from Nielsen, ComScore, Box Office Mojo and IMDB, as well as interviews with industry insiders. All figures are pretax; fees for agents, managers and lawyers (generally 10%, 15% and 5%, respectively) are not deducted.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">The World’s Highest-Paid Actors Of 2019</h4>



10. Will Smith



Earnings: $35 million



9. Paul Rudd



Earnings: $41 million



8. Chris Evans



Earnings: $43.5 million



6. Adam Sandler (tie)



Earnings: $57 million



6. Bradley Cooper (tie)



Earnings: $57 million



5. Jackie Chan



Earnings: $58 million



4. Akshay Kumar



Earnings: $65 million



3. Robert Downey Jr.



Earnings: $66 million



2. Chris Hemsworth



Earnings: $76.4 million



1. Dwayne Johnson



-Madeline Berg; Forbes

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The Highest-Paid Actors 2019: Dwayne Johnson, Bradley Cooper And Chris Hemsworth

Gripping a lukewarm Heineken, Jim Gaffigan hunches his six-foot-one frame over a peeling table in the green room of the An Grianán Theatre in Letterkenny, Ireland. Summer nights are never terribly hot in these parts, but this one is warm enough to need some air conditioning, which the theater almost never uses. It’s hardly a glamorous moment. But then again, glamour isn’t really his thing.



“There’s nothing sexy about Jim Gaffigan,” he says, sweat dotting his brow. “I’m not young. I don’t have a full head of hair. I’m out of shape. I don’t talk about having dinner with Kanye.”



Fortunately for him, he is funny. Just ask the more than 300,000 people in 15 countries who’ve paid an average of $56 to see his latest routine. For the 53-year-old father of five, it’s been a grueling schedule: more than 75 cities in the past year, including whistle-stops like Letterkenny, a northern community of 20,000 that was once lauded as the Republic’s “tidiest town.”



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They may not offer much sizzle, but places like this are the lifeblood of Gaffigan’s business. He has raked in $30 million this year, putting him at No. 3 on&nbsp;Forbes’ list of the highest-earning stand-up comedians. Half of that was earned by putting “butts in seats.” 



The rest comes from spreading his punch lines far and wide. And in this business, if those jokes are funny enough—and your reach wide enough—you can fill a lot of seats with a lot of butts. With the right distribution deal, those jokes can deliver exponential returns. But that’s where it gets a bit tricky.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“In the entertainment industry, every house is made of ice and it’s melting,” Gaffigan says. “So you’d better be building a new house.” &nbsp;</blockquote>



Gaffigan’s been building. In 2016, he agreed to partner with Netflix, the industry’s dominant force and home to original specials from all but one of the comedians on&nbsp;Forbes’ ranking. Last year he cut loose from the kingmaker and placed a bigger bet on himself, pairing up with Comedy Dynamics, an independent producer, to release his next special everywhere&nbsp;but&nbsp;Netflix.&nbsp;



Gaffigan will star in the first original stand-up special on Amazon, which is going after the streaming giant with a push into comedy.&nbsp;Quality Time&nbsp;goes live today, and it can be shopped on the open streaming market when its exclusive run with Amazon Prime Video is up in two years. And that market is only expanding.



Gaffigan has learned a bit about home building in the entertainment industry. He cut his teeth on the club circuit in the early 1990s, when HBO was the primary destination for stand-up specials and Comedy Central was a fledgling cable network. 



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In 2000, he landed what was then the holy grail of comedy success—a broadcast sitcom—which was the source of the fortunes the creators of&nbsp;Seinfeld&nbsp;and&nbsp;Roseanne&nbsp;minted once they had enough seasons on the air and could sell the series into syndication.



Gaffigan’s shot proved to be short-lived, but six years later he scored a second chance and headlined a Comedy Central special called&nbsp;Beyond the Pale. This time it paid dividends, landing him his first theater show a month later. The butts were now coming to the seats, and while his rise was live, in person, with microphone in hand, his breakout was digital.



At the time, YouTube was changing the rules of the game, providing comedians a global platform with unprecedented distribution. Then Twitter emerged, giving comedy bookers a real-time assessment of who was attracting audiences. 



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Then came the debut of streaming on Netflix, which latched onto comedy as a cheap and effective way to lure subscribers, while some, notably the now disgraced Louis C.K., used streaming to control their own distribution, making their shows available for fans to purchase directly.



“It was a technological wave that crashed over the stand-up world,” says Wayne Federman, a comedian and professor of the history of stand-up at the University of Southern California. “And we’re still all trying to figure out what’s going on.”



Gaffigan’s first original Netflix special aired in 2017, long after the company had reshaped the industry. It was a promising place to be: Aziz Ansari and Ali Wong were propelled into superstar status through their Netflix specials, while household names like&nbsp;Dave Chappelle&nbsp;and&nbsp;Jerry Seinfeld&nbsp;reportedly cashed in with $60 million (Chappelle) and $100 million (Seinfeld) paydays in exchange for long-term, multi-program deals. Gaffigan’s first special,&nbsp;Cinco, sold for a more modest seven-figure sum.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5d56bc6f95808800097cfe79/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Jim Gaffigan stand up comedy specials for Netflix and Amazon Original"/><figcaption>COURTESY</figcaption></figure>



It was more than just a check; it was access to a potential audience of nearly 94 million. Although Netflix’s subscriber base has grown since then, so has its stand-up library. The platform now shops nearly four times the number of original stand-up specials than when&nbsp;Cinco&nbsp;debuted. 



That makes it harder to stand out in the scroll. Plus, the streamer often holds onto specials in perpetuity, including&nbsp;Cinco. The up-front money is nice, but there is no ability to earn on the back end.&nbsp;



Gaffigan used his next special, 2018’s&nbsp;Noble Ape, which was directed and cowritten by his wife, Jeannie Gaffigan, to test the waters. Comedy Dynamics bought the rights and made it available everywhere Netflix wasn’t. It had a theatrical release and could be purchased and rented on multiple services, including&nbsp; iTunes, YouTube and Walmart’s VUDU. 



Later, there were short streaming windows on Comedy Central and Amazon Prime. According to Comedy Dynamics CEO Brian Volk-Weiss, it was even syndicated to planes and cruise ships. The up-front payment to Gaffigan from Comedy Dynamics was lower than at Netflix, but the wide distribution allowed him to earn on the back end, bringing in a total of $10 million, according to&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;estimates.



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And new services are on the way from Apple,&nbsp;WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal and&nbsp;Disney, any one of which could choose to pursue cheap-to-produce and popular stand-up specials.&nbsp;



Because of this widening field, stand-up specials may have more life (and revenue) in them, and that could be good for comedians looking to gamble on their success with deals that offer back-end participation. “We have titles in our library that are making more in year 12 than they made in year one,” says Volk-Weiss, whose company also owns specials by Bob Saget, Iliza Shlesinger and Janeane Garofalo.



Still, leaving Netflix means walking away from a partner that has now established itself as a formidable entertainment company. Netflix has some 180 original hour-long stand-up specials and is singularly focused on exploiting content around the world. Gaffigan, though, is content to keep the bet on himself.



“In the entertainment industry, every house is made of ice and it’s melting. So you’d better be building a new house.&#8221;



In the stuffy backstage room in Letterkenny, Gaffigan reviews some of the new material he tried out on stage. A joke about Ireland’s nonsensical roads killed it. He stumbled with a bit about the English. The classics played well—“My dad never went to a parent-teacher conference; my dad didn’t know I went to school.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



And he’s well aware that Amazon’s core mission is to sell stuff, even though it&nbsp;has won critical acclaim&nbsp;for shows like&nbsp;The&nbsp;Marvelous Mrs. Maisel&nbsp;and&nbsp;Transparent. With plans to deliver three more specials over the next five years, he’s got time to see just how good a partner the retailer might be. Along the way, he may decide it’s time to find a new neighborhood.



“The reason I went to Amazon is to expand my audience,” he says. “I don’t know what they’re gonna do and I don’t fully understand their marketing might. I might be pleasantly surprised. I mean, it’s a huge corporation. They could probably make more selling socks.”



-Ariel Shapiro; Forbes

gettyimages-1155926373-594×594

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Back in 2007,&nbsp;Jay-Z made a bold statement&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2010/12/14/jay-z-50-cent-and-diddy-i-get-money-forbes-1-2-3-billion-dollar-remix/#283e75c86ec2" target="_blank">in song</a>&nbsp;about both his lyrical prowess and his future financial fortunes: “I’m already the G.O.A.T.–next stop is the billie.”



Sure enough,&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2019/06/03/jay-z-billionaire-worth/#70f0b90d3a5f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">declared</a>&nbsp;him hip-hop’s first billionaire earlier this month. The news caught the attention of observers around the world—not only due to the breadth of Jay-Z’s financial achievement, but because of what it means for others looking to follow in his footsteps.



“Jay-Z’s entire life is the real blueprint,” says hip-hop pioneer Fab 5 Freddy, longtime host of the show&nbsp;Yo! MTV Raps. “He’s one of the best examples in our lifetime of one who’s truly achieved the American dream and billionaire status.”



Naturally, Jay-Z tops this year’s ranking of hip-hop’s richest stars. Who will be the next billionaire from the rap world? The answer is almost certainly one of the names below.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5d010d70142c50000a32b592/960x0.jpg?cropX1=1&amp;cropX2=4689&amp;cropY1=693&amp;cropY2=3126" alt="richest rappers Drake"/><figcaption>GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">5. Drake</h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">$150 million</h3>



The 32-year-old Canadian is the youngest on this list by a decade, but he’s quickly gaining ground on hip-hop’s elder statesmen. Drake’s fortune grew 50% over the past year, boosted by holdings ranging from real estate to his Virginia Black whiskey, as well as a lucrative tour and new residency at the XS Nightclub in Las Vegas.



“Every year, we just want to get more prepared and better at touring and better at things that make money,” he&nbsp;told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;in 2013 (his average gross has since surged from $500,000 to more than $2 million per stop). “That’s pretty much my objective every year, other than making good music.”



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5d010dbe4c687b0008596731/960x0.jpg?cropX1=4&amp;cropX2=4698&amp;cropY1=679&amp;cropY2=3122" alt="richest rappers Kanye"/><figcaption>GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">4. Kanye West</h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">$240 million</h3>



A onetime protégé of Jay-Z, the superproducer has been making headlines recently for his Sunday Service, an invitation-only get-together mostly in Southern California that is&nbsp;reportedly&nbsp;frequented by the likes of Courtney Love and Tyler, the Creator. He took the show on the road in April for a Coachella service on Easter Sunday featuring appearances by Chance the Rapper, DMX and a gospel choir—while&nbsp;hawking&nbsp;socks and “holy spirit” sweatshirts. But selling church clothes alone won’t be enough to push West into ten-figure territory.



Despite&nbsp;declaring&nbsp;himself $53 million in debt and beseeching Mark Zuckerberg for $1 billion to fund future creations in 2016, West makes his debut on this list thanks to a another patron: Adidas, which lured West and his Yeezy shoe line from Nike several years ago. Our accounting of West’s wealth is almost entirely predicated on a conservative estimate of that brand’s value. As it continues to scale up, he could one day join his sister-in-law, Kylie Jenner, as a billionaire.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5d010ee84c687b0008596780/960x0.jpg?cropX1=1&amp;cropX2=4697&amp;cropY1=804&amp;cropY2=3128" alt="richest rappers Diddy"/><figcaption>GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">3. Diddy</h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">$740 million</h3>



“I started my business career at age 12, delivering newspapers,” Diddy explained two years ago in our centennial issue, where we named him one of the world’s greatest living business minds. “Since then, I’ve always understood that if I give the customers my best and service them differently, whether music, clothing or vodka, I’ll get a return on my hard work.”



The artist formerly known as Puff Daddy dips to No. 3 on this list as industry trends weigh on some of his holdings, including cable network Revolt and clothing line Sean John (though Diddy has sold much of his stake in the latter, he retains a sizeable piece). But Ciroc, the main driver of his fortune, is growing again after case volumes fell from all-time highs in recent years—making the impresario perhaps the most likely candidate to join Jay-Z in the billion-dollar club.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5d010e3234a5c40008482a48/960x0.jpg?cropX1=0&amp;cropX2=4695&amp;cropY1=603&amp;cropY2=3131" alt="richest rappers dr dre"/><figcaption>GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">2. Dr. Dre</h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">$800 million</h3>



It’s been five years since Dr. Dre proclaimed himself a billionaire, but&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;still doesn’t agree with the assessment made in the wake of Apple’s $3 billion 2014 purchase of his Beats By Dr. Dre headphone line. The superproducer owned an estimated 20%-25% of the company at the time; of the $2.6 billion Apple paid upfront in cash, another $295 million was&nbsp;earmarked&nbsp;to cover debt payments, leaving Dre with a little over $500 million.



Even with the vesting of his final slug of Apple stock last summer, Dre hasn’t quite made it into billionaire territory. He has spent heavily over the years on property (he&nbsp;paid&nbsp;$40 million for Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen’s Los Angeles estate) and charitable donations (along with Beats cofounder Jimmy Iovine, he&nbsp;gave&nbsp;$70 million to start a school at USC). And with his formal involvement at Apple seemingly wrapping up, Dre will likely need to get back on the festival circuit—or start a new company—if he’s to make good on his 2014 declaration.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5d010e694c687b0008596774/960x0.jpg?cropX1=10&amp;cropX2=4698&amp;cropY1=739&amp;cropY2=3130" alt="richest rappers jay-z"/><figcaption>GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">1. Jay-Z</h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">$1 billion</h3>



Though he’s hip-hop’s first billionaire, Jay-Z’s lead on the rest of the pack is even larger if his entire family fortune is taken into consideration: He and wife Beyoncé are now worth a combined $1.4 billion. So much for the notion that music is a dying business.



“To convince artists that you can’t be an artist and make money … was the greatest trick in music that people ever pulled off,” Jay-Z&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/1011/rich-list-10-omaha-warren-buffett-jay-z-steve-forbes-summit-interview.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;in 2010. “I think the people that were making the millions said that.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Methodology</h3>



<h5 class="wp-block-heading">In order to compile our ranking of the richest rappers, we use the same procedures employed in the calculation of our annual&nbsp;billionaires list: poring over financial documents, valuing major assets, and consulting with analysts, managers, attorneys and other industry insiders.</h5>



Cover photographs: Getty Images (Dr. Dre: AP Images)



-Zack O&#8217;Malley Greenburg; Forbes Staff

hiphop

Hip-Hop’s Next Billionaires: Richest Rappers 2019

Major League Baseball had a staggering run this year when, over a four-week period, a quartet of its biggest stars—Nolan Arenado, Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and Mike Trout—signed blockbuster, long-term deals&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2019/04/01/baseballs-highest-paid-players-2019-mike-trout-leads-with-39-million/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">worth a combined $1.3 billion</a>. They ranked as four of the biggest playing contracts in the history of sports.



The deals will create generational wealth for their families, but only Trout, ranked 17th with $50.6 million, cracks the top 20 of the&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/athletes/" target="_blank">world’s highest-paid athletes</a>. 



The difference: Those four baseball stars generate barely $10 million in combined endorsement income while the top earners in basketball, soccer, tennis and golf all individually bank at least $30 million from sponsors annually; eight of the 11 best-paid athletes come from those four sports.



READ MORE | <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Lionel Messi Claims Top Spot on Forbes’ 2019 List Of The World’s 100 Highest-Paid Athletes (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/sport/2019/06/11/lionel-messi-claims-top-spot-on-forbes-2019-list-of-the-worlds-100-highest-paid-athletes/" target="_blank">Lionel Messi Claims Top Spot on Forbes’ 2019 List Of The World’s 100 Highest-Paid Athletes</a>



Most of the athletes ranked above Trout follow a similar path: Reach the highest levels of a global sport, and marketers swarm with endorsement deals to pitch their wares around the world.



 Barcelona soccer legend Lionel Messi leads the way on this year&#8217;s list with $127 million, including $35 million off the pitch from partners Adidas, MasterCard, PepsiCo and more. Messi translates into every language.



Messi is only the fourth athlete to land in the No. 1 spot over the past 19 years, joining Tiger Woods (12 times), Floyd Mayweather (4) and Cristiano Ronaldo (2). 



Messi succeeds Mayweather, who failed to get in the ring for a pro bout over the past 12 months but is likely still counting last year&#8217;s&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2018/06/13/full-list-the-worlds-highest-paid-athletes-2018/" target="_blank">$285 million haul</a>, which he earned largely from his 2017 bout against UFC star Conor McGregor.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">READ MORE | <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="The World's Highest-Paid Athletes (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbes.com/athletes/#447d3f055ae5" target="_blank">The World&#8217;s Highest-Paid Athletes</a></h4>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Messi is joined by fellow global soccer icons Cristiano Ronaldo ($109 million) and Neymar ($105 million) at the top this year. It is the first time that soccer players have ranked as the top three earners in sports since Forbes began tracking athlete earnings in 1990.



Elite stars in other global sports are also extremely marketable on any continent. Roger Federer ranks fifth with $93.4 million, including $86 million off the court. 



Federer will turn 38 in August and is a dinosaur in tennis years. Yet Japanese apparel brand Uniqlo signed the 20-time Grand Slam winner in 2018 to a&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2018/07/02/roger-federers-uniqlo-deal-pushes-his-endorsement-earnings-to-the-worlds-highest/" target="_blank">10-year contract worth $300 million</a>. Federer has a dozen sponsors looking to tap the cash-rich tennis fan demographic.



Basketball&#8217;s leading trio of LeBron James ($89 million), Stephen Curry ($79.8 million) and Kevin Durant ($65.4 million) rank seventh through ninth, having earned a combined $130 million beyond their respective playing salaries. 



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Their shoe deals, with Nike (James, Durant) and Under Armour (Curry), are by far the biggest endorsement for each player and dwarf what an MLB player can earn pitching baseball cleats and gear.



Sportswear brands, including Adidas, have used NBA stars in China for more than a decade to help establish a foothold in the world&#8217;s biggest market, sending big names like James and Durant there every summer on promotional tours. The NBA estimates&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/shlomosprung/2019/03/04/nba-china-ceo-derek-chang-takes-us-inside-nbas-push-to-make-basketball-worlds-most-popular-sport/#63a2ef0151b0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">640 million people</a>&nbsp;in China watched some kind of NBA programming during the 2017-18 season—that&#8217;s nearly twice the population of the U.S.



Golf is another sport that reaches almost every corner of the globe, and no golfer has benefited more than Tiger Woods: He has made $1.4 billion during his career from endorsements and appearance fees, more than 10 times his prize money, and his net worth is a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2018/12/18/tiger-woods-net-worth-800-million-in-2018/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">staggering $800 million</a>. Woods ranks 11th on this year&#8217;s athletes list with earnings of $63.9 million, including $54 million off the course.



Tiger roared back over the past 12 months with his first win in five years (Tour Championship) and his first major title in 11 years (The Masters). Last year, he signed an exclusive multi-year global content partnership with Discovery&#8217;s GolfTV. Head-to-head matches are part of the deal, and most will take place outside the U.S.



The 100 highest-paid athletes earned a combined $4 billion over the past 12 months, up 5% over the previous year. The increase jumps to 16% if you strip out the one-time stimulus of the 2017 Mayweather-McGregor fight. Endorsements fueled much of the gains, with sponsor-driven income at $987 million, up 12% from the previous year.



Overall, athletes from 10 sports and 25 countries made the top 100. Basketball (35 athletes) is the most dominant sport, and Americans (62) are the most dominant nationality.



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Tennis ace Serena Williams ranked 63rd with $29.2 million, including $25 million off the court. She is the only woman to crack the top 100 for the second time in three years.&nbsp;



<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2018/06/07/why-no-women-ranked-among-the-worlds-100-highest-paid-athletes/" target="_blank">No female athletes qualified last year</a>, when Williams was just returning to tennis after a 12-month layoff for her pregnancy and the birth of her daughter, Olympia. Williams is lining up her next act with a new clothing line and&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2019/06/03/inside-serena-williams-plan-to-ace-venture-investing/" target="_blank">a venture capital fund</a>focused on investing in female and minority founders.



Our earnings include prize money, salaries and bonuses earned between June 1, 2018, and June 1, 2019. Endorsement incomes are an estimate of sponsorships, appearance fees and licensing incomes for the same 12-month period (click&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2019/06/11/behind-the-numbers-of-the-top-earning-athletes-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>&nbsp;for a more detailed methodology and the numbers behind the top 100).



-Kurt Badenhausen; Forbes Staff

gettyimages-1142682752-594×594

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“Got that dinero on my mind,” Beyoncé and Jay-Z wrote on the third track of their surprise album&nbsp;Everything is Love, which came out last June.&nbsp;A year later, it’s clear that the couple wasn’t just taking poetic license: With Jay-Z’s<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2019/06/03/jay-z-billionaire-worth/#12477d163a5f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;newly minted</a>&nbsp;status as a billionaire and Beyoncé’s place on<a href="https://www.forbes.com/self-made-women/list/#tab:overall" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;Forbes’ richest self-made women list</a>, the music moguls are one of America’s wealthiest couples.



It’s been a banner year for the married couple, whose combined net worth now totals an estimated $1.4 billion. Jay-Z, whose steadily growing portfolio of businesses includes liquor, art, real estate and stakes in companies like Uber, is the first hip-hop artist to become a billionaire. 



Meanwhile Beyoncé , whose fortune increased to an estimated $400 million from $355 million last year thanks to continued touring and an album release, ranks No. 51 on Forbes 2019 list of America’s most successful self-made women (up two places from last year).



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Their combined net worth of $1.4 billion makes the music moguls one of the 10 most successful husband-and-wife teams in the country, and certainly the most recognizable. &nbsp;Unlike many other couples who founded businesses together, they both struck it rich with complementary but separate businesses. Beyoncé’s wealth comes mostly from earnings from touring, music sales and merchandise. 



Her husband, on the other hand, amassed most of his wealth from his ownership of Armand de Brignac champagne, investments, his cognac partnership with Bacardi and his own music career, among other sources. Both Beyoncé and Jay-Z have stakes in music streaming service Tidal.



Other entrepreneurial husband-and-wife teams might not be as famous, but their businesses are well known. Do Won and Jin Sook Chang came from South Korea in 1981 in search of better opportunities. “At the time [people in] South Korea weren’t living as well,” Do Won told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/gracechung/2016/10/05/exclusive-interview-with-one-of-americas-most-successful-immigrants-forever-21s-do-won-chang/#b1bfeea42ab0" target="_blank">in 2016</a>. 



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He worked three jobs as a dishwasher, gas station attendant and office cleaner while she worked in a hair salon. They saved up and in 1984 opened a clothing store. Today they co-own and run Forever 21, a clothing empire with over 815 stores &nbsp;and $4 billion in sales. Their combined net worth is $3 billion.



Another couple, the Cherngs, found success together through food. Andrew Cherng opened a Chinese restaurant with his father in 1973. His wife Peggy, who had a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and held positions at 3M and the U.S. Navy,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/peggy-cherng/?list=self-made-women#66ed56262c04" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gave it all up</a>&nbsp;to help her husband expand the one restaurant into a Chinese fast-food chain. That chain, Panda Express, along with several other fast casual chains the couple owns stakes in, have brought the Cherngs’ combined net worth to $3.4 billion.



Sometimes the strength of a husband-wife partnership comes from their ability to support one another. This was the<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.forbesindia.com/article/cross-border/the-ozmens-galactic-gamble/50973/1" target="_blank">&nbsp;case</a>&nbsp;for Eren Ozmen and her husband Fatih, the president and CEO team behind aerospace giant Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC). 



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Before they were a couple, Fatih encouraged Eren to pursue an M.B.A. (the couple originally met at Ankara University in Turkey before separately immigrating to the U.S.). 



Once they were married, Eren put her business school training to good use by helping automate the financial reports at Fatih&#8217;s employer, a then-struggling SNC. Eventually, the couple decided to buy the company and took the business from the verge of bankruptcy to a top military contractor.



While building a vast fortune is rare for couples running businesses together, it has been a winning formula for some women: Nearly one fourth of those on&nbsp;Forbes’ 2019 self-made women list achieved their fortunes through businesses they cofounded with their husbands (though some now are widows or have since divorced).



Below are the 10 wealthiest self-made husband and wife teams in the nation:



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">1. Tom &amp; Judy Love</h4>



Net worth:&nbsp;$5.9 Billion



Tom and Judy Love leased their first gas station in Watonga, Oklahoma, with a $5,000 loan from Tom’s parents. Now Love’s Travel Stops &amp; Country Stores has more than 430 locations in 41 states.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/949970772/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="LACMA 2018 Collectors Committee Gala"/><figcaption>Stewart and Lynda Resnick cofounded The Wonderful Company, which owns Fiji Water and mandarin Halos.&nbsp;STEFANIE KEENAN/GETTY IMAGES FOR LACMA</figcaption></figure></div>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">2. &nbsp;Lynda &amp; Stewart Resnick</h4>



Net worth:&nbsp;$5.6 Billion



The couple are the force behind snack and drink conglomerate the Wonderful Co., known for Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice, Halos mandarin oranges and Fiji water. The couple is also known for philanthropy, giving millions of dollars to educational causes and earning the #29 spot on Forbes&#8217;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/top-givers/#7d030d4566ff" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">list&nbsp;</a>of top givers.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/488125078/960x0.jpg?cropX1=200&amp;cropX2=1800&amp;cropY1=166&amp;cropY2=1500" alt="Diane Von Furstenberg - Front Row - Spring 2016 New York Fashion Week"/><figcaption>Barry Diller (left) and Diane von Furstenberg run their own businesses in separate industries.DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure></div>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">3. Diane von Furstenberg &amp; Barry Diller</h4>



Net worth: $4 billion



Diller is founder, senior executive and chairman at internet and media conglomerate IAC,. His wife Von Furstenberg is the designer and founder of the eponymous fashion label. Diller owns one third of DVF, while Von Furstenberg and her two children from a previous marriage own the rest. &nbsp;



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5cfad39534a5c4000847c924/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="The Cherngs At Panda Express"/><figcaption>Peggy and Andrew Cherng own and run $3.5 billion (sales) Chinese fast-food chain Panda Express. (Photo by Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images)GETTY</figcaption></figure></div>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">4. Peggy &amp; Andrew Cherng</h4>



Net Worth:&nbsp;$3.4



In addition to fast-food chain Panda Express, the Cherngs also own stakes in Urbane Cafe, Just Salad, Uncle Tetsu, Pieology and Ippudo.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">5. Jin Sook &amp; Do Won Chang</h4>



Net Worth:&nbsp;$3 billion



The Changs’ clothing retailing business is all in the family—the couple’s nieces work at the company as do their daughters, who launched Forever 21’s beauty brand Riley Rose.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/42328010/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="PENCE SPACE SYMPOSIUM"/><figcaption>U.S. Vice President Mike Pence (center) joins Sierra Nevada co-founders Eren and Fatih Ozmen at the 34th Space Symposium.&nbsp;MATHEW STAVER/© 2018 BLOOMBERG FINANCE LP</figcaption></figure></div>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">6. Eren &amp; Fatih Ozmen</h4>



Net Worth:&nbsp;$2.8 billion



The Ozmens built their defense contractor Sierra Nevada Corp. through a series of some 20 acquisitions. Describing their strategy, Eren told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesdigitalcovers/2018/07/11/meet-the-unknown-immigrant-billionaire-betting-her-fortune-to-take-on-musk-in-space/#6fac017c5f0d" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Forbes&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;last year: &nbsp;“Our guys go hunting, and they bring me this giant bear and say, ‘Now you do the skinning and clean it up.’ ”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">7.Neerja Sethi &amp; Bharat Desai</h4>



Net worth:&nbsp;$2.4 billion



Sethi and Desai cofounded IT consulting and outsourcing firm Syntel out of their Troy, Michigan, apartment in 1980. In October 2018, French IT company Atos SE bought Syntel for $3.4 billion.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">8. Weili Dai &amp; Sehat Sutardja</h4>



Net Worth:&nbsp;$2 billion



The couple headed semiconductor company Marvell Technology for 11 years until they were forced out as a result of an internal accounting investigation in 2016. Neither was found guilty of any fraudulent activity. The couple has diversified their investments into real estate and technology.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">9. Kit Crawford &amp; Gary Erickson</h4>



Net Worth:&nbsp;$1.8 billion



The couple behind Clif Bar met at Erickson’s bakery, where Crawford was working part-time. They each have a 40% stake in the company.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">10. Beyoncé &amp; Jay-Z</h4>



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Net Worth:&nbsp;$1.4 billion



The musicians have shown distinct business savvy, giving users of Tidal, the music streaming service the couple partially owns, exclusive access to their albums.



-Catherine Perloff; Forbes Staff

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Beyoncé And Jay-Z’s Combined Billion-Dollar Fortune Makes Them One Of The Richest Self-Made Couples

Forbes&nbsp;today released its annual ranking of the&nbsp;World’s 100 Highest-Paid&nbsp;athletes, who collectively earned $4 billion over the last 12 months, up 5% from last year’s earnings of $3.8 billion.&nbsp;



Lionel Messi&nbsp;was named the world’s highest-paid athlete for the first time, up from second place last year, with $127 million in total earnings. 



Messi unseats&nbsp;Floyd Mayweather,&nbsp;who held the crown last year, and was the leader four times in seven years. Behind Messi is longtime rival&nbsp;Cristiano Ronaldo&nbsp;(No. 2), who earned $109 million between his salary and endorsements.&nbsp;



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Serena Williams&nbsp;(No. 63) returned to the ranking, after no women appeared in 2018. Cost of admission to the 2019 list is the highest ever at $25 million, up $2.1 million from the previous year. Endorsement income experienced an increase of 12.5% to $987 million this year.



“The global impact of soccer is clearly reflected in earnings in 2019, with the top three athletes on the list being Messi, Ronaldo, and Neymar,” said&nbsp;Kurt Badenhausen, senior editor, Forbes Media. 



“But basketball players continue to dominate the top 100 overall with 35 athletes on the list earning a total of $1.29 billion, with 72% of that income coming from salaries rather than endorsement deals.”



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/billionaires/2019/06/03/artist-icon-billionaire-how-jay-z-created-his-1-billion-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Artist, Icon, Billionaire: How Jay-Z Created His $1 Billion Fortune (opens in a new tab)">Artist, Icon, Billionaire: How Jay-Z Created His $1 Billion Fortune</a>



The list of elite athletes consists of players from ten different sports. NBA stars lead with 35 basketball players among the top 100, down from 40 in 2018, headed by&nbsp;LeBron James&nbsp;(No. 8 with $89 million). 



Football was the next most-represented sport with 19 players, followed by baseball with 15, and soccer with 12.



There are 25 different countries represented on this year’s World’s Highest-Paid Athletes list, up from 22 in 2018. Americans dominate the action with 62 athletes thanks to the sky-high salaries in the major sports leagues. 



The U.K. has five athletes, France and Spain have three, while Brazil, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Serbia and Venezuela all have two.



Methodology:&nbsp;



Our earnings include prize money, salaries and bonuses earned between June 1, 2018 and June 1, 2019. Endorsement incomes are an estimate of sponsorships, appearance fees and licensing incomes for the same 12-month period based on conversations with dozens of industry insiders. We do not deduct for taxes or agents’ fees, and we don’t include investment income.



The World’s Top 10 Highest-Paid Athletes in 2019:



<table class="wp-block-table"><tbody><tr><td>Rank</td><td>Athlete</td><td>Sport</td><td>Salary/Winnings ($mil)</td><td>Endorsements ($mil)</td><td>Total Earnings ($mil)</td></tr><tr><td>1</td><td>Lionel Messi</td><td>Soccer</td><td>92</td><td>35</td><td>127</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>Cristiano Ronaldo</td><td>Soccer</td><td>65</td><td>44</td><td>109</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>Neymar</td><td>Soccer</td><td>75</td><td>30</td><td>105</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>Canelo Alvarez</td><td>Boxing</td><td>92</td><td>2</td><td>94</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>Roger Federer</td><td>Tennis</td><td>7.4</td><td>86</td><td>93.4</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>Russell Wilson</td><td>Football</td><td>80.5</td><td>9</td><td>89.5</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>Aaron Rodgers</td><td>Football</td><td>80.3</td><td>9</td><td>89.3</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>LeBron James</td><td>Basketball</td><td>36</td><td>53</td><td>89</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>Stephen Curry</td><td>Basketball</td><td>37.8</td><td>42</td><td>79.8</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>Kevin Durant</td><td>Basketball</td><td>30.4</td><td>35</td><td>65.4</td></tr></tbody></table>



-Forbes Corporate Communications; Forbes Staff

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Lionel Messi Claims Top Spot on Forbes’ 2019 List Of The World’s 100 Highest-Paid Athletes

There was a time when it seemed Google could do no wrong—and then came “<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3914586-Googles-Ideological-Echo-Chamber.html" target="_blank">the memo</a>.” Penned by a former software engineer critical of the company’s diversity initiatives, the now infamous 2017 document tarnished the tech titan’s reputation. But CEO <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/vickyvalet/2018/05/17/the-worlds-most-reputable-ceos-2018/" target="_blank">Sundar Pichai emerged unscathed</a>, thanks in part to the transparent way he managed the crisis. 



Two years later, though, troubles ranging from <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2018/10/31/googlers-walk-out-over-sexual-harassment-here-are-the-lessons-for-google/" target="_blank">employee protests</a> over the organization’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.blog.google/technology/safety-security/expediting-changes-google-plus/" target="_blank">data breaches</a> widespread enough to warrant the shuttering of Google Plus appear to have proved too much for even the Valley’s most trusted leader, and as the business has faltered, so, too, has its CEO. 



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“Sundar Pichai, celebrated as the most reputable CEO in the world last year, didn’t make the top ten at all this year,” says Stephen Hahn-Griffiths of the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.reputationinstitute.com/" target="_blank">Reputation Institute</a>, a reputation measurement and management services firm. For the second year in a row, RI has published the Global CEO RepTrak, a study of chief executive reputation. 



This year’s ranking reveals an average two-point increase in the reputations of the world’s CEOs, a trend that mirrors the one-point increase in the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/vickyvalet/2019/03/07/the-worlds-most-reputable-companies-2019/" target="_blank">reputations of the world’s companies</a>. The driving force behind both, Hahn-Griffiths says, is corporate responsibility.



“There was a time and a place when it was good enough for leaders to deliver on financial performance, new products and innovative agendas, but that paradigm has changed,” he explains. “Social responsibility, employee responsibility and environmental responsibility—that’s 32% of the weight of reputation of any given CEO.”



With that in mind, it’s no wonder that Pichai, whose identity as a leader is so inextricably linked to that of his company, fell from the top ten, and he’s far from alone: Eight of the CEOs who appeared in the upper echelon of <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/vickyvalet/2018/05/17/the-worlds-most-reputable-ceos-2018/" target="_blank">last year’s list</a>—including Kraft Heinz Company CEO Bernardo Hees, Mondelēz International CEO Dirk Van de Put and LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner—failed to return this time, their descents making room for the rise of some newcomers, among them Ben van Beurden.



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At first glance, the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell might seem an unlikely candidate to rank high on a list of this nature. After all, not only has the energy sector long been regarded by the general public as one without much of a moral compass, but the business Van Beurden leads isn’t counted among the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/vickyvalet/2019/03/07/the-worlds-most-reputable-companies-2019/" target="_blank">world’s most reputable</a>. 



None of this is news to him, and since rising to the helm in 2014, he’s made rewriting the narrative a priority, and a public one at that. “Doing the right thing is the single biggest driver of reputation,” Hahn-Griffiths says. “His leadership style—lead from the front, not the back—says not only is he a highly ethical CEO, but he has empathy and the desire to make the world a better place to live.”



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/462456534/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="BRITAIN-NETHERLANDS-EARNINGS-OIL-BUSINESS"/><figcaption>Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van BeurdenAFP/GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



From spearheading a campaign to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.shell.com/media/speeches-and-articles/articles-by-date/shell-ben-van-beurden-2018.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reduce Shell’s net carbon footprint</a>50% by 2050 to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/the-energy-future/shell-energy-transition-report/_jcr_content/par/toptasks.stream/1524757699226/3f2ad7f01e2181c302cdc453c5642c77acb48ca3/web-shell-energy-transition-report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">collaborating with organizations</a>&nbsp;including the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures and the World Resources Institute to ensure that his company’s plans become a reality, Van Beurden has acknowledged the elephant in the energy room—climate change—and has demonstrated his commitment to working to protect the planet against the threats his industry has helped create. “Energy is one of the least reputable industries,” Hahn-Griffiths says. “Shell really took a stand as a leader in climate change and alternative energy, and redefined what it means to be a good corporate citizen in the energy sector.”



The attention Van Beurden has paid to developing sustainable energy solutions is surely qualification enough to make him one of the world’s most reputable CEOs, but had he pursued these initiatives behind closed doors, would they have been enough to propel him into the top ten? It’s difficult to say, and the visibility of his leadership certainly didn’t hurt. 



In fact, the more familiar the general public is with a CEO, the more likely he or she is to have a strong reputation. “The difference between having a CEO with whom the general public isn’t familiar is 10.3 points,” Hahn-Griffiths says. “Not only is that significant, but it translates into billions of dollars in market capitalization, just because you have a CEO at the helm who is visible.” 



Worth noting, however, is that the association between familiarity and perception won’t exist if a CEO is known for all the wrong reasons. As in the case of Pichai, not all press is good press.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/979326534/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="The Battery Conservancy Presents John Demsey With The Battery Medal For Corporate Leadership"/><figcaption>The Estée Lauder Companies CEO Fabrizio FredaPATRICK MCMULLAN VIA GETTY IMAGE</figcaption></figure>



For Fabrizio Freda, whose familiarity ensured his spot in the top tenfor the second year in a row, influence has always been a business imperative. Upon becoming the first non-Lauder to serve as CEO of The Estée Lauder Cos., in 2009, Freda was faced with a big branding challenge: convincing the Millennial generation that a 63-year-old cosmetics company might be relevant to them. 



In order to successfully make the case, Freda just knew a brand makeover wouldn’t do, so he started on the inside, implementing a global <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.elcompanies.com/en/careers/why-work-here/learning-and-development" target="_blank">reverse-mentoring program</a> to promote perpetual learning and development for employees and prioritizing the hiring of more Millennials, who now <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.ft.com/content/d5d0819c-208b-11e8-9efc-0cd3483b8b80" target="_blank">reportedly make up 67%</a> of the Estée Lauder workforce. 



Such shifts have enabled the company to make attention-grabbing moves on the global stage, including the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.elcompanies.com/en/our-brands" target="_blank">acquisitions</a> of Smashbox, Becca and Too Faced, all Millennial-centric beauty brands, the latter of which boasts <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/toofaced/" target="_blank">12.5 million Instagram</a> followers. “Part of his legacy is really making strides toward winning over the Millennial cohort,” Hahn-Griffiths says. “He’s taken a company that’s been around for generations and has made it relevant to emerging audiences around the world.”



And while not every initiative has gone according to plan—<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.thecut.com/2017/06/este-lauders-edit-coming-to-end.html" target="_blank">Estée Edit</a>, a Millennial-focused line fronted by Kendall Jenner, was discontinued after just 18 months on Sephora’s shelves—those don’t seem to have hurt Freda’s bottom line; Estée Lauder’s market cap has grown from about $5 billion back in 2009 to more than $60 billion today.



“Without losing our advantages of scale and scope, we are instilling a more entrepreneurial mindset to ensure we stay agile and act decisively,” wrote Freda in a statement to Forbes. “This gives us the best qualities of a well-financed, structured organization with the challenger spirit of a startup.”



READ MORE: <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/technology/2019/05/17/gene-hackers-the-young-biotech-entrepreneurs-looking-to-make-billions-by-editing-life-itself/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Gene Hackers: The Young Biotech Entrepreneurs Looking To Make Billions By Editing Life Itself (opens in a new tab)">Gene Hackers: The Young Biotech Entrepreneurs Looking To Make Billions By Editing Life Itself</a>



Notably absent from this year’s list are women. That’s unsettling. Last year, The Campbell Soup Co. CEO Denise Morrison, who has since stepped down, was the only woman to make the ranks. RI attributes the lack of representation among female leaders to the fact that, on average, their familiarity with the general public is 12%, whereas that of their male counterparts is 15%. 



But Hahn-Griffiths is confident that this trend will soon change, and he says GlaxoSmithKline CEO Emma Walmsley is the one to watch. “She’s the first woman to run a major pharmaceuticals company and has been really disruptive,” he says. “We anticipate the number of women CEOs to increase significantly, and we think Emma, who she is and what she represents, is a role model.”



-Vicky Valet;Forbes Staff

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The World’s Most Reputable CEOs 2019

On a blazingly bright morning at the end of the South By Southwest music and technology conference, Rico Nasty takes the stage at the Fader Fort in Austin as part of a panel discussion—and finds another way to increase her earnings. Clad in a swirly black-and-lime-green jumpsuit, she shows off her threads as cameras flash; after the event, she spends a few moments talking up her outfit.



“I bought it a few days ago, and I’m probably going to wear it once, and there’s going to be a lot of pictures in it,” the 21-year-old rapper says before outlining her plan to sell the jumpsuit on the peer-to-peer shopping app Depop, as she does with most of the clothing she wears in public. “We’ve made like, probably $20 thousand in the past two months.”



Born Maria-Cecilia Simone Kelly in Brooklyn, Rico started rapping in high school before releasing a string of mixtapes. She signed to Atlantic Records and has yet to release her formal debut studio album, but she’s already among music’s most promising up-and-comers, earning her a spot on our list. And with more women like Rico rising up the rap charts, we’re formally changing the name of our ranking to Hip-Hop Cash Princes and Princesses.



The list, presented in full below, comprises the genre’s top ten recording artists and producers under the age of 30 in terms of future earning potential, as judged by an expert panel; no repeats are allowed. This year’s list of judges includes the late Nipsey Hussle,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2015/03/31/nipsey-hussle-independent-musics-next-mogul/#4da2eb107219" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a 2015 Cash Prince</a>&nbsp;who sent his picks just days before his tragic passing; songwriter and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2019/music/#7f9b76294c40" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">30 Under 30</a>&nbsp;honoree Mickey Shiloh; and NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, who found a lot to like about Rico.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5cc0b7e44bbe6f4b9c1c8820/960x0.jpg?cropX1=2&amp;cropX2=1198&amp;cropY1=0&amp;cropY2=1196" alt="Rico Nasty"/><figcaption>Rico NastyGETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



“Rico Nasty is one of the best shooting guards in hip-hop right now,” says O’Neal, whose résumé includes careers as a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2018/07/31/how-shaq-became-the-biggest-dj-on-the-planet/#2ffbe2652252" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DJ</a>&nbsp;and rapper. “Like a shooting guard, she is able to score in many ways and adapt to the style of play.&nbsp;She is dynamic and always working on her craft, improving&nbsp;her game, updating her sound.”



First, Rico had to work her way off the bench. After moving from New York to Maryland as a child, she started rapping during her teenage years and her mother started working as her manager. For Rico’s first gig, they paid $200 to rent out a performance space, figuring they could more than double that sum by charging $20 per head for tickets. Only six people showed up.



Rico remembers reorganizing her life after that: She moved out of her mother’s house and started working to build her career from the ground up. That meant churning out mixtapes and interacting with her fans on a one-on-one basis—both on social media and in person as she tried her hand at live performances once again around Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.



“I’m bringing them out to the shows, and we’re getting our nails done and shit,” she says, recalling her first efforts to bring fans into her corner. “This is my opportunity to make these people lifelong friends, in a sense.”



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5cc0b81c4bbe6f4b9c1c8851/960x0.jpg?cropX1=0&amp;cropX2=1199&amp;cropY1=0&amp;cropY2=1198" alt="Blueface"/><figcaption>BluefaceGETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



In 2017, Rico’s single “Poppin” took off on YouTube and was featured on HBO’s&nbsp;Insecure; the following year, she signed to Atlantic and released another mixtape,&nbsp;Nasty. Her pay for live shows started to climb in tandem. From her days struggling to top $100 per concert, she zoomed to an average of $7,000 per gig before snagging an estimated $35,000 guarantee for her performance at Coachella last weekend (she wouldn’t confirm the precise amount).



“Five figures,” she says coyly. “That shit feels amazing to say out loud.”



Rico still has ways to go before she gets to the level of the festival’s headliners, whose gigs fetch seven-figure guarantees. In the meantime, she’s working on other ways to extend her brand. In addition to her work with Depop, she recently launched a line of headphones with Skullcandy. And, with the marijuana accessory provider Hemper, she gets a per-unit cut on sales of Rico Nasty-branded bongs, rolling papers and air fresheners.



Says judge Mickey Shiloh of Rico: “Somebody that creates their own lane like this is bound to make waves for the long run.”



<figure><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fe.infogram.com%2F_%2Fm53aylm29HQT9WEa7gS5%3Fsrc%3Dembed&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Finfogram.com%2F1p0kymjdzexlnkuexywx27rk15bnqlm1zg0&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Finfogram-thumbs-1024.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6c5afec8-17d1-4fef-a76d-17476e99104f.jpg&amp;key=3ce26dc7e3454db5820ba084d28b4935&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=infogram"></iframe></figure>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">Hip Hop Cash Princes: Introducing The Class Of 2019</blockquote>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">6LACK</h2>



“6LACK’s tone is completely his own,” says Shiloh. “His songwriting is also what takes his artistry to an entirely new level … it’s like everything you can’t find the words to say, he says effortlessly.”



—



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie</h2>



The Bronx-born rapper is no stranger to the Cash Princes universe, having collaborated with list of alumni including 21 Savage and Offset of Migos. He’s becoming a star in his own right: A Boogie’s second album,&nbsp;Hoodie SZN, topped the chart shortly after its December 2018 release.



—



<figure><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fe.infogram.com%2F_%2FuacRVIPqDmi0SMYtNsp6%3Fsrc%3Dembed&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Finfogram.com%2F1pvkm2j9zn66qkbxe1n7q01nqkur6egnpdz&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Finfogram-thumbs-1024.s3.amazonaws.com%2F495bb690-869a-43e4-84a1-c0b3ea8ee538.jpg&amp;key=3ce26dc7e3454db5820ba084d28b4935&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=infogram"></iframe></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Bad Bunny</h2>



The trap rapper blends hip-hop with Reggaeton as seamlessly as he weaves English and Spanish lyrics into wildly popular songs like Cardi B’s “I Like It,” his first U.S. chart-topper. He now grosses more than $500,000 per tour stop.



—



<figure><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-32/html/container.html" width="970" height="250"></iframe></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Blueface</h2>



The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2019/02/28/can-cash-money-the-label-that-launched-drake-and-nicki-minaj-strike-platinum-again/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cash Money Records</a>&nbsp;signee rose to prominence with his smash song “Thotiana”—from his 2018 mixtape&nbsp;Famous Cryp­—which has climbed to No. 8 on the U.S. singles charts. He was a top pick from Nipsey Hussle; both stars have crossed gang lines to record with Cash Princes alum YG.



—



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Juice Wrld</h2>



Five questions with the Chicago-born “Lucid Dreams” hip-hop star:



Forbes: What was your first job?&nbsp;“Factory job creating car parts.”



What’s the app you can’t live without?&nbsp;“Soundcloud.”



How many hours per week do you work now?&nbsp;“168.”



Worst advice you’ve received?&nbsp;“To change my style of music in order to try and be more popular.”



What is your greatest achievement?&nbsp;“I haven’t reached it yet.”



<figure><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fe.infogram.com%2F_%2FVJlSEumS6SG8BTJwF1f6%3Fsrc%3Dembed&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Finfogram.com%2F1px212d9np7620hqn6mkvmplymcn555z5ml&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Finfogram-thumbs-1024.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6d7c7145-09ec-48cb-8ef6-91a0f292ec22.jpg&amp;key=3ce26dc7e3454db5820ba084d28b4935&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=infogram"></iframe></figure>



—



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Lil Baby</h2>



The Atlanta-born emcee is already accumulating princely numbers: His 2018 debut,&nbsp;Harder Than Ever, earned gold certification for sales of more than 500,000 units. He now grosses over $70,000 per tour stop.



—



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Gunna</h2>



The Georgia native got started with the help of Cash Princes alum Young Thug, whose YSL label co-released Gunna’s studio debut&nbsp;Drip Or Drown—which soared to No. 3 on the&nbsp;Billboard&nbsp;charts—in February. His single “Drip Too Hard,” with listmate Lil Baby, earned triple-platinum certification.



—



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Russ</h2>



Five questions with the hip-hop star who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2018/12/07/at-26-hip-hop-star-russ-is-earning-15m-a-yearand-showing-how-to-succeed-in-music-now/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">earned</a>&nbsp;$15 million last year:



Forbes: What was your first job?&nbsp;“Busboy.”



What’s the app you can’t live without?&nbsp;“Uber Eats.”



How many hours per week do you work?&nbsp;“168.”



Worst advice you’ve ever received?&nbsp;“Be realistic.”



What’s your greatest achievement?&nbsp;“Being in a place where I can take care of my family.”Play Video



Russ: How I Maintained Control Over My Music | 30 Under 30 2019| 3:05



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Rico Nasty</h2>



“I’ve never heard anything like what comes out of Rico Nasty’s mouth,” says Shiloh. “She’s trap, she’s urban, but she’s also rock with hints of screamo … somebody that creates their own lane like this is bound to make waves for the long run.”



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Tierra Whack</h2>



With a quirky tone and thoughtful visuals, the Philadelphia upstart made her major-label debut last year at Interscope with the critically acclaimed&nbsp;Whack World. The social-media-friendly album featured 15 one-minute songs. She earned a Grammy nomination in the Best Music Video category this year for her 2017 single “Mumbo Jumbo.”



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—



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Methodology</h3>



Our list of Hip-Hop’s Cash Princes and Princesses ranks the genre’s top ten recording artists and producers under age 30 in terms of future earning potential. No repeats are allowed. This year, the honorees were selected by a panel of five judges: Nipsey Hussle, the late&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2015/03/31/nipsey-hussle-independent-musics-next-mogul/#4da2eb107219" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2015 Cash Prince</a>&nbsp;who sent in his picks just days ahead of his untimely passing; 30 Under 30 honoree and songwriter Mickey Shiloh; basketball legend and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2018/07/31/how-shaq-became-the-biggest-dj-on-the-planet/#2638d60c2252" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">professional DJ</a>&nbsp;Shaquille O’Neal; and&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;editors Zack O’Malley Greenburg and Natalie Robehmed.



-Zack O&#8217;Malley Greenburg; Forbes Staff

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Hip-Hop Cash Princes And Princesses: The Class Of 2019

They come from every corner of the world—Austria and Slovakia to Australia and Vietnam—having made their fortunes in every venture imaginable: music and makeup, software and sweaters. In all, 195 fresh faces joined the world’s billionaire ranks this year. Here are 10 of the most exceptional.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



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one of eight children, Steward milked cows and slopped hogs on the family farm before school every day while his dad worked as a mechanic, trash collector and janitor to make ends meet. After graduating from Central Missouri State University, he sent out 400 resumes over three years before landing his “dream” job as a salesman at Missouri Pacific Railroad Company. 



He cofounded IT provider World Wide Technology in 1990, which counts companies like Citi, Verizon and the federal government among its customers. His 59% stake in the $11.2 billion (sales) company, making him one of the richest African-Americans in the country. “I hope what this represents is that all things are possible,” Steward says, a lifelong jazz lover who donated $1.3 million to the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 2018 to create a jazz studies program. “We still live in the greatest country in the world, and God blesses persons of color too.”



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="561" height="154" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/billion1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-40087" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/billion1.png 561w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/billion1-300x82.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/billion1-560x154.png 560w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 561px) 100vw, 561px" /></figure>



After making his fortune in retail, Hang is now focusing on politics, too. In the run-up to Brazil’s October 2018 presidential election, he urged his 2 million Facebook followers to back far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro, who ultimately won by a ten-point margin. (Hang went as far as threatening to leave the country if Bolsonaro’s leftist opponent, Fernando Haddad, won the race.)



Even after the election, he has continued to post live videos of himself on social media almost daily. One recent posting showed him celebrating former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s corruption conviction by dancing poolside to fireworks.



Outside of politics, Hang’s stores are thriving. Havan, the department store chain he cofounded at 24, generated a record $1.2 billion in 2017 sales, up 40% over the prior year. One ingredient in that success: “Always hire happy people; leave the unhappy ones to the competition,&#8221; Hang says.



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The dermatologists have tapped into the lucrative skin care market with their multilevel marketing firm Rodan + Fields, which boasts $1.5 billion in sales and 300,000 independent “consultants” selling anti-aging creams and more. In February, they launched a new teen acne line, a throwback to their first claim to fame, acne product Proactiv. 



The brand took off when the doctors created a licensing deal with infomercial company Guthy-Renker in 1995 to sell their regimen through television advertisements featuring celebrities like Jessica Simpson. The doctors sold their royalty rights in 2016, and now their full attention is on Rodan + Fields. Their goal, Rodan says, is help as many people as possible have “life-changing skin.”



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="556" height="154" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/bill3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-40089" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/bill3.png 556w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/bill3-300x83.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 556px) 100vw, 556px" /></figure>



An English major who reluctantly took over his grandfather’s small outerwear company in 2001, Reiss has created the “it” coat of the decade. The Canada Goose CEO marketed his down-filled jackets by giving freebies to people who spent a lot of time in the cold: Bouncers outside of nightclubs, polar explorers and attendees of cold-weather film festivals like the ones in Sundance and Toronto.



His $1,000-plus parkas are now fashion statements, staples on the streets of London, New York and Tokyo and have a strong celebrity following, including Jennifer Lopez, Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig. The stock has climbed threefold since its public debut two years ago; sales rose 46% to $450 million in 2018. Reiss, 45, has kept manufacturing at home as other companies moved offshore: “Making a Canada Goose parka in Canada is like making a Swiss watch in Switzerland.”



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="561" height="154" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/bill4.png" alt="" class="wp-image-40090" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/bill4.png 561w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/bill4-300x82.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/bill4-560x154.png 560w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 561px) 100vw, 561px" /></figure>



She’s just the second woman in Russian to become a billionaire and joins the ranks of the world&#8217;s wealthiest thanks to the success of her e-commerce company, Wildberries, which had $1.9 billion in revenue last year. She started the business in 2004 at age 28 in her Moscow apartment while on maternity leave from teaching. She realized how difficult it was for her and other young mothers to shop for clothes for themselves with a newborn at home. Her husband, Vladislav, an IT technician, soon joined her to help grow the business. Today Wildberries sells 15,000 brands of clothing, household products and other items and processes roughly 400,000 orders a day from 2 million daily visitors in Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.



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In twenty years at Oracle, Catz, a former investment banker and now the company’s co-CEO, is often credited with leading Oracle’s aggressive acquisition strategy, including two hostile takeovers. In January 2005, Oracle acquired competitor PeopleSoft after an 18-month pursuit for $11 billion, more than double its original unsolicited bid.Three years later in April 2008, it acquired BEA Systems for $8.5 billion, a deal that also involved Carl Icahn, the billionaire corporate raider who was a BEA shareholder and pushed BEA to do the deal with Oracle. “I can’t really speak about [working with Icahn] in open session,” Catz said at a May 2019 commencement speech at the Wharton School. “It would be unladylike.”



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Born to two Iraqi parents who came to Israel as refugees, Fattal began working in hotels at age 23 as a receptionist. He toiled in other jobs—bellhop, security guard, salesman—before founding his own hotel company in 1999. “From the day I went into the hotel industry, I fell in love with it,” he says. “There is a glamour to it.” 



Starting a business just then in Israel would prove exceptionally tough, especially for a tourism-based one like Fattal&#8217;s. The Second Intifada conflict with the Palenstinains began in 2000 and lasted for several years. Fattal, however, thrived by targeting local, rather than international, tourists and by persuading hotel owners to switch from global brands to his more affordable one.



Today, Fattal Hotels, which went public in February 2019, owns and operates 40 locations in Israel and the Leonardo Hotels in Europe. “When you’re approaching the guests, it’s like you are on a stage. You have to be courteous, and I just always felt it was my job to maintain the atmosphere for happy people.”



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At 21, Jenner is the youngest-ever self-made billionaire, earning a ten-figure fortune even earlier than Mark Zuckerberg (who joined the billionaires list at 23 in 2008). “I didn’t expect anything—I did not foresee the future,” Jenner says. “But [the recognition] feels really good. That’s a nice pat on the back.” She owns 100% of Kylie Cosmetics, the three-year-old beauty business that did an estimated $360 million in sales last year. Most of the company’s revenue comes from e-commerce. But Kylie Cosmetics also has a new deal with Ulta that put its goods in all the makeup retailer’s 1,163 U.S. stores, “so people that would never buy my products—or that aren’t my fans—can see them in person.”



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A successful IPO last year was music to Ek’s ears. Spotify, the music-streaming service he founded 13 years ago, now has a $24 billion market cap. It still hasn’t had a profitable year, though; its focus is squarely on funneling cash into acquisitions. In February it announced a $340 million purchase of podcast companies Gimlet Media and Anchor FM. Ek founded Spotify in 2006 but before that, he found himself adrift as a self-made millionaire in his 20s—clubbing, driving a cherry-red Ferrari Modena—after an early stint at another Swedish tech company. “I was deeply uncertain of who I was and who I wanted to be,” Ek said in 2012. “I really thought I wanted to be a much cooler guy than what I was.” 



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I never intended to get this far,” said Kenny Park, whose father owned a fishing company. But he has stitched together a fortune making handbags and accessories for U.S. brands such as Michael Kors, Coach, Mark Jacobs and Alexander Wang. His Simone Accessories, named after his wife and 62% owned by Park and his family, makes some 30 million handbags, purses and wallets a year in its factories in Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and China. 



His big break came in 1987 after he flew from Seoul to New York City with a sample bag. He pitched Donna Karan executives an offer to supply bags for almost 30% less than what they were paying their European suppliers, but with one caveat: a “Made in Korea” label. Reluctant at first, Donna Karan agreed to a trial order and by the next year was a key customer, one he still supplies today.



-Luisa Kroll; Forbes Staff



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The 10 Most Notable New Billionaires Of 2019

The computer geeks are taking over Wall Street. During a disappointing year that saw the average hedge fund manager lose money, elite quantitative traders stood out in 2018 from the rest of the trading crowd. More than half of the 20&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/hedge-fund-managers/list/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">highest-earning hedge fund managers and traders</a>&nbsp;in 2018 were associated with computer-driven algorithmic trading.



Jim Simons, the most famous quantitative trader ever, naturally led the way, earning $1.6 billion. He founded Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund firm that now manages $60 billion, and still plays an important role there even though he retired from day-to-day operations in 2010. 



The hedge funds Renaissance manages for outside investors performed well in 2018. For example, the Renaissance Institutional Equities fund last year returned 8.5% and the Renaissance Institutional Diversified Global Equities fund returned 10.3%. Simons’ earnings were further driven by Renaissance’s Medallion fund, a $10 billion black-box strategy that only invests money belonging to Simons and his Renaissance partners and employees.



 READ MORE |&nbsp; <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbes.com/pictures/5c896be3a7ea43206f1214ec/clone-of-2019-highest-ear/" target="_blank">Gallery: Highest-Earning Hedge Fund Managers &amp; Traders 201921 imagesView gallery</a>



The hedge fund industry had a miserable year in 2018. &nbsp;The average hedge fund manager returned -4.07%, according to HFR. That is slightly better than the U.S. stock market, which returned -4.38% last year. In total, the 20 highest-earning hedge fund managers and traders made a combined $10.3 billion in 2018.



 That’s a big number, but it is still the lowest such earnings figure since the financial crisis. In 2015, another weak hedge fund year,&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;reported that the 20 highest-earning hedge fund managers and traders made $11.4 billion, and in 2011 they made $11.7 billion.



Forbes&nbsp;includes in its analysis hedge fund managers and traders who now mostly or even exclusively manage their own money, and some of them can be found in the top 20 highest earners of 2018. Michael Platt’s BlueCrest Capital Management, for example, returned all outside capital to its clients in 2015. Since then, BlueCrest’s trading activities have performed very well, and in 2018 the firm returned 25% net of all expenses.&nbsp;Platt earned an estimated $1.2 billion last year.



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Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund firm, with $160 billion under management, posted mixed results in 2018. Bridgewater’s investment process is data-driven, searching for economic and other signals. The firm does perform traditional fundamental analysis before turning its research into trading algorithms. 



Its big Pure Alpha hedge fund returned 14.6% net of fees in 2018. But Dalio’s important All Weather Fund, in which he is heavily invested, was down by about 6%.&nbsp;Dalio earned an estimated $1 billion in 2018.



Ken Griffin used quantitative and fundamental trading techniques to help build Citadel into a $30 billion hedge fund firm. He had a solid year in 2018, continuing a terrific run that has gone on ever since the financial crisis almost destroyed his him. 



Citadel’s flagship hedge fund returned 9.1% last year. Its other hedge funds returned between 6% and 9% net of fees. Griffin earned an estimated $870 million last year.



John Overdeck and David Siegel have built their quantitative trading firm, Two Sigma Investments, into one of the world’s biggest hedge funds.&nbsp;Its funds did well in 2018. For example, Two Sigma’s&nbsp;Absolute Return fund returned 11% and its Compass fund returned 14% net of fees. Overdeck and Siegel each earned an estimated $700 million in 2018.



Overdeck and Siegel met when they both worked at D.E. Shaw early in their careers. The quantitative trading firm was founded by David Shaw, a former computer science professor at Columbia University. 



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/billionaires/2019/03/18/his-bosses-rejected-his-idea-then-hans-langer-became-a-billionaire-from-his-plan-for-giant-3d-printers/">His Bosses Rejected His Idea. Then Hans Langer Became A Billionaire From His Plan For Giant 3D Printers</a>



He took a step back from managing the firm’s operations, but remains involved in its success. D.E. Shaw now manages some $50 billion. It’s big Composite Fund returned 11% net of fees last year. Shaw earned an estimated $500 million in 2018.



Israel Englander is not known as a quant. He founded Millennium Management, a $35 billion hedge fund firm known for its multi-manager strategy that includes dozens of teams using various styles to trade all sorts of assets. Still, a big part of Millennium’s success has been is its WorldQuant unit, a quantitative trading outfit. Last year Millennium’s hedge fund returned 4.8% net of fees and Englander earned an estimated $500 million.



To determine the highest-earning hedge fund managers and traders of 2018,&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;examined hedge fund returns and worked to understand the fee and ownership structure of a wide array of money management firms. Hedge fund firms generally charge management fees of 2% and performance fees that give them 20% of the trading profits, but we found all sorts of variations on this theme. 



In addition, our earnings figures include the personal gain or loss of each manager’s interest in their funds. Our figures are pretax, account for firm expenses and profit-sharing arrangements, and exclude gains or losses stemming from ownership in the investment firms themselves or from investments held outside of the managed investment pools.



-Nathan Vardi Forbes Staff &#8211; Antoine Gara Forbes Staff &#8211; Additional reporting by Jennifer Wang

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The Highest-Earning Hedge Fund Managers And Traders

Last October,&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;tracked the biggest billionaire philanthropists in the U.S. and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/denizcam/2018/10/03/the-new-forbes-400-philanthropy-score-measuring-billionaires-generosity/#208a22997e1d" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ranked their efforts</a>&nbsp;with a new philanthropy score. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, cofounders of the Giving Pledge, led our list with $35.8 billion and $35.1 billion, respectively, in lifetime donations. George Soros was third, with $32 billion.



“No other country really rivals the history and tradition of charitable giving that exists in the U.S., which has supported a strong and vital civic sector over the years” says Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy and author of&nbsp;Giving Done Right: Effective Philanthropy and Making Every Dollar Count. “The high levels of charitable giving here also have something to do with the more limited role government plays in this country than, say, in Canada or European countries. And, of course, the accumulation of wealth here has meant there are more mega-givers than there are in other countries.”



But change is in the air. Big gifts have begun to be handed out by billionaires outside the U.S. as well, following in the footsteps of their American counterparts. Since 2012, 28 non-American members of the&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;billionaires list have signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give at least half of their wealth away (in their lifetimes or after they die). Some, including those who didn’t sign the pledge, have already taken action toward their goal of 10-figure giving: six non-U.S. billionaires have committed more than $1 billion to philanthropic entities,&nbsp;Forbesconfirmed.



One Indian billionaire gave away not only money, but also a kidney. Kochouseph Chittilappilly built a fortune in electrical appliances. In 2011, two months after he turned 60, he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/naazneenkarmali/2018/11/12/asias-2018-heroes-of-philanthropy-the-gift-of-life/#1d4cb620486f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">donated&nbsp;</a>one of his kidneys to a complete stranger, and a year later, he launched a charitable foundation that focuses on health care and education. So far he’s donated $95 million, including a gift of $79 million to his foundation.



A small number of billionaires outside of the U.S. like Azim Premji—who recently told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/naazneenkarmali/2019/03/13/indian-billionaire-azim-premjis-donation-to-his-charitable-foundation-rises-to-21-billion/#266e46802920" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Forbes</a>&nbsp;“To whom much has been given, much should be expected”—have put billions of dollars into charitable foundations and causes in their home countries and across the globe.In mid-March Indian tech tycoon Premji announced that he shifted a $7.5 billion stake in his IT outsourcing company, Wipro, to his charitable foundation. That move brought his lifetime giving to $21 billion, according to his foundation.



The news not only solidified Premji as the fourth most generous philanthropist in the world, but also makes him the biggest philanthropist outside the U.S. Premji has put 81% of his wealth toward charitable giving in his lifetime, more than any other current billionaire in percentage terms. A close second is hedge fund billionaire George Soros, who has donated more than 76% of his wealth to his Open Society Foundations. Former billionaire and philanthropy icon Chuck Feeney has given away almost all of his $7.5 billion fortune,&nbsp;Forbes<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2012/09/18/chuck-feeney-the-billionaire-who-is-trying-to-go-broke/#c386d96291c7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported&nbsp;</a>in 2012, and inspired Bill &amp; Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett to establish the Giving Pledge.



Two non-U.S. billionaires who have signed the Giving Pledge but not yet hit the billion-dollar giving mark are stepping up their philanthropic efforts. In Australia, Fortescue Metals founder<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/andrew-forrest/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Andrew Forrest</a>&nbsp;and his wife Nicola donated about $600 million to their Minderoo Foundation, which launched its marine research initiative in 2018.



South African billionaire Patrice<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/patrice-motsepe/" target="_blank">Motsepe</a>&nbsp;has donated over $500 million to projects in Africa pertaining to health, farming, agrobusiness, infrastructure, and music. Last year, the African Rainbow Minerals founder also pledged to donate $250 million to South African land reform and $100 million to education initiatives.



One billionaire, who appears to be incredibly generous, is not on the list below because of a technical reason. Dietmar Hopp, cofounder of German software company SAP, put over 60% of his SAP stake—currently worth $6.9 billion—into a charitable outlet that has distributed more than $800 million since 1995.&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;still counts the shares in Hopp’s charitable outlet as part of his net worth because he retains economic control over the shares and they are not irrevocably placed in a foundation.



Here is&nbsp;Forbes’ list of the biggest billionaire philanthropists from outside the US, measured by total dollar amount donated through mid-March 2019:



*Net worths are as of March 25, 2019.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="778" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-486155152-1024x778.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-39873" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-486155152-1024x778.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-486155152-300x228.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-486155152-600x456.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-486155152-768x584.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-486155152.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>BANGALORE, INDIA APRIL 27: Wipro Chairman Azim Premji during the announcement of Quarter 4 Results at Wipro Headquarters Sarjapur Road on April 27, 2011 in Bangalore, India. (Photo by Aniruddha Chowdhury/Mint via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



Azim Premji Citizenship: India Lifetime giving: $21 billion Net worth: $5 billion



Through his foundation, IT billionaire&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/azim-premji/#276b20587924" target="_blank">Premji</a>&nbsp;has prioritized improving the public school system in some of the most underserved parts of India. He established the Azim Premji University in Bangalore in 2010, which plans to expand its student body from a current 1,300 students to 5,000 students, according to the foundation. 



Premji himself never graduated from college, dropping out of Stanford in 1966 to take over his family’s cooking oil business after his father died. He shifted into software and expanded the small company into Wipro, which had $8.4 billion in revenue in 2018. Premji serves as chairman.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/34250482/960x0.jpg?cropX1=0&amp;cropX2=807&amp;cropY1=61&amp;cropY2=713" alt="CHRISTOPHER HOHN"/><figcaption>Christopher Hohn, manager and founder of The Children&#8217;s Investment Fund Photographer: Andreas Scholz/Bloomberg NewsBLOOMBERG NEWS</figcaption></figure>



Christopher Hohn Citizenship: United Kingdom Lifetime giving: $4.5 billion Current net worth: $3.1 billion



Hedge fund manager&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/christopher-hohn/#68abdad845c9" target="_blank">Hohn</a>&nbsp;cofounded the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) in 2002 with his then-wife Jamie. Hohn, who had been working at hedge fund firm Perry Capital since 1996, struck out on his own in 2003 to start a London-based hedge fund called the Children’s Investment Fund. Including an undisclosed donation by Perry Capital in 2002, Hohn and Jamie, who divorced in 2014, have given at least $4.5 billion to CIFF, moving assets from the hedge fund into the foundation. 



“The original mission in setting up CIFF was to improve the lives of children in developing countries who live in poverty,” says Hohn on CIFF’s website. “This hasn&#8217;t changed. I want to solve problems, not make grants.&#8221;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/1014358766/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Lopez Obrador Meets Mexican Egineering Organizations"/><figcaption>Carlos Slim Helu (Photo by Carlos Tischler/Getty Images)GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



Carlos Slim Helu Citizenship: Mexico Lifetime giving: $4.2 billion Current net worth: $61.4 billion



A telecom tycoon,<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/carlos-slim-helu/#686f80bf646b" target="_blank">Slim</a>&nbsp;early on was a critic of the Giving Pledge. &#8220;Many of the problems will be solved by business activity and development,” he said in 2011, adding that &#8220;Charity doesn&#8217;t solve poverty. How much charity has been done in the past years? Trillions of dollars.&#8221; Still, he believes in some forms of philanthropy. Since 2006, Slim’s spokesman says, he has donated $4.2 billion to his Carlos Slim Foundation. 



He gave $2 billion to his foundation in 2006 and the same amount again in 2010. Most of that money has come from dividends Slim collected from shares he owns in some of Mexico’s largest companies,&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2011/05/20/mexicos-carlos-slim-joins-ranks-of-worlds-biggest-philanthropists/#557909ea3b63" target="_blank">reported</a> in 2011. Over the past six years, he’s donated another $160 million to the outfit, which works on improving health conditions and education, among other causes, so people can work to support their families. Helu’s foundation has collaborated with nonprofit organizations, including the Clinton Foundation and the Gates Foundation.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5c993479a7ea43206f1337df/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Hong Kong Tycoon Li Ka-shing Retires"/><figcaption>Li Ka-shing, former chairman of CK Hutchison and CK Asset (Photo by Zhang Wei/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)VCG VIA GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



Li Ka-shing Citizenship: Hong Kong Lifetime giving: $3.2 billion Current net worth: $32.5 billion



Since 1980,&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/li-ka-shing/" target="_blank">Li Ka-shing</a>’s foundation has donated billions to education, medical services and research initiatives in 27 countries, including China, where he was born but was forced to flee in 1940 at the age of 12 after Japan invaded Southern&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2018/03/16/hong-kongs-richest-li-ka-shing-announces-plans-to-exit-after-68-years/#61eab98a3436" target="_blank">China.</a>&nbsp;



“When I received the&nbsp;Forbes’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, I shared with everyone that my charitable foundation, founded in 1980, is like my third son to me,” he told&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2017/09/28/revered-asian-tycoon-li-ka-shing-named-one-of-worlds-100-greatest-living-business-minds/#30e574e23f32" target="_blank">Forbes</a>&nbsp;in 2017. “I hoped to persuade those who can, in Asia, support causes important to society as a duty in line with supporting our children.”



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5c996f9631358e79cabf92fc/960x0.jpg?cropX1=0&amp;cropX2=1999&amp;cropY1=516&amp;cropY2=1914" alt="Hansjoerg Wyss"/><figcaption>Hansjoerg WyssCOURTESY OF THE WYSS FOUNDATION</figcaption></figure>



Hansjoerg Wyss Citizenship: Switzerland Lifetime giving: $1.9 billion Current net worth: $5.9 billion



<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/hansjoerg-wyss/#5cf046a666c0" target="_blank">Wyss</a>&nbsp;founded medical device manufacturer Synthes and sold it to Johnson &amp; Johnson in 2012 for $20.2 billion in cash and stock. Wyss is dedicated to protecting the environment not only in his home continent, Europe, but also in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. In&nbsp;an op-ed for the New York Times&nbsp;last October, he pledged to donate $1 billion to land and ocean conservation to protect 30% of earth’s surface by 2030. “Every one of us — citizens, philanthropists, business and government leaders — should be troubled by the enormous gap between how little of our natural world is currently protected and how much should be protected,” he wrote. 



He’s already put at least $1.9 billion into his foundation since 2001. The foundation has doled out $450 million to preserve land around the planet, and Wyss has additionally given $40 million to the same cause. In 2018, Wyss&nbsp;donated&nbsp;an undisclosed sum to the Trust for Public Land so it could buy and retire oil and gas leases on more than 24,000 acres in Wyoming where he resides.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5c996f35a7ea43206f133dd2/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Stephan Schmidheiny"/><figcaption>Stephan SchmidheinyCOURTESY OF PETER SCHUERMANN</figcaption></figure>



Stephan Schmidheiny Citizenship: Switzerland Lifetime giving: $1.5 billion Current net worth: $2.3 billion



<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/stephan-schmidheiny/" target="_blank">Schmidheiny</a>&nbsp;became the president of Swiss Eternit Group, his father’s construction materials company, in 1976 when he was just 29. Since 2003, he has donated about $1.5 billion to charity, mostly in shares of his Latin American industrial assets that he placed in his charitable VIVA Trust. 



Schmidheiny—who helped organize the UN’s first conference on environment and development in 1992—has distributed more than $600 million to projects across the world that focus on sustainable development. In 2012 Schmidheiny was convicted &nbsp;by an Italian court of negligence by Eternit&#8217;s Italian affiliate that led to 2,000 asbestos-related deaths. Italy’s Supreme Court overturned the decision in 2014, acquitting Schmidheiny.



&#8211;Deniz Cam;Forbes Staff

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