Black billionaires
Encyclopedia
- This article refers to U.S. dollar billionaires who have some degree of Black African ancestry.
According to the 2011 Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
Billionaire List, Nigeria's Aliko Dangote
Aliko Dangote
Alhaji Aliko Dangote , MFR, is a Nigerian businessman based in Nigeria. He is the owner of the Dangote Group, which has operations in his homeland and several other countries in Africa, including Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa and Zambia...
with a net worth of $13.8 billion is the richest Black person in the world. The other Black billionaires on the 2011 list are South African gold magnate Patrice Motsepe
Patrice Motsepe
Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe is a South African mining magnate and 'oligarch' as he was major beneficiary of the South African governments Black Economic Empowerment policies. His company, African Rainbow Minerals, has interests in gold, ferrous metals, base metals, and platinum...
with $3.3 billion, American Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
at $2.7 billion and Nigeria's Mike Adenuga
Globacom
Globacom Limited is a Nigerian multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. GLO is a privately owned telecommunications carrier that started operations on 29 August 2003. It currently operates in 4 countries in West Africa namely Nigeria, Republic of Benin, Ghana and...
with $2 billion.
From 2001 to 2003, Forbes listed BET (Black Entertainment Television)
Black Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...
founder Bob Johnson
Robert L. Johnson
Robert L. Johnson is an American business magnate best known for being the founder of television network Black Entertainment Television , and is also its former chairman and chief executive officer...
, an American, as a billionaire, but dropped him after his fortune was split in his divorce. He returned to Forbes Billionaire list in 2007 with a net worth of $1.1 billion. In 2008 Johnson's wealth dropped further to approximately $1.0 billion and in 2009 he dropped off the list again.
Nigerian petroleum executive Femi Otedola
Femi Otedola
Femi Otedola is a Nigerian businessman. He is the CEO of African Petroleum Plc, and appeared as one of only two Nigerians to appear on the 2009 Forbes list of 793 dollar-denominated billionaires in the world, with an estimated net worth of over USD$1.2 billion.Femi Otedola is the Nigerian...
briefly emerged as a billionaire in 2009, but was not listed as one in 2010 or 2011.
Multiracial billionaires with partial Black ancestry have also been identified over the years. Michael Lee-Chin
Michael Lee-Chin
The Honourable Michael Lee-Chin, OJ is a Jamaican-Canadian investor. He is the founder and Chairman of Portland Holdings Inc., a privately held investment company which owns a collection of diversified operating companies in sectors that include media, tourism, health care telecommunications and...
of Canada, who is Jamaican of Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
and Black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
ancestry was on the list from 2001 to 2010, but dropped off in 2011. Saudi-Arabian billionaire Mohammed Al Amoudi
Mohammed Al Amoudi
Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi (Ge'ez: ሞሓመድ አልአሙዲ, Arabic: محمد حسين العمودي; is a Saudi Arabian/Ethiopian businessman and billionaire who lives in Ethiopia and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As of 2011, his net worth has...
, of Hadhrami Yemeni and Ethiopian descent, has been on the Forbes billionaire list since 2002 and in 2011 had a net worth of $12.3 billion. Also included is Mo Ibrahim
Mo Ibrahim
Dr. Mohamed "Mo" Ibrahim is a Sudanese mobile communications entrepreneur and billionaire. He worked for several other telecommunications companies before founding Celtel, which when sold had over 24 million mobile phone subscribers in 14 African countries...
, a British billionaire of Sudanese Arab and Nubian ancestry, who has been on the Forbes Billionaire list since 2008 and in 2011 had a net worth of $1.8 billion. However as there are competing claims as to what degree multiracial individuals should be considered Black, these individuals have not been universally regarded as being Black billionaires.
Of all the Black or Afro-multiracial billionaires identified by Forbes, only Oprah Winfrey qualified for Forbes 2009's list of the world's 20 most powerful billionaires, a list which considered not only wealth, but also market sway and political clout. Winfrey was considered especially powerful because of her influence on American consumer choices and her pivotal role in getting Barack Obama elected
Oprah Winfrey's endorsement of Barack Obama
Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement of Barack Obama was one of the most widely covered and studied developments of the 2008 presidential campaign. Winfrey has been described as the most influential woman in the world for her impact on the culture and her proven record as a taste-maker and trend-setter,...
.
Members
| Black billionaires and Afro-multiracial billionaires by nationality and year (wealth valuations by Forbes magazine at the time their billionaire list is released each year) | ||||
| Year | Number of black billionaires | Number of Afro-multiracial billionaires | Number of all billionaires | |
| 1999 | 0 |
0 | 298, wealthiest: Bill Gates Bill Gates William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen... $55 billion  |
|
| 2000 | 0 |
0 | 322, wealthiest: Bill Gates $60 billion |
|
| 2001 | 1: Bob Johnson Robert L. Johnson Robert L. Johnson is an American business magnate best known for being the founder of television network Black Entertainment Television , and is also its former chairman and chief executive officer... $1.6 billion |
1: Michael Lee-Chin $1 billion  |
538, wealthiest: Bill Gates $58.7 billion |
|
| 2002 | 1: Bob Johnson $1 billion |
2: Mohammad Al Amoudi $1.5 billion  Michael Lee-Chin $1.1 billion |
497, wealthiest: Bill Gates $52.8 billion |
|
| 2003 | 2: Bob Johnson $1.2 billion Oprah Winfrey $1 billion |
2: Mohammad Al Amoudi $1.5 billion Michael Lee-Chin $1.4 billion |
476, wealthiest: Bill Gates $40.7 billion |
|
| 2004 | 1: Oprah Winfrey $1.1 billion |
2: Michael Lee-Chin $2.4 billion Mohammad Al Amoudi $1.4 billion |
587, wealthiest: Bill Gates $46.6 billion |
|
| 2005 | 1: Oprah Winfrey $1.3 billion |
2: Michael Lee-Chin and Mohammad Al Amoudi both worth $2.5 billion |
691, Wealthiest: Bill Gates $46.5 billion |
|
| 2006 | 1: Oprah Winfrey $1.4 billion |
2: Mohammad Al Amoudi $6.9 billion Michael Lee-Chin $2.1 billion |
793, wealthiest: Bill Gates $50 billion |
|
| 2007 | 2: Oprah Winfrey Oprah Winfrey Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011... $1.5 billion Bob Johnson $1.1 billion |
2: Mohammad Al Amoudi $8 billion Michael Lee-Chin $1.6 billion |
946, wealthiest: Bill Gates $56 billion |
|
| 2008 | 4: Aliko Dangote Aliko Dangote Alhaji Aliko Dangote , MFR, is a Nigerian businessman based in Nigeria. He is the owner of the Dangote Group, which has operations in his homeland and several other countries in Africa, including Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa and Zambia... $3.3 billion  Oprah Winfrey $2.5 billion Patrice Motsepe $2.4 billion Bob Johnson $1 billion |
3: Mohammad Al Amoudi $9 billion Mo Ibrahim $2.5 billion   Michael Lee-Chin $1.8 billion |
1,125, wealthiest: Warren Buffet $62 billion |
|
| 2009 | 4: Oprah Winfrey $2.7 billion Aliko Dangote Aliko Dangote Alhaji Aliko Dangote , MFR, is a Nigerian businessman based in Nigeria. He is the owner of the Dangote Group, which has operations in his homeland and several other countries in Africa, including Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa and Zambia... $2.5 billion Femi Otedola $1.6 billion Nigeria Patrice Motsepe $1.3 billion South Africa |
3: Mohammad Al Amoudi $9 billion Mo Ibrahim $2 billion Michael Lee-Chin $1 billion |
793, wealthiest: Bill Gates $40 billion |
|
| 2010 | 3: Oprah Winfrey $2.4 billion Patrice Motsepe $2.3 billion South Africa Aliko Dangote Aliko Dangote Alhaji Aliko Dangote , MFR, is a Nigerian businessman based in Nigeria. He is the owner of the Dangote Group, which has operations in his homeland and several other countries in Africa, including Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa and Zambia... $2.1 billion |
3: Mohammad Al Amoudi $10 billion Mo Ibrahim $2 billion Michael Lee-Chin $1 billion |
1,011, Wealthiest: Carlos Slim Helu Carlos Slim Helú Carlos Slim Helú is a Mexican business magnate and philanthropist who as of 2011 is the richest person in the world, for the second year in a row... & family $53.5 billion   |
|
| 2011 | 4:Aliko Dangote Aliko Dangote Alhaji Aliko Dangote , MFR, is a Nigerian businessman based in Nigeria. He is the owner of the Dangote Group, which has operations in his homeland and several other countries in Africa, including Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa and Zambia... $13.8 billion Patrice Motsepe $3.3 billion South Africa Oprah Winfrey $2.7 billion Mike Adenuga $2 billion |
2: Mohammad Al Amoudi $12.3 billion Mo Ibrahim $1.8 billion |
1,210, wealthiest: Carlos Slim Helu Carlos Slim Helú Carlos Slim Helú is a Mexican business magnate and philanthropist who as of 2011 is the richest person in the world, for the second year in a row... and family $74 billion |
|
Current trends
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Poverty in Africa
Poverty in Africa refers to the lack of basic human needs faced by certain segments of African society. African nations typically fall toward the bottom of any list measuring small size economic activity, such as income per capita or GDP per capita, despite a wealth of natural resources...
and the fact that in the African diaspora there are often severe disparities in wealth between those of African descent and the white establishment. For example, within the United States the median income of African Americans as a group is roughly 65 percent of that of Caucasian Americans according to the 2000 United States census.
South Africa
According to Forbes magazine, South Africa has the most billionaires in sub-Saharan Africa. However, Patrice Motsepe is South Africa's only billionaire of African descent.Ivory Coast
During his presidency, Houphouët-Boigny, widely regarded as the most powerful west African president, benefited greatly from the wealth of Côte d'Ivoire; by the time of his death in 1993, his personal wealth was estimated to be between US$7 and $11 billion. With regards to his large fortune, Houphouët-Boigny said in 1983, "People are surprised that I like gold. It's just that I was born in it." The Ivorian leader acquired a dozen properties in the metropolitan area of Paris (including Hotel Masseran on Masseran Street in the 7th arrondissement of Paris), a property in Castel Gandolfo in Italy, and a house in Chêne-Bourg, Switzerland. He owned real estate companies, such as Grand Air SI, SI Picallpoc and Interfalco, and had many shares in prestigious jewelry and watchmaking companies, such as Piaget SA and Harry Winston. He placed his fortune in Switzerland, once asking if "there is any serious man on Earth not stocking parts of his fortune in Switzerland".In 1983, Houphouët-Boigny moved the capital from Abidjan to Yamoussoukro. There, at the expense of the state, he built many buildings such as the Institute Polytechnique and an international airport. The most luxurious project was the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, which is currently the largest church in the world, with an area of 30,000 square metres (320,000 sq ft) and a height of 158 metres (518 ft). Personally financed by Houphouët-Boigny, construction for the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace was carried out by the Lebanese architect Pierre Fakhoury at a total cost of about US$300 million. Houphouët-Boigny offered it to Pope John Paul II as a "personal gift"; the latter, after having unsuccessfully requested it being shorter than St. Peter's in Rome, consecrated it all the same on 10 September 1990.
Nigeria
As of 2011, Aliko Dangote is the richest Black billionaire according to the Forbes Billionaire list. He is considered the first verifiable billionaire in Nigeria. However, an editor for Forbes claims that dictator Sani AbachaSani Abacha
General Sani Abacha was a Nigerian military leader and politician. A Kanuri from Borno by tribe, he was born and brought up in Kano, Nigeria. He was the de facto President of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998....
(who died in office in 1998) probably was a billionaire as well.
Abacha Controversy
According to Forbes, Sani AbachaSani Abacha
General Sani Abacha was a Nigerian military leader and politician. A Kanuri from Borno by tribe, he was born and brought up in Kano, Nigeria. He was the de facto President of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998....
, the Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
n military leader, was probably a billionaire when he was alive but the magazine could never confirm this. Abacha's position as an allegedly corrupt dictator made his wealth unusually difficult to track and so his exact net-worth was a subject of much dispute. Abacha has been accused of siphoning off $2.2 billion in foreign assets to his family and their representatives (some have put the figure as high as $3 billion), however this fortune may have been divided among the foreign bank accounts of too many people, or individuals in his inner circle to have ever qualified as a billionaire. In April 2002, Switzerland, which began blocking Abacha's assets in late 1999, decided that Nigeria would get back $1 billion of the money allegedly embezzled by Abacha and his family with $535 million of that sum being transferred to the Bank for International Settlements in Basel to be used "in favor of the federal government of Nigeria," according to the justice office.
According to the terms of a deal reached with the Abacha family, the Nigerian government agreed to drop all criminal charges against Abacha's son Mohammed Sani Abacha and businessman Bagudu Abubakar and would also allow the Abacha family to keep $100 million which were "acquired prior to Abacha's term of office and which . . . demonstrably do not derive from criminal acts," the Office of Justice said.
"The Nigerians talk about $2.2 billion being plundered from the Treasury. They already received around $1 billion between 1998 and 2001, and now they are getting another $1 billion, which corresponds more or less to the $2.2
billion," said Folco Galli, a justice office spokesman.
Nigerian officials however, continue to insist that only some of the funds that Abacha allegedly embezzled are in Switzerland and have requested assistance from the US, Britain, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Germany to find the rest.
Zaire/Congo
There is evidence that during the 20th century, Zaire/Congo, may have had a billionaire; a Forbes editor has gone on record claiming that Zaire president Mobutu Sese SekoMobutu Sese Seko
Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga , commonly known as Mobutu or Mobutu Sese Seko , born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, was the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1965 to 1997...
was probably a billionaire but the magazine could never confirm it. CNN.com reported that Mobutu may have been worth as much as $5 billion, an amount almost equivalent to his country's foreign debt during the 1980s (the time the wealth was allegedly acquired). By 1989, the government was forced to default on international loans from Belgium. He owned a fleet of Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
vehicles that he used to travel between his numerous palaces, while many of his people starved. Meanwhile the infrastructure of Zaire virtually collapsed, and many public service workers went months without being paid. Most money was siphoned off to Mobutu, his family, and top political and military leaders. Only the Special Presidential Division — on whom his physical safety depended — was paid adequately or regularly. A popular saying was that the civil servants pretended to work while the state pretended to pay them expressed this grim reality. However when one of Mobutu's Swiss bank accounts was investigated, only $3.4 million was found leading to speculation that the money was spent, or that the claims that he looted his country's fortune were politically motivated. In an effort to evade detection, the fortune may have been split among many friends, family members, and government officials, meaning that no single individual in Zaire ever qualified as a billionaire.
Michael Jackson
On February 6, 2003, Martin BashirMartin Bashir
Martin Bashir is a British journalist and media personality, currently with NBC News as a contributor for its Dateline program, and an afternoon anchor for MSNBC, hosting Martin Bashir...
asked Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
how much he was worth, and Jackson replied "It's way up there." Bashir then asked, "A billion dollars?" to which Jackson replied "It's over there." Bashir asked for confirmation: "Over a billion dollars!" to which the star replied "Yes." When the interview was aired in the US, broadcaster Barbara Walters
Barbara Walters
Barbara Jill Walters is an American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality. She has hosted morning television shows , the television newsmagazine , former co-anchor of the ABC Evening News, and current contributor to ABC News.Walters was first known as a popular TV morning news...
replied, saying, “As for his claim to be worth over a billion dollars,” Walters explained, “his actual worth is in the two or three hundred million range. That’s hardly bad, but it’s nowhere near a billion”. During Jackson's trial, defense attorney Thomas Mesereau
Thomas Mesereau
Thomas Arthur Mesereau, Jr. is an American attorney best known for defending Michael Jackson in his 2005 child molestation trial.-The Robert Blake murder trial:...
Jr. said the Beatles catalogue (of which Jackson owns 50 percent) was worth $1 billion in 2003. There have been estimates it's now worth between $4 billion and $5 billion, but forensic accountant John Duross O'Bryan testified the total value of Jackson's assets at $130 million. In November 2006 The Guinness Book of Records presented Jackson with eight certificates for musical achievements. Among them "the most successful entertainer of all time" and "highest paid entertainer of all time" (he received $125 million in album and tour sales in 1989 alone).
Jackson never appeared on Forbes Billionaire list in his lifetime nor was he ever ranked among Forbes 400 richest Americans, a list which has often required more than even half a billion for membership. When Forbes editor Peter Newcomb was asked in 2003 to explain Jackson’s absence from their lists he replied “MJ owes $250 to $300 million to a consortium of banks; you will see him selling his publishing company any month now, my prediction”.
See also
- List of African-American firsts
- Lists of billionaires
- List of countries by the number of billionaires