He may not be a household name akin to say, Will Smith or Kevin Hart, but Tyler Perry’s no pushover.
According to a recent Forbes report he is now officially a billionaire.
Here's a breakdown of how Forbes calculated Perry's milestone net worth:
-- $320 million for his entire catalog of movies, TV shows, plays, etc, (he owns 100% of the content he's created)
-- $300 million in cash and investments
-- $280 million for Tyler Perry Studios
-- $60 million for his equity stake in streaming service BET+
-- $40 million in homes and toys
But who the heck is Tyler Perry and how did he do it exactly?
Perry is essentially a writer. He started his career creating the musical “I Know I’ve Been Changed” in the ‘90s.
It wasn’t a huge success at first but constant rewriting and retooling eventually earned Perry an audience.
After writing several more plays, he would go on to write and star in the film “Diary of a Mad Black woman,” and its sequel “Madea’s Family Reunion,” which he also directed.
The success he generated from the series of films he created allowed Perry the confidence to branch out to TV, which he also conquered, writing several popular books along the way.
According to Perry he bravely did what he did not knowing any better.
“You got to understand, I had no mentors,” Perry told Forbes. “My father doesn’t know anything about business, and my uncles and mother, they know nothing about this. I didn’t go to business school. Everything I’ve learned, I’ve learned in progress.”
“The ignorance I had about Hollywood was so wonderful, looking back on it,” he added.
In explaining his method, he said, “I mostly go on my gut and my instinct. I like to challenge the system and see what I can do differently.”
In the end, the big difference lies in how he does his business.
“Ownership,” he said, “changes everything.”