Jay-Z Has Made Five Times More Money From Booze Than Music

This week, Forbes declared that Jay-Z is the first hip-hop artist to become a billionaire—to be precise, he has "accumulated a fortune that conservatively totals $1 billion," thanks to a "steadily growing kingdom [that is] expansive, encompassing liquor, art, real estate (homes in Los Angeles, the Hamptons, Tribeca) and stakes in companies like Uber." And as Food & Wine notes, the most lucrative segment of that steadily growing kingdom is alcohol.

Per Forbes, Jay-Z's famous person alcohol, Armand de Brignac (the "Ace Of Spaces" Champagne), is his "single most lucrative investment," earning him $310 million—he's the sole owner. He's also invested in a cognac brand, which bring his total investment in alcohol to $410 million dollars, which is considerably more than his investment in art, real estate, and yes, his music catalogue ($75 million). Throw TIDAL and Roc Nation, his entertainment company, into the mix and it's still a sum less than just the total for the Champagne.

Maybe that's why he's getting into cookies? Marcy Venture Partners, which Jay-Z backs, forked over $1 million in seed capital to a New Jersey-based company which makes allergen-free cookies, reports Entrepreneur. Feel free to make your Jay-Z lyric/cookie jokes in the comments; we're going with "If you're feeling like a cookie mogul, go on brush your shoulders off, because they are covered with crumbs, from cookies."

Jay-Z isn't the first entertainer to make even more money from not entertaining than from entertaining; George Clooney was named the world's highest paid actor in 2017-2018, a period in which he made no movies, but did make a lot of tequila.