Thirteen years ago, financial titan Warren Buffett and iconic rapper Jay-Z shared the stage during an interview at the inaugural Forbes 400 Summit in Omaha, Nebraska. Little did they know that their conversation would resurface, thanks to Buffett’s intriguing remarks about the rapper.
Jay-Z’s journey to becoming the first billionaire in hip-hop history in 2019 has highlighted his smart business empire. Buffett, who recognized Jay-Z’s financial skills well before he became a billionaire, has seen his belief confirmed.
Forbes’ latest estimate places the Brooklyn, New York-born artist’s net worth at an impressive $2.5 billion. Even in a year devoid of tours or album releases, Jay-Z continues to amass millions from his ventures in Armand de Brignac champagne and D’Usse cognac, as highlighted in Forbes’ report.
In recent years, Jay-Z’s fortune has experienced a huge rise, bolstered by the growth of his entertainment company Roc Nation, the successful sale of his streaming service Tidal and investments in renowned companies like Uber Technologies Inc.
In the 2010 Steve Forbes interview with Buffett, Jay-Z drew an interesting parallel between his approach to music and Buffett’s investment philosophy. The rapper emphasized the significance of investing in businesses within one’s realm of understanding rather than blindly following fleeting trends.
“Music is like stocks — there’s always a momentary craze,” Jay-Z shared with Forbes at that time. “People tend to make impulsive decisions based on that. They neglect what they truly know.”
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When Buffett was asked about his legacy, he responded with “Berkshire Hathaway” but took a moment to commend Jay-Z’s exceptional business acumen. Buffett acknowledged that the rapper was imparting invaluable knowledge in a much broader educational context than he ever could, highlighting him as the go-to person for young people seeking guidance.
“Jay is educating in a far larger arena than I ever will,” Buffett said. “For the younger generation, he’s the go-to person for learning the art of making money.”
Even in his early years, the now 53-year-old rapper embraced his career with the intention of capitalizing on financial gains, challenging the prevailing sentiment of the 1990s that discouraged musicians from aspiring to wealth.
“It was the music industry’s grand deception — to convince artists that one couldn’t be an artist and achieve financial success,” he said. “From its inception, hip-hop has been driven by aspirations that shattered the notion of artists disregarding financial matters.”
Investing in Early Stage Companies
Like many billionaires, Jay-Z has amassed substantial wealth in the world of startups. The now-billionaire has backed everything from alcohol brands to the latest technology. For every successful brand many of these entrepreneurs like Jay-Z back, there's plenty that fail. But those, like the Tidals and Ubers of the world, that are successful more than makeup for the ones that don't.
While the startup investing world has largely been a ‘billionaire’s playground' for the past 100 years or so, that's all changing. Platforms like StartEngine allow anyone to invest in top startups before they hit the stock market, including investing in StartEngine itself.
See more on startup investing from Benzinga.
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