Dwayne Johnson
Actor Dwayne Johnson has reportedly set a record as the world’s highest-paid actor. He is being paid $50 million in upfront fees for his work on the coming Christmas-themed film Red One, according to the digital news platform Puck.
It is the highest fee for a single actor in a film, US entertainment journalist Matthew Belloni said in a recent newsletter.
The amount surpasses the reported $40 million paid to Robert Downey Jr for his role in Captain America: Civil War.
The Amazon Studios action-adventure film has been described as the first of a potential franchise that retells holiday myths around Santa Claus.
Johnson’s previous highest fee for a single movie role was $23.5 million, which he earned for Jumanji: The Next Level and Netflix’s Red Notice, according to Forbes.
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The publication put his annual earnings at $270 million in 2022, factoring in acting fees and income from his estimated 30 per cent stake in the beverage brand Teremana.
The small-batch beverage brand is the actor’s personal legacy for his daughters, chief executive Richard Black told media earlier this year. In a May Instagram post, the Fast & Furious actor announced one million cases had been sold over the previous 12 months and spoke of “internationalising” the brand.
In a 2021 interview with CNN, he indicated the brand could be valued at up to $3 billion.
Johnson’s total net worth is estimated at $800 million, according to wealth tracking website Celebrity Net Worth.
His business ventures account for the majority of that income, despite his high acting fees.
Johnson, better known by his World Wrestling Entertainment ring name “The Rock”, was one of the highest-paid wrestlers in the world, with a net worth estimated at $75 million in 2012.
He has been a movie actor since 2002, when he was paid $5.5 million to star in The Scorpion King. With 27 films to his credit, he is one of the most successful and highest-grossing box-office stars of all time.
In total, Johnson’s films have grossed more than $16 billion worldwide, including fees from production work, according to box-office tracking website The Numbers.
The actor is also involved in several business ventures.
Johnson founded entertainment production company Seven Bucks with former wife Dany Garcia in 2012. In 2020, they purchased the XFL professional American football league from bankruptcy court for $15 million.
Other ventures include investments in sports drink brand Zoa and ice cream company Salt and Straw.
Outside business, he has endorsed brands such as Apple and Ford, and collaborated with US sports equipment company Under Armour on a line called Project Rock Collection.
He owns a home in Beverley Park, Los Angeles, according to Celebrity Net Worth. His previous real estate investments include properties in Florida, Georgia and Virginia.
Parineeti Chopra
Parineeti Chopra has invested in Indian personal care start-up Clensta, the Bollywood actress said on social media.
The direct-to-consumer company offers a range of sustainable healthcare and personal care products, including brands in the wellness, haircare and skincare categories. It uses what it says is waterless technology and claims to have saved a billion litres of water since it was founded in 2016.
“My education and business background have always made me want to do more than just act, and I’m glad my crazy team and I now have the same vision for my dreams,” Chopra said in an Instagram post announcing the partnership.
“I decided to partner with them for just one simple reason – they are making products that no one else is. Ever heard of Waterless Bathing or Shampooing? Unseen, brand new, innovative.”
The amount of her investment was not made public.
Within three days of the announcement, several Clensta products had sold out, Chopra said in a follow-up post.
Chopra, a business, finance and economics graduate, made her Bollywood debut opposite Ranveer Singh in the 2011 film Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl. She has since starred in a number of successful films, including Ishaqzaade, for which she won an Indian National Film Award.
Now 34, she has a net worth estimated at $25 million.
Outside entertainment, Chopra has endorsed brands such as Nivea, Pantene, Lux, WeChat and Maaza.
Will Smith
Actor Will Smith has joined Jared Leto in a $70 million series B funding round for neobank Karat. They were joined by about 80 content creators, including Nas Daily’s Nuseir Yassin, Alexandra Botez, Nick DiGiovanni and Graham Stephan, the start-up said in an Instagram post last week.
Karat has stepped in to fill a gap in the creator economy, estimated at $250 billion by Goldman Sachs. The Los Angeles-based start-up provides corporate credit cards for creators and recently expanded into book-keeping and tax preparation services. It now wants to build a full-scale financial services platform offering products such as bank accounts and mortgages.
About 200 million people worldwide consider themselves creators, according to a 2022 report by digital platform Linktree, with a third of that number describing their work as a full-time career.
A handful of these creators now count their assets in the millions. YouTuber Mr Beast has a net worth of $100 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Yassin has a net worth of $5 million, his Nas Academy website says.
Smith, who is one of the world’s most famous actors and has 63 million followers on Instagram, has a net worth of $350 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Watch: Will Smith climbs the tallest building in the world
Watch Will Smith climb up the tallest building in the world
He is estimated to earn between $40 million to $80 million a year from film and production endeavours.
For his work on the biographical sports drama King Richard, Smith earned $20 million upfront and an additional $40 million in the equivalent of movie ticket back-end points.
He has a significant investment portfolio, including several financial companies. Through Dreams VC, Smith has invested in 28 start-ups, according to investor information website Pitchbook.
Among them are financial software company Fractional and Ethereum blockchain scaling platform Boba Network. He and Yassin have both reportedly also invested in teenage financial literacy app Step.
Together with his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Smith owns more than $100 million in real estate, including properties in California, Utah and Hawaii, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg is going strong on next-generation technology platforms after participating in a $20 million series A funding round for Sound, a San Francisco-based Web3 music platform.
The American rapper, born Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr, has been an early investor in the metaverse, with a virtual world called Snoopverse. He has also released non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and virtual videos.
Last year, he launched a streaming app to host music from his Death Row Records label.
Sound offers tools for artists to upload and stream music in the form of NFTs. Artists will be able to keep 95 per cent of the proceeds from sales and streaming.
Venture capital firm a16z led the investment round.
Among Snoop Dogg’s portfolio of 24 investments and acquisitions are stock trading app Robinhood, Swedish FinTech Klarna, and baby food start-up Yumi, Pitchbook reports.
The rapper, 51, is estimated to have a net worth of $160 million by Celebrity Net Worth.
He has two homes in California and virtual real estate on the gaming metaverse platform The Sandbox.
