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Madonna: Official Billionaire


CMoody

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I believe she has been a billionaire mayny years ago. Only her art collection is worth a fortune. A painting by Picasso can be sold for 100 million n m has at least 3 paintings by Andy Warhol n many more.

Not to mention that she could sell off strands of her hair and other bodily assets for obscene amounts of $$$. :laugh:

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Huffington Post's article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/27/madonna-billionaire_n_2962820.html

I like this bit:

Despite plenty of controversy and negative press, the singer continues to prove her staying power. In addition to the tour, "MDNA" notched a No. 1 Billboard debut (although sales tumbled dramatically in the following weeks). Madonna's 2012 Super Bowl halftime performance also drew in more viewers than Beyonce's did this past February.

.....Fuck yeah baby!

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The comments from some Janet fans on other forums/blogs has been HILARIOUS. "Oh Jan did it first, lol!"

Once again the fuming Tranet stans are upset because she's NEVER doing it on her own. Earning it yourself >>>>>>

Having to rely on a man is not female empowerment, what Tran supposedly "preached"

But hey!

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Someone who isnt even a huge M fan spent like 100_200eoro on merchandise when we went to the shop at the concert... Im a cheap and greedy but a bigger fan but imagine the amount a huge fan with lots of $ saved up for concerts. It adds up. The one thing i really want but can not find is the ny yankee shirt! If anyone got it pm me lol

But anyway i thought she has millions of stock (live nation) and much others... Plus all her Art of course.. Im sure she has already been in the billion club for more than a decade.

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you know what is annoying about this article, they are saying she joined the billion dollar club because of her 2012 earnings citing $305M from MDNA tour... if that's the case her concerts alone got her to a billion... anyhow, it's obvious they have no idea how much she actually earned net from the MDNA tour...

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you know what is annoying about this article, they are saying she joined the billion dollar club because of her 2012 earnings citing $305M from MDNA tour... if that's the case her concerts alone got her to a billion... anyhow, it's obvious they have no idea how much she actually earned net from the MDNA tour...

yeah , this is so wrong

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Funny, how this is making the rounds considering the dubious source. But I guess this is the way media works nowadays. Anyway, it's a milestone and worth to be mentioned considering there are only a few women that can call themselves a billionaire. And in her case, she worked her ass off for the biggest chunk of that money. Something that cannot be said for many super rich people nowadays whose wealth is based more or less on speculating with other peoples money or even worse those heirs who never did anything productive in their life and now spend the money like crazy.

The thing is I doubt Madonna is happy about this "news" making the rounds.

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Funny, how this is making the rounds considering the dubious source. But I guess this is the way media works nowadays. Anyway, it's a milestone and worth to be mentioned considering there are only a few women that can call themselves a billionaire. And in her case, she worked her ass off for the biggest chunk of that money. Something that cannot be said for many super rich people nowadays whose wealth is based more or less on speculating with other peoples money or even worse those heirs who never did anything productive in their life and now spend the money like crazy.

The thing is I doubt Madonna is happy about this "news" making the rounds.

Eh, compared to other "news" that circulates about her, this is at least respectful and relevant (sorta).

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Why Madonna Isn't On The Forbes Billionaires List

FORBES released its annual Billionaires issue earlier this month, and the list features plenty of new faces (Tory Burch, Renzo Rosso) alongside the usual suspects (Bill Gates, Warren Buffett).

There are plenty of entertainment moguls on the list (David Geffen, Oprah Winfrey), but there aren’t any billionaires who’ve gained their wealth by working as a musician or actor. Not Diddy or Jay-Z, not Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie—and not Madonna.

Yet earlier this week, the blogosphere exploded with declarations that the Material Girl had ascended to billionaire status. Most of the stories erroneously cited a WWD story as the source of this revelation (representatives from the publication confirm that no such piece exists), probably because of a New York Post item that initially linked to WWD before shifting its attribution to another site.

There’s a reason Madonna isn’t on our Billionaires list: simply put, she’s not a billionaire.

We estimated the singer’s net worth at $325 million six years ago. Since then, our wealth team has chronicled the scads of cash she’s earned via our Celeb 100 list, and while she’s earned a ton of money, the numbers don’t add up to anything near $1 billion. She earned $72 million in 2007, $40 million in 2008, $110 million in 2009 and $58 million in 2010. With no touring or new albums in 2011, she didn’t earn enough to make our list that year, then pulled in another $30 million through the first half of 2012.Add it all up (plus whatever she earned in 2011–let’s call it $10 million) and you get $320 million. Lop off 35% for federal income taxes ($112 million), another 10% for state and local taxes ($32 million) and 20% for management, legal and agency fees ($64 million). That leaves $112 million before figuring in any expenses for housing, staff, travel or luxury goods.

What about that big concert tour? Most of the recent reports have mentioned Madonna’s past 12 months as the reason for her ascent into the financial pantheon, citing sales of her MDNAalbum and a world tour that grossed just over $300 million. They mention perfume sales of $60 million, tour merchandise sales of $75 million, and other branding deals that add up to $30 million.

But the difference between gross ticket sales, gross earnings and net earnings is ignored. Artists typically take home about one-third of gross ticket sales on the road–in Madonna’s case, that means $300 million becomes $100 million.

To gross $75 million in merchandise sales, she would have had to average sales of $34 per head on her tour (or about $10 more than Justin Bieber). And that’s just the gross number. For most artists, we project net earnings of $5 per head for merch; Bieber’s take tops the charts at about $10, according to his touring team. Let’s give Madonna the benefit of the doubt and say that she also nets $10 per head–over the course of a tour that drew 2.2 million fans, that would have added up to $22 million in take-home pay.

Madonna’s record deal guarantees her a base advance of $1 million per album, but MDNA hasn’t likely earned much more than that. It’s been certified gold in the U.S. for sales of over 500,000, and it seems likely the album has sold at least as many copies abroad. Still, that’s only a little more than a million copies sold, resulting in just a few million dollars in her coffers–about the same amount that most A-list entertainers net from perfume deals, regardless of heady gross sales.

But let’s be overly generous. Let’s say Madonna earned $200 million over the past year. Take away 65% for taxes and management fees, as we did before. That leaves $70 million. Combine that with the $112 million left over from 2007 through the first half of 2012, and you get $182 million. So even if Madonna had saved every single penny she’d earned since 2007–no travel costs, no living cost, no splurges–she’d be worth about $500 million.

Is it possible that she has other assets that have increased in value and therefore wouldn’t be figured into our annual earnings estimates? Sure. Her real estate holdings, art collection and stakes in other business ventures could have increased. But keep in mind that 2007 was the peak of a long bull market; assets that lost value during the recession are only now returning to those highs.

Madonna’s representatives wouldn’t respond to FORBES’ requests for comment on this story, as it seems was the case with all the stories about her net worth published over the past week. And this isn’t the first time FORBES has weighed in on inflated claims about the singer’s billionaire status–staff writer Clare O’Connor debunked one set back in 2010.

Madonna is a cultural icon, and undoubtedly one of the most successful entertainers of all time. She may well reach the billion-dollar mark one day. But as of now, at best, she’s only about halfway there.

the writer talks as if he knew every details of Madonna's vast richness.

Edited by davejr.
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One of the big problem of the article is that it based their calculation on thier false estimation 6 years ago!! Yeah, if she only had 350 million 6 years ago, she might not have 1 billion now. But they never accurately estimate her art collection n other investments 6 years ago. A calculation based on a false premise will always be false! I believe she might probabaly not be a billionaire if her sole income was her concert n records. But sometimes investment in stocks or companies n art collection can have higher yield. Like I said before, a Piccaso painting can be worth up to 120 million n Andy Warhol paintings 50 million each!! Also, who know what is the deal with vita coco n maverick. It could contribute to a big portion of her wealth. The problem with Forbes is that they failed to get it right the first time 6 yeas ago.

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Well, the problem with Forbes is that they have a broken ego when it comes to Madonna. They have always underestimated her wealth. They even say in that 2007 list that this 325 million number is on the conservative side (if so they must have been tremendously generous with the 225 million for Mariah Carey). It all goes back to that famous article published in 1990 or 1991 when Forbes declared her Americas smartest Businesswoman and praised her to the heavens. Yet she was furious about the whole thing because it was obvious someone in her camp was talking and she never planned to and never talked to any financial publication about her businesses. It's her business and no one elses. She later even said "Forbes does know sh*t".

The point is there are too many unknowns in the equasion. No one has full insight in her contracts or her job related companies to say how much she makes. And this is only about her day to day job. Her assets are the big question. Hidden behind LLCs and whatever it is impossible to trace them back. So we can only estimate. But just two possible ideas here. She was already making tons of money in the mid 80s. What if she invested only a few million in Microsoft or IBM or any other blue chip stock? There are sites online that show how much the value has gained. It's insane. Or what if she invested a few million in real estate in NYC like some run down buildings in Soho? It's all speculation but it could be possible. And it has been mentioned before, her art collection. It's a known fact that prices for art when through the roof over the last years with Russians, Chinese are Arabs in the game. But as always, in case you have no list of her portfolio you cannot even estimate what an auction could raise.

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MADONNA has been reported to be worth $250M since like late 80s or early 90s...

Exactly. This 250 million number came up in 1990 I think. The very same article mentioned that Madonna related products has grossed well above a billion dollars since her beginning. The next time her wealth was estimated was in 2000. I think to remember it was a Rolling Stone article around the time when Music was released. And they said something of 650 million.

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Why Madonna Isn't On The Forbes Billionaires List

FORBES released its annual Billionaires issue earlier this month, and the list features plenty of new faces (Tory Burch, Renzo Rosso) alongside the usual suspects (Bill Gates, Warren Buffett).

There are plenty of entertainment moguls on the list (David Geffen, Oprah Winfrey), but there aren’t any billionaires who’ve gained their wealth by working as a musician or actor. Not Diddy orJay-Z, not Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie—and not Madonna.

Yet earlier this week, the blogosphere exploded with declarations that the Material Girl had ascended to billionaire status. Most of the stories erroneously cited a WWD story as the source of this revelation (representatives from the publication confirm that no such piece exists), probably because of a New York Post item that initially linked to WWD before shifting its attribution to another site.

There’s a reason Madonna isn’t on our Billionaires list: simply put, she’s not a billionaire.

We estimated the singer’s net worth at $325 million six years ago. Since then, our wealth team has chronicled the scads of cash she’s earned via our Celeb 100 list, and while she’s earned a ton of money, the numbers don’t add up to anything near $1 billion. She earned $72 million in 2007, $40 million in 2008, $110 million in 2009 and $58 million in 2010. With no touring or new albums in 2011, she didn’t earn enough to make our list that year, then pulled in another $30 million through the first half of 2012.Add it all up (plus whatever she earned in 2011–let’s call it $10 million) and you get $320 million. Lop off 35% for federal income taxes ($112 million), another 10% for state and local taxes ($32 million) and 20% for management, legal and agency fees ($64 million). That leaves $112 million before figuring in any expenses for housing, staff, travel or luxury goods.

What about that big concert tour? Most of the recent reports have mentioned Madonna’s past 12 months as the reason for her ascent into the financial pantheon, citing sales of her MDNAalbum and a world tour that grossed just over $300 million. They mention perfume sales of $60 million, tour merchandise sales of $75 million, and other branding deals that add up to $30 million.

But the difference between gross ticket sales, gross earnings and net earnings is ignored. Artists typically take home about one-third of gross ticket sales on the road–in Madonna’s case, that means $300 million becomes $100 million.

To gross $75 million in merchandise sales, she would have had to average sales of $34 per head on her tour (or about $10 more than Justin Bieber). And that’s just the gross number. For most artists, we project net earnings of $5 per head for merch; Bieber’s take tops the charts at about $10, according to his touring team. Let’s give Madonna the benefit of the doubt and say that she also nets $10 per head–over the course of a tour that drew 2.2 million fans, that would have added up to $22 million in take-home pay.

Madonna’s record deal guarantees her a base advance of $1 million per album, but MDNA hasn’t likely earned much more than that. It’s been certified gold in the U.S. for sales of over 500,000, and it seems likely the album has sold at least as many copies abroad. Still, that’s only a little more than a million copies sold, resulting in just a few million dollars in her coffers–about the same amount that most A-list entertainers net from perfume deals, regardless of heady gross sales.

But let’s be overly generous. Let’s say Madonna earned $200 million over the past year. Take away 65% for taxes and management fees, as we did before. That leaves $70 million. Combine that with the $112 million left over from 2007 through the first half of 2012, and you get $182 million. So even if Madonna had saved every single penny she’d earned since 2007–no travel costs, no living cost, no splurges–she’d be worth about $500 million.

Is it possible that she has other assets that have increased in value and therefore wouldn’t be figured into our annual earnings estimates? Sure. Her real estate holdings, art collection and stakes in other business ventures could have increased. But keep in mind that 2007 was the peak of a long bull market; assets that lost value during the recession are only now returning to those highs.

Madonna’s representatives wouldn’t respond to FORBES’ requests for comment on this story, as it seems was the case with all the stories about her net worth published over the past week. And this isn’t the first time FORBES has weighed in on inflated claims about the singer’s billionaire status–staff writer Clare O’Connor debunked one set back in 2010.

Madonna is a cultural icon, and undoubtedly one of the most successful entertainers of all time. She may well reach the billion-dollar mark one day. But as of now, at best, she’s only about halfway there.

the writer talks as if he knew every details of Madonna's vast richness.

I'm sorry but this is probably way more informed than the 'billionaire' article. People constantly forget to deduct touring costs, management fees, taxes etc yet they question someone who does include all that information? They will have in-depth figures on how much stars make, the assets and investments and will be able to make pretty informed decisions about her wealth, much better anyone here.

And I don't get why it's so important that she's a billionaire? Everyone just sounds like Little Munsters :)

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I'm sorry but this is probably way more informed than the 'billionaire' article. People constantly forget to deduct touring costs, management fees, taxes etc yet they question someone who does include all that information? They will have in-depth figures on how much stars make, the assets and investments and will be able to make pretty informed decisions about her wealth, much better anyone here.

And I don't get why it's so important that she's a billionaire? Everyone just sounds like Little Munsters :)

Don't be naive. Nothing in that article is informed. The guy is just throwing in some numbers that's all. They don't have any in-depth figures. Not about income, not about assets or investments. How could they? Do they have access to the files of the artists lawyers and accounting firms or the tax files at the IRS or access to insurance companies to see how the paintings are insured? This all is not PUBLIC DOMAIN. And even if some investments like real estate transactions are public domain they can be easily hidden behind LLCs so that people are not able to trace them back.

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I love how they havent even stated her investments or money she earns in royalties alone!

Too complicated.

What I find interesting is that Forbes feels the need to write such an article? And what I find almost offending is the tone of the article and especially the sentence "It's not the first time that Forbes has weighed in on inflated claims about the singers billionaire status". They make it sound as if she claimed she was a billionaire when in FACT she never ever in her career spoke about her financial situation at all. Contrary to the people the writer of this article has special knowlegde of. Mr Zach O'Malley Greenburg writes a business focused biography about Michael Jackson and regularly writes about the likes of Jay-Z, Diddy, 50 Cent, Hip Hop Artists. People that usually brag about how much they are worth. And in MJ's case we know how true his claims actually were. In addition Mr O'Malley Greenburg wrote the Forbes coverstory about Justin Bieber the venture capitalist. That's why he took Justin as an example and was generous to grant Madonna the same net amount of 10 dollars per head for merchandising. Funny how they think that Justin Bieber is the Gold Standard when it comes to merchandising. There is just no proof. I would like to argue that Justin Biebers customers have way less disposible income (if any, they depend on the goodwill of their parents) compared to Madonnas. Therefore the overall revenues should be at least equal. But it's pretty safe to say that Madonna will have a much bigger share from the gross revenues. Not only with merchandising. Actually with everything. Ticket sales. Record sales. Fragrance sales. There is no standard rule. And she so gets the bigger end of the stick.

Furthermore: look at the sentence regarding MDNA sales. 500.000 in the US. ´"And it seems likely it has sold the same amount abroad". The guy didn't even care to find out how much it sold or shipped.

Guess what, I think Forbes is just pissed that some publication said she is a billionaire. And now they intervene because in their mind they are the only auhority to declare someone a billionaire.

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