After it was reported that Janet Jackson had reached billionaire status [click here if you missed that] Forbes Magazine did the math and the numbers just don't add up...
From Forbes
The Internet is abuzz with news that singer Janet Jackson is a billionaire. In fact several news outlets are saying she is “officially” a billionaire.
There’s just one problem: it isn’t true.
To be fair, the story does not specifically say that Jackson is a billionaire. It just lays out the money that her work has brought in over the span of her career including $81 million from music and book publishing, $260 million in album sales and $458 million from touring. Together with other areas of business, the revenues add up to $1.2 billion.
But that’s very different than a net worth. Net worth is based on the value of the cash and assets you have at the moment, not on how much your work has brought in over a lifetime. When we evaluate whether people will make our annual list of theWorld’s Billionaires, we look at things like stock holdings, real estate and art collections. Oprah Winfrey is a billionaire because of the value of her holdings in things like Discovery and Harpo Productions, not because of the ad revenue her show generated over the years.
