Beyoncé, Dr Dre, James Cameron among the world’s newly minted billionaires
Beyoncé, Dr. Dre and James Cameron are among America’s most famous new billionaires, joining the ranks of long-established figures, such as Warren Buffett, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
The 44-year-old “Crazy in Love” pop star was named on Forbes’s newly published list of “New Billionaires 2026” after her net worth reached $1 billion in December following years of music success. Beyoncé now joins her husband, rapper Jay-Z, who is currently estimated to be worth $2.8 billion. He became a billionaire in 2019.
Hip-hop legend Dr. Dre, 61, has also finally been recognized as a billionaire by the financial magazine, more than a decade after he and investors sold his Beats by Dre headphones to Apple in 2014 for an impressive $3.2 billion in cash and stock. At the time, it was unclear how big a stake Dre had in the business, leaving his post-sale net worth unknown.
The rapper and record producer debuted on Forbes’s list with an estimated net worth of $1 billion.
Avatar and Titanic director James Cameron, 71, is also a newly-named billionaire, worth an estimated $1.1 billion according to Forbes. The Oscar-winning director’s wealth surpassed the milestone in December just before the release of his third Avatar blockbuster. He remains the only director to have made three films that each earned more than $2 billion worldwide: Titanic (1997), Avatar (2009), and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022).
Cameron is the second-highest-grossing film director, behind Steven Spielberg, a longtime billionaire worth an estimated $7.1 billion.
Forbes estimates that the U.S. leads the world in terms of new billionaires produced, with 106, while China ranks second with 55, followed by Germany with 42 and India with 30. In total, the world added 390 new billionaires over the past year. That marks the second-best year ever recorded for new billionaires, after 2021, when the pandemic rebound saw 493 new additions, per the outlet.
The magazine further clarified that nearly two-thirds of the world’s new billionaires are self-made, meaning they earned their massive fortunes rather than inheriting them.
Another high-profile celebrity recently added to the list of global billionaires is retired Swiss tennis star Roger Federer, whose net worth has risen to an estimated $1.1 billion, driven by 20 Grand Slam singles titles and his stake in Swiss shoemaker On Running.
Edwin Chen, founder of artificial intelligence firm Surge AI, and Peter Mallouk, CEO and president of financial planning firm Creative Planning, top the list as America’s two richest newcomers, with fortunes of $18 billion and $16.1 billion, respectively.
Meanwhile, the world’s youngest new billionaire is Brazilian heir Amelie Voigt Trejes, 20, whose late grandfather, Werner Ricardo Voigt, co-founded Brazilian electrical equipment company WEG.
