BIEBER’S CATALOGUE SALE BOOSTS HIS NET WORTH TO $300m
▶ Ashton Kutcher backs Chooose, a Norwegian climate tech company, and Lionel Messi’s clothing brand is now trading on the US stock market, writes Keith Fernandez
Justin Bieber
After Shakira, Neil Young, Hootie & The Blowfish and Justin Timberlake, Hipgnosis has come for the other Justin, one Mr Bieber. The Canadian singer is the latest to sell his back catalogue to the Blackstone-backed song management company for $200 million.
The deal takes Bieber’s net worth to $300 million, according to wealth tracking website Celebrity Net Worth.
Hipgnosis has purchased Bieber’s interest in his publishing copyrights for all of his music released before December 31, 2021.
The agreement includes his six studio albums and covers 290 songs. It is the largest deal for any artist of his generation.
The catalogue has almost 82 million monthly listeners and more than 30 billion streams on Spotify, according to Hipgnosis. The Baby singer, 28, has sold 28 million equivalent album units in the US, according to music magazine Billboard. Songs where he is the primary artist have been streamed on demand about 16.6 billion times.
Estimates of his international sales vary, with figures putting his total record sales between 70 million and 150 million.
He has had eight number-one albums on the Billboard 200 chart. He is the youngest musician to achieve that feat.
In September, R&B superstar Usher sold his interest in Bieber’s record label, RBMG, to HarbourView Equity Partners for an amount estimated at just under $40 million, according to Billboard.
Bieber signed his first record deal at the age of 14 and Usher was an early mentor.
The singer earns between $50 million and $70 million every year from music sales, merchandise, touring, product endorsements and other business ventures, Celebrity Net Worth estimates.
Music tours are thought to comprise the largest chunk of Bieber’s earnings. His first tour My World (2010-2011) grossed $53.3 million, while Believe, in 2012-2013, took in $69.9 million, according to Forbes. His most recent roadshow, the Purpose World Tour (2016-2017) earned more than $250 million, according to Billboard.
Additional income came from two films. 2011’s Never Say Never was the most successful concert film in the US, grossing $73 million, according to Billboard. Two years later, the documentary Believe took in $10.9 million, Box Office Mojo reports.
Over the years, Bieber has endorsed a variety of brands, including Calvin Klein, T-Mobile, Walmart, adidas and Beats by Dr Dre.
Bieber has also released seven perfumes with Revlon or its subsidiaries, including Someday, Girlfriend, Next Girlfriend and The Key, according to perfume database Fragrantica.
The My World hitmaker has made a significant number of property investments. He has bought and sold homes in Calabasas and Beverly Hills,
California, and Ontario, Canada. He now lives in a $25.8 million mansion in Los Angeles with his model wife Hailey.
Bieber has also frequently dipped his toes into equity. He has been involved with at least eight investments, according to business analytics platform CB Insights.
The most recent was cryptocurrency payment processor MoonPay last year. Notable exits include electrolyte drink mix Liquid I.V., which was acquired by Unilever in 2020.
Ashton Kutcher
Actor and investor Ashton Kutcher has joined a funding round for Norwegian climate tech company Chooose.
His Sound Ventures investment vehicle co-led the $15 million round through its Sound Waves subsidiary, alongside GenZero, a decarbonisation-focused investment company owned by Singapore-based Temasek.
Chooose, a software-as-a-service company, offers climate solutions such as carbon removals, offsets and sustainable aviation fuel. Its clients include Air Canada, Booking. com, British Airways, Trip. com, Iberia, Southwest Airlines and Japan Airlines.
Kutcher, 44, has a net worth of $200 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. His initial success came from a career that includes hit films such as Dude, Where’s My Car and television programmes That 70s Show and Two and a Half Men. He reportedly earned $700,000 per episode on the Charlie Sheen series.
In 2010, Kutcher joined talent manager Guy Oseary and investor Ron Burkle to set up A-Grade Investments.
The company turned $30 million in investment funds into $250 million in six years, according to investment data website Benzinga.
As of last year, it had assets of $150 million under management, according to disclosures.
In 2015, Kutcher and Mr Oseary founded Sound Ventures. The company focuses on early stage technology and financial technology companies. Among its most recent investments was social media platform Pearpop, last year.
It had invested in 63 companies and had 21 exits, according to data from Crunchbase.
Kutcher has made 69 investments, the website says. His holdings have included Uber, Airbnb and Citymaps.
Among the five forays he made last year are green hydrogen company QD-SOL, Amsterdam-based digital fashion brand The Fabricant and machine learning start-up Nanonets.
“I really think that technology has the greatest potential to accelerate happiness of most things in the world. The companies that will ultimately do well are the companies that chase happiness,” he said.
With his wife Mila Kunis, Kutcher has owned an estimated seven homes. The couple have turned a profit on many homes in California.
Their principal residence is a nearly two-and-half hectare sustainable homestead near Beverly Hills.
Lionel Messi
Argentinian football star Lionel Messi is in the news again with the US stock market debut this month of MGO Global, which operates his clothing brand The Messi Store.
The company began trading after a $7.5 million initial public offering, selling just 1.5 million shares to the public. The stock jumped more than 200 per cent to $4.90 per share, but fell back below its initial price on the same day. It closed trading at $2.70 on January 26.
The company was co-founded by Ginny Hilfiger, the youngest sibling of fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger.
Messi does not own a public stake in MGO, according to the IPO filing, as reported by Bloomberg. Instead, he receives royalty payments that comprise 12 per cent of net sales.
The face of Argentina’s recent Fifa World Cup triumph in Qatar has a net worth estimated at $600 million, according to Forbes. He has earned $1.15 billion over the course of his career.
The Paris Saint-German forward earned $130 million last year, making him the world’s highest-paid athlete of 2022, according to the magazine.
Besides the deal with MGO, he also has a lifelong contract with adidas and a retail collection with Hard Rock International.
Last March, he signed an endorsement agreement with fan engagement app Socios worth $20 million annually.
In October, he launched Play
Time, a company that aims to invest in promising teams and football technology start-ups.
Shaquille O’Neal
Retired US basketball player Shaquille O’Neal is among a host of sports investors to participate in a new $100 million fund launched by venture capital company Courtside Ventures. With this round, the company now has $200 million in assets under management.
Courtside Ventures has invested in more than 80 companies across eight countries, including sports publication The Athletic, video game streaming service Beam, online retailer StockX, fitness platform Freeletics and non-fungible token firm FanCraze.
O’Neal, 50, has an estimated net worth of $400 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. He earns about $60 million annually from endorsements and business endeavours, the website says.
A sizeable portion of his assets are in equities and real estate. He was an early investor in Google and has a stake in Apple, as well as owning several gyms and restaurants.
The franchises he operates include Auntie Anne’s and Five Guys restaurants, according to CNBC.
Among the brands he has endorsed are Pepsi, Reebok and Carnival Cruise Lines.
O’Neal has also explored careers in rap and film and is a DJ and music producer.