The Lord of the Rings director sold part of his visual effects firm Weta Digital to Unity Software for $1.6 billion, making him only the third person in history to become a billionaire (after Steven Spielberg and George Lucas) by making movies.
The Boss unloaded his entire body of work to his longtime label home Sony Music. The sale, estimated at nearly $500 million, included five decades of iconic songs, recordings and songwriting credits from 20 studio albums, multiple box sets and live recordings.
Hip-hop’s first billionaire showed his business chops when he cashed out stakes in music streamer Tidal and the Armand de Brignac champagne brand.
One of the few actors to make the ranking this year, The Rock got only about a quarter of his earnings from roles in films like Jungle Cruise and Red Notice, with most of his Jumanji-sized payday coming from his buzzy tequila brand Teremana.
$235 Million
The billionaire rapper-producer now earns most of his money from a multi-year deal to design Yeezy sneakers for Adidas. His first Yeezys designed for the Gap—a hoodie and jacket— arrived last year, quickly selling out. But the 52-year-old brand wants more and is reportedly frustrated by the slow rollout.
Shocking. Hilarious. And cheap to make. The creators of South Park – and its offshoots – oversee a cottage industry that now nets more than $80 million a year and they signed a six-year, $900 million deal with Paramount+.
The folk-rock musician sold hundreds of song compositions, including "Mrs. Robinson," "59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" and "The Sound of Silence" to Sony Music Publishing for some $250 million.
The billionaire do-it-all creator and actor is bringing back the Madea franchise that made him famous – but everything he built around is what brings in most of his earnings, from a multi-year production deal with BET to the 330-acreCK production studio he works out of in Atlanta.
In addition to the 500-plus songs he has written for his own band, the OneRepublic frontman has penned hits for Beyoncé, Adele and Ed Sheeran. He sold a chunk of the catalog to investment firm KKR.
The 80-year-old Nobel laureate transferred his recorded music and a few future recordings to Sony for $150 million. That was on the heels of a reported $400 million megadeal in 2020 to sell his publishing catalog to Universal.
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