Black Billionaires
This is a global list of Black African ancestry billionaires in U.S. dollars, compiled using data from Forbes.com, Bloomberg.com and CanadianBusiness.com. There are currently 14 known black billionaires (2019/6).
Nigerian business magnate Alhaji Aliko Dangote with a net worth of $14.1 billion is the world's richest black person, according to Forbes magazine's 2019 ranking of the worlds richest people.
The 14 billionaires on our list has aggregate wealth of $46.2 billion, and a median age of 60 years. Nigeria's Alhaji Aliko Dangote accounts for 25% of that aggregate wealth. Black billionaires aggregate wealth represent less than one percent of the aggregate wealth of all billionaires.
Robert L. Johnson and Michael Lee-Chin were the first black people to be listed on Forbes magazines annual ranking of the World's Billionaires in 2001. Forbesmistakenly listed Mr. Johnson as the only black billionaire not recognizing Mr. Lee-Chin as being black.
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 is the forth-richest Black American, behind Robert F. Smith, David L. Steward and Oprah Winfrey.
In June 2019, Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter was named the first hip hop artist to become a billionaire by Forbes.com.
Updated 2019-06-05.
Black Billionaires 2019
| Name | Age | Forbes | Bloomberg | Source | Industry | Country of Citizenship |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isabel dos Santos | 45 | $2.3 | Investments | Banking | Angola | |
| Michael Lee-Chin | 67 | $1.8 | Investments, Mutual Funds | Communications, Banking | Canada | |
| Aliko Dangote | 61 | $10.9 | $16.7 | The Dangote Group | sugar, flour, cement | Nigeria |
| Mike Adenuga | 65 | $9.2 | Globacom | telcom, banking, oil | Nigeria | |
| Folorunsho Alakija | 67 | $1.1 | Famfa Oil | Oil | Nigeria | |
| Abdulsamad Rabiu | 58 | $1.6 | BUA Group | Sugar, flour, cement | Nigeria | |
| Patrice Motsepe | 57 | $2.4 | African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) | mining | South Africa | |
| Mohammed Ibrahim | 72 | $1.1 | Celtel International, MSI Cellular | communications | United Kingdom | |
| Robert Smith | 56 | $5.0 | $4.2 | Vista Equity Partners | Private equity | United States |
| David L. Steward | 68 | $3.0 | World Wide Technology | Information Technology | United States | |
| Oprah Winfrey | 65 | $2.5 | Harpo, Weight Watchers | Television | United States | |
| Michael Jordan | 56 | $1.8 | Charlotte Hornets, NIKE, endorsements | Entertainment, Apparel | United States | |
| Strive Masiyiwa | 58 | $2.5 | Econet Group, Liquid Telecom | Communications | Zimbabwe | |
| Shawn Jay-Z Carter | 49 | $1.0 | Roc-A-Fella Records, Rocawear, Armand de Brignac, D’Ussé, Tidal, Roc Nation | Music, Investments | U.S.A |
