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… as he cements status as richest rapper in the world
Jay-Z has found himself richer than ever as he cements his status as the world’s wealthiest rapper.
The 53-year-old music mogul is now worth an eye-popping $2.5 billion after Forbes updated its estimation of his net worth on Friday.
Contributing to his massive wealth, which recently crossed the $2 billion mark, was his recent sale of a majority of his 50-percent stake in the luxury cognac brand D’Ussé back to its parent brand Bacardi, which earned him a reported $750 million, according to TMZ.
Despite the sale, Jay (real name: Shawn Carter) will still retain a significant ownership of the liquor brand going forward, so he’s poised to reap the rewards if its sales are strong.
At the time of publication, Forbes had declared Jay-Z the 1,210th richest person in the world, though that ranking fluctuates often.
Last month, he was able to sell off a slim majority of his 50-percent stake in D’Ussé Cognac back to Bacardi.
‘Growing D’Ussé over the past decade from an idea to one of the fastest-selling spirits in history has been a blessing,’ Jay said in a statement once the deal was announced. ‘The next phase of this journey will further cement D’Ussé’s legacy as one of the world’s most respected brands. I am excited to renew this partnership with Bacardi.’
Jay, through his liquor company SCLiquor, had previously sought an outside buyer for his half of D’Ussé after raising concerns that the Bacardi subsidiary Empire Investments — which runs the liquor brand — was mismanaging it.
In response, Bacardi offered to buy out the rapper and to cement its ownership of the luxury liquor brand, but Jay thought the offer was lowballing him.
According to TMZ, he estimated the value of his D’Ussé stake at $2.5 billion, but Bacardi claimed it was only worth around $460 million.
After seeing Bacardi’s valuation of its own half of the brand, Jay-Z changed course and tried to buy the other half of D’Ussé for $1.5 billion, yet Bacardi rejected the offer despite it being more than three times the value it had previously claimed.
After the impasse, Jay sued Bacardi to force it to buy him out, and he accused the brand of unfairly influencing a third party that appraised the value of the liquor brand.
Now that Bacardi owns at least 75.01 percent of D’Ussé, it appears that the rapper’s previous sale bid was closer to the agreed-upon value of the company.
Jay-Z has also been riding high after Billboard ranked him as the greatest rapper of all time last month on a list of the top 50 emcees ever.
He also has the distinction of having the most Grammys ever for a rapper at 24.
However, his wife Beyoncé surpassed him — and everyone else — as the most awarded artist at the Grammys at the most recent ceremony when she reached a total of 32 lifetime wins, surpassing the record previously held by the legendary classic conductor Georg Solti.