Black Billionaires
This is a global list of Black African ancestry billionaires in U.S. dollars. There are currently 17 known black billionaires (2022/02), representing 8 countries.
- 🇺🇲 USA (9)
- 🇳🇬 Nigeria (3)
- 🇿🇦 South Africa (1)
- 🇯🇲 🇨🇦 Jamaica/Canada (1)
- 🇧🇧 Barbados (1)
- 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe (1)
- 🏴 United Kingdom (1)
The 17 current billionaires on our list had aggregate wealth of ~ $55.8 billion, and a median age of 58 years on 2022/04/06. Nigeria's Alhaji Aliko Dangote accounts for ~ 26% of that aggregate wealth. Black billionaires aggregate wealth represent less than one percent of the aggregate wealth of all billionaires.
Nigerian business magnate Alhaji Aliko Dangote with a net worth of $14.0 billion (2022/03/04), is currently the world's richest Black person, according to Forbes magazine.
2021, marked 20 years since Robert L. Johnson and Michael Lee-Chin became the first Black people to be listed on Forbes magazines annual ranking of the World's Billionaires in 2001. Forbes mistakenly listed Mr. Johnson as the only Black billionaire not recognizing Mr. Lee-Chin as having Black ancestry.
Oprah Winfrey became the worlds first Black female billionaire in 2003 and remained the only female Black billionaire until 2013, when she was joined by Isabel dos Santos, Africa's first female billionaire and Folorunsho Alakija, Nigeria's first female billionaire.
In 2014, Michael Jordan became the first billionaire athlete. He was the forth-richest Black American, behind Robert F. Smith, David L. Steward and Oprah Winfrey.
2014 is also the year our list of 10 Black billionaires had peak aggregate wealth of $60.9 billion.
In June 2019, Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter was named the first hip hop artist to become a billionaire by Forbes.com.
On August 4, 2021, Rihanna was listed by Forbes magazine as officially becoming a billionaire. Ms. Fenty is the first Black billionaire borned and raised in Barbados. She's also the youngest known Black billionaire to date.
Black billionaires make up less than 1% of all billionaires worldwide. Collectively their wealth represents only 26% of Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos net worth of $191 billion.
Updated 2022/04/06.
Compiled using data from Forbes.com, Bloomberg.com and CanadianBusiness.com.
Black Billionaires 2022
| Name | Age | Net Worth | Source | Industry | Country of Citizenship |
| Aliko Dangote | 64 | $14.00 | The Dangote Group | sugar, flour, cement | Nigeria |
| Mike Adenuga | 68 | $6.90 | Globacom | telcom, banking, oil | Nigeria |
| Robert Smith | 59 | $6.00 | Vista Equity Partners | Private equity | United States |
| Abdulsamad Rabiu | 61 | $4.40 | BUA Group | Sugar, flour, cement | Nigeria |
| David L. Steward | 70 | $3.70 | World Wide Technology | Information Technology | United States |
| Patrice Motsepe | 60 | $3.00 | African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) | mining | South Africa |
| Oprah Winfrey | 68 | $2.60 | Harpo, Weight Watchers | Television | United States |
| Strive Masiyiwa | 61 | $2.10 | Econet Group, Liquid Telecom | Communications | Zimbabwe |
| Michael Lee-Chin | 71 | $2.00 | Investments, Mutual Funds | Communications, Banking | Jamaica, Canada |
| Kanye West | 44 | $1.80 | Yeezy | Music, Footwear and Apparel | United States |
| Robyn Rihanna Fenty | 34 | $1.70 | Fenty Beauty, Savage x Fenty | Fashion, Cosmetics, Music | Barbados, USA |
| Michael Jordan | 59 | $1.60 | Charlotte Hornets, NIKE, endorsements | Entertainment, Apparel | United States |
| Tope Awotona | 40 | $1.40 | Calendly | Software | United States |
| Shawn Jay-Z Carter | 52 | $1.30 | Roc-A-Fella Records, Rocawear, Armand de Brignac, D’Ussé, Tidal, Roc Nation | Music, Investments | United States |
| Mohammed Ibrahim | 75 | $1.20 | Celtel International, MSI Cellular | communications | United Kingdom |
| Alexander Karp | 54 | $1.10 | Palantir Technologies | Software, Investments | United States |
| Tyler Perry | 52 | $1.00 | The Tyler Perry Company Inc. | Film, Television | United States |
As of 2022/04/06
