Jay-Z Net Worth, Career, Biography, Facts, Age, Life Story

Jay-Z Net Worth, Wealth and Career Earnings: Jay-Z is an American rapper, producer, songwriter and business man. As of this writing, Jay-Z’s net worth is $1.3 billion. Jay-Z has earned his net worth through his career in the music industry, and as an extremely successful entrepreneur. Jay has had an enormous amount of success in several industries. In his own words, he’s “not businessman, he’s a business… man”. In any given year he earns $70-80 million. Between June 2018 and June 2019, he earned $81 million.

Jay-Z and his wife Beyonce Knowles have a combined net worth of $1.8 billion. They first cracked the combined billion dollar fortune mark in July 2014.

Jay-Z first became a billionaire in June 2019 thanks to a vast business empire that today includes record sales, touring, merchandise, endorsements and investments like Armand de Brignac champagne, Tidal and D’Usse cognac. He makes investments through Marcy Venture Partners which is named after the housing project where Jay grew up. Marcy Ventures raised $85 million in investment capital in 2019.

Jay-Z Wealth Milestones

In February 2021 Sold 50% of Armand de Brignac to LVMH at a $640m valuation
In February 2021 Sold Tidal to Square for $300m

First Became a Billionaire in 2020

Has earned north of $750m in his career before investments
Owns equity in SpaceX, Oatly, Ethos, Uber and Sweetgreen
With Beyonce, co-owns an art collection worth at least $100 million
Co-owns, with Beyonce, at least $150m in global real estate

We first added Jay to Celebrity Net Worth back in September 2009 with a net worth of $300 million. By September 2012 his net worth had jumped to $475 million. He crossed the $500 million mark for the first time in 2013. By 2015 he had topped the $600 million mark. Between 2015 and 2019 his net worth sky rocketed thanks to the various business ventures we detail below. As of January 2019 he was worth at least $930 million. In June 2019 Jay’s net worth officially crossed into billionaire status.

Early Life

Jay-Z was born Shawn Carter in Brooklyn, New York in December 1969. He was one of four children, and his mother raised the family alone after his father chose to leave them all and disappear.  Jay grew up in the Marcy Houses, and moved from school to school. The Marcy Houses were so notoriously dangerous that the entire neighborhood eventually had to be shut down. At one high school, Jay’s classmates included two young men who would go on to become The Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes. Jay eventually ended up at Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey, but never actually graduated.  Like many young men without purpose, he fell in to drug dealing, peddling crack cocaine. He was shot at multiple times.

Shawn Carter was always interested in music, regularly waking the rest of the family at night, as he would beat out drum patterns on the kitchen table. His mother gave him a boom box for his birthday, and he immediately began writing lyrics and freestyling. His entire focus shifted, and by the late 80s, Jay began to make a name for himself around the neighborhood.

In 1995 he co-founded the record company Roc-A-Fella Records with Damon Dash and Kareem Biggs. Through a series of transactions, Roc-A-Fella ultimately ended up under the umbrella of Russell Simmons’ Def Jam Records. Under the original deal Damon negotiated, Jay owns all of his master recordings, an unprecedented act for a new artist that has proven extremely lucrative over the years. His first album “Reasonable Doubt” sold 1.5 million copies in its first year. As of this writing, Jay-Z has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide. He has won 22 Grammy Awards. Every single album he’s ever released has gone platinum.

Marriage to Beyonce

In 2002, Jay-Z worked with Beyonce in the song, “03-Bonnie & Clyde,” as well as her hit single, “Crazy in Love,” and “That’s How You Like it.” He made appearances in several of Beyonce performances. At some point they began dating and in 2008, Beyonce and Jay-Z were married. They welcomed their first child, Blue Ivy, on January 8th 2012. On June 13, 2017 Beyonce gave birth to twins, a daughter named Rumi and a son named Sir.

Business Ventures

In 1999 Jay and Damon Dash co-created the clothing line Rocawear. By 2000, the company was generating $50 million in revenue per year. At its peak Rocawear generated $700 million in annual revenue. Damon was removed from the company in 2006 after a falling out with Jay. In March 2007 Jay sold the rights to Rocawear to Iconix Brand Group for $204 million. He maintains a small stake in the business today and is involved in the brand’s marketing, development and licensing.

In March 2015, Jay became the majority owner of music streaming service Tidal through a $56 million acquisition. Tidal has been valued at as much as $600 million.

Jay is the co-founder of the 40/40 Club franchise of nightclubs. The first location opened in New York in 2003. Over the years he endorsed a number of major brands including Chevy, Budweiser, Armadale Vodka and Hewlett Packard. He is the co-brand director of Budweiser Select and collaborates with the company on marketing and ad development.

Brooklyn Nets Investment

Jay purchased a small stake in the the Nets back in January 2004 for $1 million. He helped orchestrate the team’s move from New Jersey to Brooklyn with majority owner, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. By the time Jay sold his stake in the team, he had also bought a minority stake in the Barclay’s Center arena. He had to sell the stake in the team for $2.35 million when he launched his sports management business Roc Nation Sports. He was required to sell his stake in the team due to conflict of interest rules in the NBA but he was allowed to keep his stake in the arena. Perhaps not surprisingly, there is a 40/40 Club in the Barclay’s Center.

Roc Nation Sports

As we mentioned previously, Jay owns sports management company Roc Nation Sports. Launched in 2013, they have negotiated deals for many major athletes across several professional leagues.

Other Ventures

In 2014, Jay became the majority owner in champagne company Armand de Brignac. He had previously been a paid endorser of the brand, but ultimately decided to buy the company out completely. It has been reported that he owns a minority stake in the English soccer team Arsenal. He invested in a real estate partnership that reportedly is building hotels and condominiums around New York City. His first record deal with Live Nation was worth $150 million. In 2017 he signed a second deal with Live Nation that is worth $200 million over 10 years.

Investment values:

Jay’s investment in Armand de Brignac is worth $310 million.
He has at least $220 million worth of of cash and other liquid investments.
His investment in D’Usse is worth $100 million.
His music catalogue is worth at least $75 million.

His art collection is worth $70 million.

Jay-Z Career Earnings By Year

Real Estate

Beyonce and Jay-Z own an extremely valuable portfolio of real estate assets around the world. Here’s a highly reel of the homes we KNOW about –

In 2008 they purchased a 7-bedroom mansion on the ultra-exclusive Indian Creek Island in Miami for $8 million. They sold this home in 2010 for $9.3 million.
Beyonce owns a $2.6 million home in New Orleans.
Jay-Z owns a $10 million apartment in NYC that he bought solo in 2004 for $6.85 million.
In 2017 Beyonce sold her long-time NYC condo for $9.95 million. She bought the condo in 2005 for $5 million.
In 2017 Beyonce and Jay-Z together paid $26 million for a mansion in the Hamptons called Pond House.
In 2017, Beyonce and Jay-Z together paid $88 million for an insane 30,000 square foot mansion in Bel Air, California. Public records show that they took out a $52 million mortgage when they bought the house. Using the mortgage rates that were available at the time, B + J are likely paying north of $250,000 per month on their mortgage for the home that has a full basketball court, 2-acres of land, a 15 car garage, media room, multiple pools and bulletproof windows.
Together they own a $4 million private island in the Bahamas.

When you total it all up, Beyonce and Jay-Z own at least $150 million worth of real estate in the United States that we can find via public record searches. It’s possible they own more real estate abroad or other properties hidden behind LLCs.