Celebrity Net Worth: Taylor Swift joins $2.8m seed round in CharacterX
In our fortnightly celebrity investment and wealth round-up, Dwayne Johnson earns $491,000 in royalties from WWE and Lindsay Lohan makes $500,000 for her cameo in new 'Mean Girls' movie
American singer and songwriter Taylor Swift has participated in a $2.8 million seed funding round in CharacterX, a San Francisco-based AI social network that allows users to create and interact with virtual characters, according to investor database Crunchbase.
The amount invested by Swift was not disclosed. Lightspeed Venture Partners, INCE Capital and Spark Digital Capital were the lead investors in the round.
CharacterX blends artificial general intelligence technology with blockchain to change the social networking landscape, the company said in a statement.
The team recently rolled out CharacterX's mobile apps for both Android and iOS, alongside a developer website, for users to “create and build deep emotional attachment with AI beings”, it added.
Swift, 33, is one of the world’s richest self-made women with a net worth of $1.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
She was also named Time magazine’s 2023 person of the year.
The Shake it Off singer has primarily earned her fortune from her successful music career, which she began at the age of 16 with her self-titled debut album.
Since then, her 10 studio albums have sold millions of copies, both physical and digital, according to Investopedia.
She entered the exclusive $1 billion club last October on the back of her 146-date Eras concert tour, which has shattered several records and sparked ticket frenzies.
Swift is one of the few artists to reach billionaire status from music and performing alone, Bloomberg reported.
Swift kicked off her 53-datetouraround the US in March 2023, where she earned about $10 million to $13 million for each concert, according to Forbes.
The 12-time Grammy winner could earn as much as $4.1 billion from the tour, according to estimates based on her share of 85 per cent, The Washington Post reported.
Swift owns more than $150 million worth of real estate in the US, according to wealth-tracking website Celebrity Net Worth.
She has four homes in New York City, including apartments in the West Village and Tribeca, a beach house on Rhode Island, a seven-bedroom home in Hyannisport, Massachusetts, properties in Nashville, Tennessee, and an estate in Beverly Hills.
Swift also owns two Dassault private jets and has a notable car collection.
She also makes millions of dollars every year from endorsements with brands including Diet Coke, AT&T, Target, Sony and CoverGirl.
She was set to earn more than $130 million in royalties from Spotify after taking the top spot as the most streamed artist on the platform's end-of-year Wrapped list in 2023.
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's net worth is estimated at $800 million. Reuters
TKO Group Holdings, the company that was created after parent organisation Endeavor merged the UFC and WWE, also announced in the filing that Johnson has been added to its board of directors.
As a board member, he will continue to earn royalties from revenue generated by licensing his name and likeness in future years.
Johnson will also receive restricted stock awards of up to $30 million and the trademark rights to his nickname, “The Rock”, which had been owned by the WWE since 2000, the filing said.
“I get a chance to sit at the table that my grandfather and dad helped to build,” Johnson, 51, said in a video on Instagram.
“The name, The Rock, I owe that name everything. Without that name, there’d be no wrestling career, there’d be no Hollywood career. The name, years ago, really allowed me to be me and that’s very special.
“Taking full ownership of my name, The Rock, is not only unprecedented, but incredibly inspiring as my crazy life is coming full circle.”
Johnson, a 10-time world champion, retired from full-time wrestling in 2004 but has made some sporadic appearances over the years.
He made his movie debut in 2001 with The Mummy Returns and has since appeared in nearly 50 movies.
His films have grossed more than $13 billion at the global box office, according to online database The Numbers.
In 2012, he founded film production company Seven Bucks Productions.
The company’s name is a reference to a bleak time in his life when he was cut from a Canadian football team and ended up living in Florida with $7 to his name, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
The production company has released movies including Shazam!, Black Adam and two films in the Jumanji franchise.
California-born Johnson’s net worth is estimated at $800 million. His stake in Teremana, the beverage brand he created, accounts for the biggest share of his wealth.
The brand, which sells one million cases each year, is worth several billion dollars, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
He has or has had partnership and endorsement deals with Apple, Ford and Under Armour.
Johnson is one of the highest-paid entertainers. In a typical year, he earns at least $100 million from his various film and endorsement endeavours.
Thanks to his massive social media following, Johnson contractually demands as much as $4 million just to promote his own movies. That’s on top of salary and back-end points, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Johnson has cofounded multiple business ventures, including ZOA Energy, an energy drink company, in partnership with Molson Coors, the SEC filing said.
In 2020, he co-led a consortium to acquire the XFL, a professional American football league, which relaunched in 2023 and recently combined with the USFL to become the United Football League.
Lindsay Lohan was reportedly paid $500,000 for a cameo appearance in the new 'Mean Girls' movie. Reuters
Lindsay Lohan
Dubai-based actress Lindsay Lohan made $500,000 for her cameo in the new Mean Girls movie, according to a report in Variety magazine.
Lohan, 37, who starred in the original 2004 Mean Girls film, earned the amount for a half a day of work in the latest incarnation, an adaptation of the Broadway musical that ran from 2018 to 2020, Variety said.
She made $1 million to star in the original release, Celebrity Net Worth reported.
The Freaky Friday actress took more than a decade's break from films before returning to the screen with the Netflix romcom Falling for Christmas in 2022.
She's set to return to the streaming platform in romantic comedy Irish Wish in March.
The Parent Trap star gave birth to her first child last year in Dubai, where she lives with her Kuwaiti financier husband Bader Shammas.
Lohan moved to Dubai in 2014 after first visiting in 2008 for the opening of Atlantis, The Palm.
She has a net worth of $2 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Lohan has modelled for Miu Miu, Fornarina and Jill Stuart, among others, and has released her own brand of leggings and a self-tanning spray.
In 2014, she released a free-to-play mobile game called Lindsay Lohan’s The Price of Fame, and in 2017, she launched a lifestyle site called Preemium.
Her podcast, The Lohdown with Lindsay Lohan, premiered in April 2022.
She currently serves as the director of design at Vigme, a New York-based e-commerce shopping community, according to Crunchbase.
Jannik Sinner pocketed $2.08 million after winning the Australian Open. Getty Images
Jannik Sinner
Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner’s net worth has jumped to about $15 million after winning the Australian Open last weekend, according to online platform Sportskeeda.
The 22 year old pocketed $2.08 million for his first major win, increasing his total prize money to $20 million since he turned professional in 2018, Italian newspaper Money. IT reported.
No Italian man had won a Grand Slam singles title in nearly half a century – since Adriano Panatta raised the French Open trophy in 1976.
The bulk of Sinner's wealth comes from his success on the court, with prize money hauls earned from reaching the quarter finals of the French Open and US Open, as well as the semi-finals of Wimbledon last year, and endorsements.
Sinner earns about €25 million ($27 million) a year from an array of sponsors led by Nike, AP reported, citing the Gazzetta.
In 2022, he signed a $150 million ($15 million per year) 10-year contract with Nike.
His other sponsors include Head, Gucci, Lavazza, Rolex, Alfa Romeo and Parmigiano Reggiano, according to AP.
“My goal isn’t to make money; it’s to become the best version of me,” he said in a November interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Types of policy
Term life insurance: this is the cheapest and most-popular form of life cover. You pay a regular monthly premium for a pre-agreed period, typically anything between five and 25 years, or possibly longer. If you die within that time, the policy will pay a cash lump sum, which is typically tax-free even outside the UAE. If you die after the policy ends, you do not get anything in return. There is no cash-in value at any time. Once you stop paying premiums, cover stops.
Whole-of-life insurance: as its name suggests, this type of life cover is designed to run for the rest of your life. You pay regular monthly premiums and in return, get a guaranteed cash lump sum whenever you die. As a result, premiums are typically much higher than one term life insurance, although they do not usually increase with age. In some cases, you have to keep up premiums for as long as you live, although there may be a cut-off period, say, at age 80 but it can go as high as 95. There are penalties if you don’t last the course and you may get a lot less than you paid in.
Critical illness cover: this pays a cash lump sum if you suffer from a serious illness such as cancer, heart disease or stroke. Some policies cover as many as 50 different illnesses, although cancer triggers by far the most claims. The payout is designed to cover major financial responsibilities such as a mortgage or children’s education fees if you fall ill and are unable to work. It is cost effective to combine it with life insurance, with the policy paying out once if you either die or suffer a serious illness.
Income protection: this pays a replacement income if you fall ill and are unable to continue working. On the best policies, this will continue either until you recover, or reach retirement age. Unlike critical illness cover, policies will typically pay out for stress and musculoskeletal problems such as back trouble.
TOURNAMENT INFO
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
2018: Formal work begins
November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
UAE Rugby finals day
Games being played at The Sevens, Dubai
2pm, UAE Conference final
Dubai Tigers v Al Ain Amblers
4pm, UAE Premiership final
Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Jebel Ali Dragons
What are the main cyber security threats?
Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities. Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids. Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.
