When the “C” in CEO stands for “Celebrity”

What comes first, the fame or the fortune? Many celebrities have rolled their fame into thriving businesses. Selena Gomez is one of the latest artists to achieve billionaire status, with an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion.¹ At 32-years-old, she is one of the youngest people to hit this milestone (the average net worth of 30-somethings in America is just over $300,000, according to Empower Personal Dashboard™ August data). Founded in 2020, Gomez’s cosmetics company Rare Beauty is valued at $2 billion.¹ While only 3 in 10 Americans aspire to the C-suite, an increasing number of celebrities are harnessing their “main character energy” by adding “CEO” and “founder” to their resumes.

Many celebrities are getting into the business of beauty. There are more than 60 current beauty brands owned by the likes of Alicia Keys, Brad Pitt, Jonathan Van Ness, Naomi Osaka, Rihanna, and Travis Barker, to name a few.² Nielsen data shows that the sales of celebrity-owned lines increased by 57.8% to $1.1 billion in 2023, while the total market grew by just 11.1% during the same period.³

Connecting people and places

BÉIS, actress Shay Mitchell’s luggage and travel brand, achieved $120 million in sales in the 2022 fiscal year.⁴ The company, which took to the skies in 2018, reached $200 million the following year, making waves in the $17 billion luggage industry.^5,6

Travel is a priority for Americans: More than 90% have domestic travel planned in 2024, according to Empower research, and nearly half (47%) anticipate spending more on travel this year than last. From January through August 2024, Empower Personal Dashboard™ users spent an average of $1,275 per month* on travel-related expenses.

For those who are roaming, last year, Ryan Reynolds made $300 million by selling wireless service company Mint Mobile to T-Mobile for $1.35 billion.⁷ He purchased a 25% stake in the provider of prepaid cell phone plans in 2019 and has subsequently been the face of the company in its advertising and social media.

Eat up, drink up, clean up, and dress up

In the grocery aisle, Once Upon a Farm, co-founded by Jennifer Garner, is earning $100 million in annual sales from its oat bars, dairy items, and fruit and vegetable blended pouches.⁸

Although co-founder Jessica Alba recently stepped down as The Honest Company’s chief creative officer, she remains on the board of the consumer goods brand, which brought in $344 million in 2023, up 10%.⁹ The company started in 2012 with a focus on baby products like wipes and diapers, and has since then expanded to personal care, beauty, and cleaning supplies.¹⁰

NBA legend Michael Jordan partnered with Nike to launch The Jordan Brand, which accounted for 13% of Nike’s total revenue in the 2023 fiscal year, bringing in $6.59 billion.¹¹ Since the 1980s, the basketball icon has earned at least $1.5 billion from his partnership with Nike.¹²

Online shoppers fuel growth

With 74% of consumers trusting influencers’ product recommendations, perhaps social media is playing a key role: With 424 million Instagram followers, Gomez is one of the most followed people on the platform.¹ Also on the most followed list are Kylie Jenner, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Ariana Grande, and Beyoncé – all of whom are businessowners.^2,13

Mitchell launched BÉIS following a travel-focused YouTube series called Shaycation, and The Honest Company reported that sales from its digital channels rose 28% in Q4 2023.^6,10 Given that Americans spend an average of 2.5 hours a day dreamscrolling for items and experiences on their wishlist, there’s a good chance they’ve stumbled upon these celebrities’ brands. People are searching online for beauty or self-care products (23%), vacation destinations (25%), gadgets and technology (30%), and clothing, shoes, and accessories (49%).

*Anonymized data from Empower Personal Dashboard™ from January 2024 through August 2024.