The U.S. is home to the most billionaires of any country in the world but only a fraction are Black billionaires; representing a mere 1% of billionaires in the States. The most well-known have carved out careers in media, sports, and entertainment. Still, others in the tech and financial sectors have made their way onto the list too. Despite the barriers, these Black Americans have risen to the top of their industries and achieved immense financial success.  Today we highlight 10 Black U.S.-based billonaires and their inspirational journeys to the top.

Robert Smith 

Robert Smith is a mega-billionaire businessman and philanthropist. His net worth is calculated at around $9.2billion. Founder, chairman, and CEO of private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. He founded Vista Equity Partners in 2010. With more than $ 100 billion in assets, Vista is one of the best-performing private equity firms, posting annualized returns of 31% since its founding. It is now one of the fourth-largest enterprise software companies. In 2018, he was recognized on Vanity Fair’s New Establishment List, an annual ranking of individuals who have made impactful business innovations. In 2014 he founded Fund II Foundation, a philanthropic body that funds efforts to conserve African American culture, promote music education for young people, and rectify human rights abuses. He graduated from Cornell University with a chemistry degree and worked at Kraft Foods and Goodyear Tire before completing his MBA at Columbia Business School. In an iconic moment during a commencement speech at Morehouse College in 2019, Smith vowed to wipe out the total $ 34 million student debt of the entire graduating class. 

David Steward

With an estimated net worth of $7.6 billion, David Steward is the founder and chairman of IT provider World Wide Technology, the largest Black-owned company in the United States. After growing up in the segregated South with seven siblings and a father who was a mechanic, janitor, and trash collector, he went on to Central Missouri University, and worked as a salesperson for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, Union Pacific, and FedEx before founding World Wide Technology in 1990. The company now employs over 9,000 people globally and generates over $ 14.5 billion in annual revenue. Steward is chairman of The First Chance Campaign, a $ 100 million fundraising effort to the cycle of reincarceration. He is also the author of two books: Doing Business by The Good Book and his most recent book, Leadership by the Good Book. 

Jay-Z

Born Shawn Corey Carter and known by his stage name, Jay-Z is a rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. He became the first hip-hop billionaire in 2019. With a diversified portfolio that spans his media company Roc Nation, his …. Music career, his investments in drinks companies Armand de Brignac champagne and D’Ussé cognac, alongside an impressive fine art collection, Jay-Z’s net worth is now over $2.5billion. In 2023 Billboard and Vibe named him the greatest rapper of all time. Alongside his own entertainment company Roc Nation, he was CEO of Def Jam Recordings from 2004 to 2007. He holds the record for the most number-one albums of any solo artist on the Billboard 200. Alongside Kanye West, he has been awarded the most Grammy Awards of any hip-hop artist. Born in Brooklyn, Shawn Carter was raised by his mom and grew up alongside his three older siblings. He dropped out of high school and released his first single in 1995. In 2008 he married Beyonce2 and in 2023 they bought 27712 Pacific Coast Highway, a house in Malibu, CA, for $ 200 million, making it one of the most expensive residences sold in the state’s history. 

Oprah Winfrey

Born in Mississippi, Oprah is a television personality, actress, and entrepreneur, whose eponymous daily talk show was one of the most popular of its kind. Starting her career in television at 19 as a news anchor for her local CBS television station, she then moved on to be a news affiliate for ABC in Baltimore. After a stint on AM Chicago as a talk show host, the show became named The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1985, as a mark of her success as its host. That same year she starred in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple, and over the coming years she would found her own television production company, Harpo Productions, Inc., and Harpo Films. She has since expanded her media entertainment empire with Oxygen Media, and the Oprah Winfrey Network. In 2013 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and in 2018 she won the Cecil B. DeMille Award ( a Golden Globe for lifetime achievement). Her acceptance speech, which called for racial and gender equality, was one of the most iconic moments of the ceremony. 

Michael Jordan

Arguably NBA’s greatest player of all time, Michael Jordan has won six titles with the Chicago Bulls. During his career, his salary totaled $90 million, topped up nicely by an estimated $2.4 billion from partnerships with brands such as Nike, Hanes, and Gatorade. Jordan grew up in North Carolina and attended the University of North Carolina where he played basketball for his college and was named College Player of the Year in his sophomore and junior years. In 1984 and 1992 he led the US basketball team to Olympic gold medals in Los Angeles and Barcelona respectively. He bought a share in the Washington Wizards in 2000 but renounced ownership in 2001 to become a player on the team. He announced his final retirement in 2003. In 2006 he became the minority owner and general manager of the Charlotte Hornets. He is also known for the iconic Air Jordan sneaker, produced exclusively for him by Nike in 1984, and inspired by his extraordinary leaping ability. In 2016 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

Rihanna

What can’t Rihanna do? Singer, actor, fashion designer, beauty guru, and mother, the Barbados native has racked up a net worth of $1.4billion with her ownership stakes in Fenty Beauty and Savage x Fenty. Fenty Beauty, co-owned with French luxury retailer LVMH, doubled its revenue in 2022. Her stake in Savage x Fenty is 30%, and in 2021 the company raised money at a $ 1 billion valuation. Rihanna began her singing career when she was signed to Jay-Z’s Def Jam Records, and released her first single “Pon de Replay” in 2005. At the age of 23 she had achieved 10th number-one Billboard hit – making her the youngest artist ever to reach that milestone. When she launched Fenty Beauty in 2017, the brand was lauded for its inclusivity in offering 40 different shades of foundation. Performing at the Super Bowl halftime show for the first time in 2023, she announced she was expecting her second child with rapper ASAP Rocky. 

Tope Awotona

Tope Awatone is the founder and CEO of scheduling software company Calendly, whose net worth is estimated at $1.2 billion. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Awotona immigrated to the US as a teenager and studied computer science at the University of Georgia, later switching to business and management information. In 2013, Awatone quit his job selling software for EMC and poured his life savings into founding Calendly. It now has over 10 million users, and clients include Indiana University and Lyft. Originally founded in Atlanta, Calendly no longer has any physical office space. The company became profitable in 2016, raising $ 350 million in funding from OpenView Venture Partners in 2021. In 2022, Calendly became the subject of a Twitter war between Sam Lessin, a VC with Slow Ventures, who tweeted about his hatred of Calendly, only to be shut down by Dustin Moskovitz, the billionaire Facebook cofounder and VC Marc Andreessen. Awotona said the spat led to tens of thousands of new users signing up. 

Billionaire Tope Awotona, the richest immigrant and Nigerian-American residing in the United States

Tiger Woods

Pro-golfer Tiger Woods has earned roughly $ 1.8 billion during his career, including a PGA Tour-record of $ 21 million in prize money. He became the first player to win four major tournaments consecutively. In 1997 Woods became the first golfer of African American descent to win the Masters Tournament. He enrolled at Stanford University in 1994 but left to turn pro in 1996. In 2022, Forbes verified Woods as a billionaire, making him the second active athlete ever to be distinguished as a billionaire. Woods’ other investments and businesses involve a golf course design business and a high-end mini-golf chain Popstroke. In 2022, he announced with fellow golf star Rory McIlroy that they had founded TMRW Sports, a tech-focused venture with plans to launch a new golf league called TGL. He is also a partner in Justin Timberlake and British billionaire Joe Lewis’s luxury real-estate venture, Nexxus. In 2019 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Donald Trump. 

Lebron James

The first active NBA player to become a billionaire, Forbes estimated Lebron James’s active net worth at $ 1 billion in June 2022, making him number four in the world rankings of highest-paid athletes. In 2023 he became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, breaking the record previously held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. A local basketball prodigy since a young age, James was first drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003. He signed an unprecedented $90million endorsement contract with Nike before he had ever played a professional game. He reportedly earned more than $ 430 million in pre-tax salary from stints with the Cavaliers, the Miami Heat, and his current team, the Los Angeles Lakers. He has made upwards of $ 900 million off the court from business ventures and endorsement deals with the likes of Nike, PepsiCo and Walmart. He has equity in Beats by Dre and the fast-growing pizza chain Blaze Pizza. His LeBron James Family Foundation opened its first elementary school in 2018 and has pledged to spend more than $ 40 million to send kids to college. 

Tyler Perry 

With an estimated net worth of $ 1 billion, actor, director, producer, and writer Tyler Perry has built his empire on screen, his wealth coming from his cut as a producer. He owns 100% of his content.  His most iconic creation is the tough elderly woman Mabel “Madea” Simmons, who he also plays. The franchise has grossed more than $600million.  Outside of his own production company, he has been cast in Hollywood films ranging from Star Trek, Gone Girl and Don’t Look Up. In 2015 he acquired his own studio space in Atlanta, where the blockbuster Marvel film Black Panther was one of the first productions to inaugurate Perry’s studio. Following a difficult start in life, where Perry struggled with his abusive father and mental health issues, he turned to writing after hearing Oprah speak of its cathartic effect. This process led to his first play, I Know I’ve Been Changed – which eventually moved to Atlanta’s nationally acclaimed Fox Theatre.