The World's Black Billionaires 2025

Forbes

02-04-2025

Aliko Dangote, the wealthiest person in Nigeria, firmly believes in the phrase 'seeing is believing.' Even after years of amassing his fortune, he sought additional confirmation of his wealth. To verify this, he drove to a bank on his own, wrote himself a check for $10 million, then cashed it.
'I went home and opened it,' Dangote recalled in a 2019 interview. 'I looked at $10 million (in cash) and I said, 'Now I believe I have money.'–I took it back to the bank the next day.'
Now if Dangote wanted to make a withdrawal, the banks might run out of cash before he does.
On Tuesday, Forbes released the annual World's Billionaires list. Dangote, the founder and CEO of the Dangote Group, the largest conglomerate in West Africa, ranks as the 83rd-richest person—and the richest Black person—on the planet. He's worth an estimated $23.9 billion, up from $13.4 billion on last year's list after nearly doubling his fortune with the opening of Africa's largest oil and gas refinery. The $23 billion project converted a Nigerian marshland into the seventh-largest refinery in the world. Among the challenges of converting a jungle were moving 365 million cubic meters of sand from the sea, building a private port and private roads, and booking a 5,000-ton crane, one of only three in the world, years in advance.
'It was the biggest risk of my life,' Dangote told Forbes in a February 2024 profile. 'If this didn't work, I was dead.'
Dangote is the richest Black billionaire, but he isn't the only one. Overall, there are a record 3,028 billionaires on this year's ranking, worth a record $16.1 trillion combined. Twenty-three of them are Black—just 0.8% of the list—but they're a wealthy and impressive bunch. Overall, these 23 have amassed $96.2 billion in wealth, mainly from the finance, energy and technology sectors.
David Steward, an American IT entrepreneur, is the second richest, worth an estimated $11.4 billion. Private equity billionaire Robert F. Smith is the third-wealthiest Black billionaire, with an estimated net worth of $10.8 billion. Palantir Technologies cofounder and CEO Alexander Karp ($8.4 billion) and Nigerian businessman Mike Adenuga ($6.8 billion) round out the top five.
Sheila Johnson, the cofounder of BET, is a new Black billionaire this year, as is Herriot Tabuteau, the founder of a biotech firm focused on brain disorders. NBA Sixth Man Junior Bridgeman was also poised to debut. Bridgeman amassed an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion before his untimely death in March. He would've joined four other Black athletes on the list who became billionaires: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, LeBron James and Tiger Woods.
'He didn't waste his time just thinking about the game of basketball,' James told Forbes in February when discussing Bridgeman. 'He's always had a business mindset.'
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The founder and CEO of Dangote Group began the painful process of building Africa's largest oil and gas refinery in 2013. After 11 years, $23 billion in investment and innumerable headaches, the Dangote Refinery finally began operating in early 2024, helping boost Dangote's fortune by $10.5 billion since last year's list.
The richest Black American cofounded World Wide Technology, which provides IT solutions to customers like Citi and Verizon, in 1990. He still serves as chairman of the private company, which now has nearly 10,000 employees and generates $20 billion in annual revenue.
Smith founded $100 billion (assets under management) Vista Equity Partners, the largest Black-owned private equity firm in the United States, in 2000. He still runs the firm, which has more than 700 employees and focuses exclusively on investing in software companies.
Karp is the cofounder and CEO of Palantir Technologies, a data mining company whose customers include the FBI, the Department of Defense and other government agencies. Palantir went public in 2020 and now has a market capitalization of nearly $200 billion.
Adenuga made his first $1 million at age 26 as a commodities trader. Now he is one of the richest people in Africa thanks to his mobile phone network, Globacom, and his oil exploration outfit, Conoil.
Abdulsamad Rabiu is the founder of BUA Group, a Nigerian conglomerate active in cement production, sugar refining and real estate. He launched the company 1988 and still serves as chairman and CEO. Through his foundation, the Abdul Samad Rabiu Initiative, he also supports education, health and social development projects across Africa.
Often considered the greatest basketball player of all time, Jordan won six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls. His salary during his career totaled $90 million, but he has earned more than $2.4 billion (pretax) from such corporate partners as Nike, Hanes and Gatorade. In 2023, Jordan sold his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets in a deal that valued the NBA franchise at $3 billion. Today, he is one of just four Black Americans on The Forbes 400 ranking of the country's richest people.
Motsepe is the founder and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, a diversified mining and minerals company with operations in South Africa and Malaysia. In 2008, he became the first Black African on the World's Billionaires list.
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Her hit talk show ran for 25 years, until 2011, and she reinvested the profits from the program and films such as The Color Purple and Selma into a media and business empire. In 2011, she launched cable channel OWN and sold most of her stock toWarner Bros. Discovery in 2020.
One of the greatest hip-hop musicians of all-time, Jay-Z has won 25 Grammys and launched multiple businesses, including the fashion brand Rocawear (which sold for $204 million in 2007) and alcohol lines D'Usse and Armand de Brignac. In 2019, he became hip-hop's first billionaire.
A native of Nigeria and now a U.S. citizen, Ogunlesi is the founding partner, chairman and CEO of New York-based private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). In October, GIP was acquired by BlackRock for $12.5 billion in cash and shares.
Following his retirement from the NBA in 1996, Johnson began investing, opening movie theaters and Starbucks franchises, often in Black communities. The majority of his fortune comes from a 60% ownership stake in life insurance company Equitrust, which has grown from $16 billion in assets under management to $27 billion since he took over in 2015. Johnson also owns small equity stakes in four sports teams, including the NFL's Washington Commanders and the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Otedola made his first fortune in commodities before selling his shares in Forte Oil to invest in the energy business. Today, he is the chairman and majority owner of Geregu Power, a power generation business, whose other investors include the Nigerian government and the State Grid Corporation of China.
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Awotona moved to Atlanta when he was 15, and studied computer science at the University of Georgia before switching majors to business and management information. In 2013, he founded Calendly, a scheduling software startup, which private investors valued at $3 billion in 2021.
Perry, who has built a platform as the second highest-paid TV showrunner, achieved billionaire status in 2020. He is best known for his "Madea" movie franchise, which has grossed more than $660 million. He also owns a quarter of the streaming platform BET+ and a 330-acre studio in Atlanta.
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Over the course of his golf career, Woods has won 15 major championships (second only to Jack Nicklaus), 82 PGA Tour tournaments (tied for first with Sam Snead) and has won more prize money ($122 million) than any player in PGA history. However, the majority of Woods' earnings have come from his lucrative brand deals, most famously with Nike.
Born Robyn Fenty in Barbados—Rihanna is her middle name—she became a billionaire thanks to her cosmetics company, Fenty Beauty, which she co-owns with the French luxury conglomerate LVMH.
Ibrahim founded Celtel International, one of the first mobile phone companies serving Africa and the Middle East, in 1998. Seven years later, he sold Celtel to Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Company for $3.4 billion and pocketed $1.4 billion. Since then, he's focused on fighting corrupt leadership in Africa through the Mo Ibrahim Foundation
In 2022, James became the first active basketball player to become a billionaire, having earned more than $900 million (pretax) from endorsements and business ventures. James is a 21-time NBA All-Star, four-time NBA champion, and four-time NBA MVP.
Masiyiwa founded Econet Group in 1993 and built it into a telecom conglomerate with operations and investments throughout Africa, South America and Asia. He still serves as chairman of the company and also sits on the boards of the Gates Foundation and Netflix.
Lee-Chin made his money investing in financial institutions including the National Commercial Bank Jamaica and AIC Limited. He sold AIC to Canadian financial services group Manulife in 2009 for an undisclosed price, but still owns 60% of National Commercial Bank Jamaica, which accounts for nearly half his fortune.
A newcomer to this year's list, Tabuteau founded Axsome Therapeutics in 2012 with the goal of developing life-changing treatments for the millions of patients living with brain disorders. He owns 15% of Axsome, which he took public in 2015. Prior to founding the company, Tabuteau worked in healthcare finance, including as a partner at hedge fund Healthco/S.A.C. Capital.
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Another newcomer to this year's list, Johnson cofounded cable network BET with her then-husband, Robert Johnson, in 1979, and sold it to Viacom for $3 billion in 2001. Now, she's the founder of hospitality firm the Salamander Collection, which operates hotels and resorts in Washington, D.C., Charleston and Jamaica, among other destinations. Through her investment in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, she also owns stakes in the WNBA's Washington Mystics, the NBA's Washington Wizards and the NHL's Washington Capitals.