Exclusive / Jay-Z is now worth US$1.4 billion: he shares on Jack Dorsey and Tidal, LVMH and Armand de Brignac, Black Lives Matter and bitcoin
- The Empire State of Mind rapper’s net worth has jumped to US$1.4 billion, while wife Beyoncé has become the most-awarded woman in Grammy history
- In a Zoom interview with STYLE alongside Moet Hennessy CEO Philippe Schaus, Jay-Z talks business, bitcoin and #BlackLivesMatter
I’ve got a million and one questions for Jay-Z, but strangely enough, none of them are about music.
While celebrity is not all bad … it has to be – like everything else in the world – balanced
It’s no longer a hard knock life for hip-hop’s first billionaire, who has confirmed lucrative deals in February and March with two major companies. In addition to selling 50 per cent of his champagne brand to LVMH, Jay-Z sold a majority stake of Tidal to Square. In the span of mere weeks, Jay-Z’s net worth has jumped 40 per cent up to US$1.4 billion.
It would have been understandable for the 51-year-old rapper and businessman, born Shawn Corey Carter, to be high on his recent success, but Jay-Z is remarkably modest about it all, and he’s keen to credit the people with whom he has been collaborating.
“I’m very fortunate. Jack Dorsey, who created Twitter, Square and Cash App, and Philippe [Schaus] and the guys who created LVMH – you couldn’t ask for better partners; they’re the top of the top,” he says. “[Things] usually align like that when people do really great things. You could get into partnerships and people short-change the business for different reasons. These guys don’t cut corners, they try to get it right. It’s about respect.”
The mutual respect is certainly palpable between Schaus and Jay-Z on the call, and it’s clear that a genuine liking has developed between the two businessmen. The two have had “beautiful conversations and beautiful food” over the course of their discussions, paired, of course, with Armand de Brignac.
Jay-Z’s champagne brand, also known as Ace of Spades, sold more than half a million bottles in 2019, not a bad feat for a company launched in 2006, a relative newcomer in a world steeped in centuries-old tradition and maisons.