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.
UAE squad Rohan Mustafa (captain), Chirag Suri, Shaiman Anwar, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Saqlain Haider, Ahmed Raza, Mohammed Naveed, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Mohammed Boota, Amir Hayat, Ashfaq Ahmed
Fixtures Nov 29-Dec 2
UAE v Afghanistan, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Hong Kong v Papua New Guinea, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Ireland v Scotland, Dubai International Stadium
Namibia v Netherlands, ICC Academy, Dubai
THE DETAILS
Director: Milan Jhaveri Producer: Emmay Entertainment and T-Series Cast: John Abraham, Manoj Bajpayee Rating: 2/5
German intelligence warnings
2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
Exercise: At least one hour a day on the Corniche, from 5.30-6am and 7pm to 8pm.
Favourite place in Abu Dhabi? “Everywhere. Wherever you go, you can relax.”
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
Riders must be 14-years-old or over
Wear a protective helmet
Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
Kirill Shamalov, Russia's youngest billionaire and previously married to Putin's daughter Katarina
Petr Fradkov, head of recently sanctioned Promsvyazbank and son of former head of Russian Foreign Intelligence, the FSB.
Denis Bortnikov, Deputy President of Russia's largest bank VTB. He is the son of Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB which was responsible for the poisoning of political activist Alexey Navalny in August 2020 with banned chemical agent novichok.
Yury Slyusar, director of United Aircraft Corporation, a major aircraft manufacturer for the Russian military.
Elena Aleksandrovna Georgieva, chair of the board of Novikombank, a state-owned defence conglomerate.
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Takreem Awards winners 2021
Corporate Leadership: Carl Bistany (Lebanon)
Cultural Excellence: Hoor Al Qasimi (UAE)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Bkerzay (Lebanon)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Raya Ani (Iraq)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Women’s Programs Association (Lebanon)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Osamah Al Thini (Libya)
Excellence in Education: World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) (Qatar)
Outstanding Arab Woman: Balghis Badri (Sudan)
Scientific and Technological Achievement: Mohamed Slim Alouini (KSA)
