FB Roundup: Rihanna, Naguib Sawiris, Nicky Oppenheimer
Rihanna becomes youngest-ever woman billionaire
Barbadian singer, actress, fashion designer and businesswoman Rihanna has become the youngest self-made female US-based billionaire with a net worth of $1.4 billion.
From an impoverished background to superstardom, the majority of Rihanna’s wealth comes from fashion and beauty brands Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin and Savage X Fenty.
The artist, full name Robyn Rihanna Fenty, owns 50% of Fenty Beauty (which reportedly made $550 million in 2020) and a 30% stake in her lingerie brand Savage X Fenty.
“I never thought I’d make this much money, so a number is not going to stop me from working,” Rihanna said of her work ethic to The New York Times in 2019.
“The money means that I can take care of my family. The money means that I can facilitate the businesses that I want to. I can create jobs for other people.”
The 34-year-old was named number 21 on Forbes' annual America's Richest Self-Made Women list.
41-year-old Kim Kardashian was revealed to be the second-youngest US billionaire - landing at number 18 with $1.8 billion. Roofing magnate Diane Hendricks, meanwhile, topped the list with a personal net worth of $12.2 billion.
Naguib Sawiris considers sale of Italy’s largest internet services firm
Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris is considering the sale of ItaliaOnline, the leading Italian internet services provider controlled by his holding company Orascom.
He is mulling the sale of a minority holding or a controlling stake in the company, according to Bloomberg. A deal would value ItaliaOnline at around €400m, with potential owners, such as Netherlands-based Azerion Group, expressing interest in buying a stake in the company.
Sawaris, who has a net worth of $6.37 billion and whose businessman father Onsi Sawiris founded Orascom Group, recently agreed to buy the 27.5% of ItaliaOnline he did not already own through the Luxemburg-based Libero Acquisition financial firm.
ItaliaOnline, which provides services such as local online marketing, digital advertising and online directories, last year reported revenue of €292 million, according to official filings.
Nicky Oppenheimer wins reprieve in mining proposal on his family farm
South African billionaire businessman and former chairman of De Beers diamond mining company, Nicky Oppenheimer, has won a court order to halt mineral exploration on his 65,000-hectare private family farm in Zimbabwe.
Pearline Mineral Exploration invoked a government law that allows mining rights to take precedence over any other activity on portioned land, but the High Court of Zimbabwe has applied a temporary injunction while it fully considers the matter.
Oppenheimer, South Africa’s second-richest man with a net worth of $8.4 billion, sought court protection after workers witnessed a plane hired by Pearline conducting an aerial geographical survey over Shangani Ranch.
Pearline had previously been granted a licence to prospect for minerals in an area that includes parts of the ranch, but the court said it did not have the proper environmental documents to begin exploration.
"The ranch is a wildlife sanctuary for male elephants and lies within a wildlife corridor for elephants. The ranch is also home to white-backed vultures and white-headed vultures, which are considered to be critically endangered species. There are also lappet-faced vultures that are considered endangered species as well," Oppenheimer said in court papers of the farm his family has owned since 1937.
The high court found that mining activity has the potential to harm the environment, livestock and wildlife, including a herd of 350 elephants, ordering Pearline to “Permanently cease all mineral prospecting or mineral activities” on the farm.
