Coming from nothing and making it into the world is the ultimate American dream, based on the perennial rags-to-riches story. Yet becoming a billionaire does not only require persistence, ambition and talent, it also sometimes means access to opportunities and a good dash of luck.
Despite black people being few among the world’s billionaires, they are notable – including the amazing Michael Jordan, who became the world’s first billionaire athlete. Here are the top five richest black people alive today.
4. Oprah Winfrey – $2.7 billion
Oprah Winfrey, the undeniable queen of all media, particularly talk show and daytime TV, hardly needs any introduction. The Forbes results came out in March 2018, before Oprah struck her $1 billion deal with Apple to produce original content that raised her fortune to a total of roughly $4 billion and made her the first black woman to land on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index – which means that her place in next year’s list will probably be even higher. Born to a teenage single mother and raised in poverty, Oprah rose to prominence through her hit talk show aptly called The Oprah Winfrey Show. She has since launched her own TV channel called OWNand joined the legendary 60 Minutesnews magazine program as a special contributor.
