In March 2024, Fortune reported that businesses owned by African Americans have grown at the fastest pace in more than 30 years. African Americans shape the culture in many aspects of American life and are admired and emulated by people of every ethnic background. One measure of their success is the growing number of black billionaires. We’ve perused the Forbes World’s Billionaires List 2024 to bring you the top 10 and keep you in the loop. 

24/7 Wall St. Insights

• Most of the wealthiest Black Americans have self-made fortunes without the head start of inherited wealth. 
• Some wealthy African Americans started in the entertainment and sports industries; others founded tech companies.
• Want to become a billionaire yourself? Here’s a good place to start: 2 Dividend Legends to Hold Forever

Inspiration for Everyone

The success stories of African American billionaires can be inspirational not only for aspiring Black entrepreneurs but for people of any ethnic background. They show that success is possible no matter what obstacles are thrown in our paths. We can also see that, while movies, music, and sports have been areas of opportunity for many successful African Americans, others have reached the top of their game in business and technology. Recognizing this can help everyone from investors to hiring managers to coworkers appreciate the potential of people of color to become profit powerhouses. Need evidence? Check out the top 10 countdown coming up next. 

10. Tyler Perry ($1 billion)

54-year-old Tyler Perry made his fortune as a playwright, actor, and film producer, achieving breakout success with the play I Can Do Bad All by Myself (1999) and the 2005 film Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Perry purchased Fort McPherson, a former military base near Atlanta, and transformed it into one of the largest movie studios in the country. The television series The Walking Dead is filmed there. 

9. LeBron James ($1 billion)

Lebron James (39) is a legendary NBA player for the Los Angeles Lakers and widely considered one of the best basketball players in history. He has competed in 10 NBA Finals and won two Olympic gold medals. He is the leading scorer in NBA history and is fourth in career assists. Lebron’s fortune comes from diversified sources. He has inked endorsement agreements with numerous branks, including PepsiCo, Nike, Kia, and Intel. His investment in Beats by Dre netted him $30 million when Apple bought the company. He has also produced films and music albums and founded Hana Kuma, a media content company.

By all indications, he’s starting a dynasty: his son Bronny signed with the Lakers in July 2024, making them not only the first father-son duo to play together for the NBA but on the same team as well.  

8. Tiger Woods ($1.1 billion)

48-year old Tiger Woods is a record-breaking professional golfer who is currently tied for first place in PGA Tour wins and has won 18 World Golf Championships. Through prize money and product sponsorships Woods became the first professional athlete in the world to earn over a billion dollars in his career. 

7. Tope Awotona ($1.2 billion)

Tope Awotona, now 43, immigrated to Atlanta with his family at 12 years old. Enrolling in the University of Georgia after high school, he studied computer science and business administration. He worked for IBM and other corporations before joining Perceptive Software as a sales representative. Frustrated by the difficulty of setting up appointments with potential clients, he poured his life savings into developing a new app called Calendly. In the course of 11 years, the app has won 10 million users and is now valued at $3 billion. This makes Awotona one of the richest immigrants in the United States. 

6. Alexander Karp ($1.9 billion)

Alexander Karp (57) suffered from dyslexia but that didn’t stop him from earning his JD degree from Stanford and a Ph.D from Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. He went on to become a researcher at the Sigmund Freud Institute in Frankfurt. Unlike most of the other billionaires on our list, Karp received an inheritance from his grandfather which he invested in startups. After proving successful at investing, he started the Caedmon Group, a money management firm in London that managed wealth for high-income people. In 2004 he became a co-founder of Palantir Technologies, a company that works with software platforms for data analytics. 

5. Jay-Z ($2.5 billion)

His real name is Shawn Corey Carter but you know him as the one and only “Jay-Z.” Born in New York City in 1969, he was at the forefront of the early development of rap music starting in the 1980s. To date, he has sold 140 million records, won 24 Grammy Awards, and had 14 number-one albums on the Billboard 200, the most of any artist. What has really sent his net worth through the roof, though, is his business acumen. He founded Rocawear (a clothing retailer), 40/40 Club (a chain of exclusive bars), and Roc Nation (an entertainment agency). In 2015 he purchased Aspiro and grew its media streaming service, Tidal. On top of all his other accomplishments, Jay-Z is the first rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. 

4. Oprah Winfrey ($2.8 billion)

The only female on this top 10 list, Oprah Winfrey (70) is one of the most famous Black actresses, television personalities, and filmmakers. The Oprah Winfrey Show ran for 25 years and endeared Oprah to millions of fans with her compassionate, charismatic approach to sensitive issues. She built on her television success by launching O magazine, Harpo Productions, and the Oprah Winfrey Network. In addition to her acting roles, she has produced numerous successful films that have raised the profile of African Americans and issues relevant to them. Her name has even been suggested as a U.S. presidential candidate, an ambition she rejects. However, she can be politically influential when she wants to be—her endorsement of Barack Obama is estimated to have won him an extra 1 million votes in the 2008 primaries. 

3. Michael Jordan ($3 billion)

Michael Jordan (61) needs no introduction. Winning six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls, Jordan became a household name and popularized basketball internationally. His near-supernatural leaping ability got him the nickname “Air Jordan” and won him a lucrative deal with Nike to sell sneakers of the same name. He starred as himself in the 1996 film Space Jam and is the owner of 23XI Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. In 2016 he was awarded the Presidental Medal of Freedom in view of his outstanding contributions. 

2. David Steward ($7.6 billion)

David Steward (born 1951) founded St. Louis-based World Wide Technology. The company provides services in cloud computing, cybersecurity, computer networking, artificial intelligence, cell phone carrier networking, and associated technologies. It employs over 9,000 people and is the 27th largest private American company with an annual revenue of $17 billion.

1. Robert F. Smith ($9.2 billion)

Born in 1962, Robert F. Smith is the founder of Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm. A graduate of Cornell University in chemical engineering and Columbia with an MBA, Michigan he got his start as an investment banker with Goldman Sachs. To the joy of the 2019 graduating class of Morehouse College, he pledged to pay off the entire student loan debt of $34 million for each and every graduate. No doubt he’s earned a standing invitation to give commencement speeches every year! 

 

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