Oprah Is First Black Female Entrepreneur On Bloomberg List Ranking World’s Richest People
Oprah Winfrey can add a new title to her already-long list: One of the World’s 500 Richest People.
On Monday, June 18, the entertainment mogul’s net worth reached an all-time high of $4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which ranks the globe’s wealthiest individuals.
By hitting that mark, Oprah has become the first black female entrepreneur to ever make this particular Bloomberg list. There is now a total of 65 women on the list, only six of which are entrepreneurs.
On the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Oprah comes in at No. 494. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is in the No. 1 position with a net worth of $143 billion. Coming in second is Microsoft founder Bill Gates with $93.1 billion, and at No. 3 is Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett with $82.3 billion.
How did Oprah amass so much money?
Well, the majority of her fortune comes from her 25-season stint as the host of the wildly popular Oprah Winfrey Show. Additionally, she is the founder of her own production company, Harpo, the OWN cable network, and O, the Oprah Magazine. Oprah is also an accomplished actress and author.
This year alone, according to Bloomberg, the 64-year-old’s fortune increased by a whopping $427 million thanks to her investment in Weight Watchers International Inc. In October 2015, she reportedly bought $43.5 million worth of stock in the weight management company. Oprah, who sits on the board of and frequently appears in advertisements for Weight Watchers, “still owns nearly 5.5 million shares,” reported CNN Money.
“But she sold about 2 million in March at prices ranging from about $58 to $64 a share. She made $110 million in the process.”
Just this week, as previously reported by Inquisitr, Oprah and Apple Inc. announced a new, multi-year partnership to produce exclusive original programming and content that will “embrace her incomparable ability to connect with audiences around the world” — and surely add even more money to her net worth.
Oprah, who has been in a steady relationship with 67-year-old businessman Stedman Graham since 1986, does donate a great deal of her money to various charities though. The philanthropist most notably opened the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa in 2007. At the boarding school, academically-gifted girls attending eighth through twelfth grades can receive a free education to prepare them for college.
In regards to money, Oprah once shared these words of wisdom, “I hope the way you spend your money is in line with the truth of who you are and what you care about,” noted the Christian Science Monitor.
