Over the past two decades, Diddy expanded his businesses across several lifestyle categories—including the Sean John fashion and fragrance lines, a wildly successful Cîroc vodka partnership with British spirits conglomerate Diageo and founding the Revolt TV network—and over that period (before taxes and fees), he earned nearly a billion dollars.
In 2019, Forbes estimated Combs’ personal wealth at $740 million. Both Combs and his team later claimed that he was a billionaire, despite offering no documentation to back up the claim. Forbes now conservatively estimates he is worth $400 million.
Given the severity of those civil cases and a looming federal investigation reportedly into human trafficking, Combs now faces an existential threat to his freedom and his fortune.
0:00 Before The Legal Trouble
1:32 Cîroc And Sean John
2:53 Diddy's Highest Net Worth
5:08 Diddy's Legal Trouble
13:56 The Impact On Diddy's Businesses
16:02 The Impact On Diddy's Music Catalogue
18:27 The Impact On Sean John
20:36 Diddy's Current Net Worth
20:56 What's Next For Diddy
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2024/06/21/inside-the-rubble-of-diddys-empire/
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In 2019, Forbes estimated Combs’ personal wealth at $740 million. Both Combs and his team later claimed that he was a billionaire, despite offering no documentation to back up the claim. Forbes now conservatively estimates he is worth $400 million.
Given the severity of those civil cases and a looming federal investigation reportedly into human trafficking, Combs now faces an existential threat to his freedom and his fortune.
0:00 Before The Legal Trouble
1:32 Cîroc And Sean John
2:53 Diddy's Highest Net Worth
5:08 Diddy's Legal Trouble
13:56 The Impact On Diddy's Businesses
16:02 The Impact On Diddy's Music Catalogue
18:27 The Impact On Sean John
20:36 Diddy's Current Net Worth
20:56 What's Next For Diddy
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2024/06/21/inside-the-rubble-of-diddys-empire/
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
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Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes. Joining me now
00:07is my Forbes colleague, Lissette Fuego-Best. Lissette, thank you for coming on in.
00:11Thank you for having me.
00:12You wrote a recent piece for Forbes taking an inside look inside the rubble of Sean Diddy
00:18Combs' empire. So to start off the conversation, can you talk about the beginning when things
00:23were looking good for him when he was on that path to becoming a billionaire that never
00:27came to fruition?
00:29Sean Diddy Combs, a.k.a. Puff Daddy, he's one of the most totemic and biggest figures
00:34in rap and R&B history. When he founded Bad Boy Records in 1992, after just being an intern
00:41at Uptown Records, he created some of the most legendary moments of hip-hop history,
00:47everything from stoking the East Coast-West Coast rap rivalry, which was a big thing between
00:54Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. He also produced Biggie's posthumous number three Billboard
01:01hitting album called Ready to Die. He signed some really big stars. Earlier in the days,
01:08it was Mase, it was Biggie's widow, Faith Evans, and later it was folks like Machine
01:14Kongeli and Janelle Monáe. So, you know, he's had a long history of just creating these
01:23stars in the hip-hop and R&B space. And that's just music. There were other categories as
01:29well, which he was hugely successful in.
01:31So let's talk about those, because he did branch out from hip-hop into multiple lifestyle
01:35ventures. Can you talk about those a little bit?
01:37One of the oldest lifestyle categories that Diddy expanded into was spirits, more specifically
01:46vodka. The brand was Ciroc Vodka, which is owned by Diageo, which is a British conglomerate
01:53that has a huge portfolio of different liquor brands. And that was a partnership that became
02:00a smashing success. Diddy basically became the brand, is what I was told. He brought
02:06Ciroc with him everywhere. You know, you can find all of these photos of his parties
02:10and appearances where he literally has a bottle of the vodka in his hand. And that generated
02:17almost a billion dollars worth of income for him in the 15 years he worked with Diageo,
02:23which was insanely successful. He also forayed into fashion. A lot of people are very familiar
02:30with his Sean John brand. It was sold in Macy's and it was, you know, at one point
02:37doing $400 million in annual sales. And he had associated things with that as well, like
02:45fragrances and eyewear that all came under the Sean John label.
02:50So at the height of his success, I think it is important to note Forbes never named him
02:54a billionaire, but he was almost a stone's throw away from being a billionaire. So at
03:00the height of everything, how much does Forbes estimate he was worth?
03:03So Forbes last estimated his net worth to be $740 million in 2019. And since then, you
03:13know, his team was claiming that he was a billionaire. They never would present any
03:17documentation to back up their claims. But, you know, the bulk of his net worth, you know,
03:25in that 2019 period was not just the bad boy, you know, label and entertainment sector
03:32of his business. It was the liquor, the Diageo of it all. It wasn't just the Ciroc vodka
03:39at that point. He had also formed a joint venture with Diageo to promote a tequila called
03:44De Leon, which was a higher end tequila. And that was a little bit of an interesting diversion.
03:50Whereas, you know, the Ciroc deal was purely just like him being a spokesperson, getting
03:55paid for the marketing aspect of that. But Ciroc, I'm sorry, but De Leon was, you know,
04:02both of them putting money in behind this tequila brand to make it a success. And so
04:08there was bad boy, there was the Diageo stuff. And then there was also Sean John, which was
04:14his fashion brand. It was, you know, very well known across the United States, sold in Macy's
04:21at one point doing, you know, 400 million in annual sales, which is, you know, that's some
04:26money right there. And also under the Sean John umbrella were things like fragrances and eyewear.
04:32So there was a lot of diversified, you know, I would say, a lot of diversified lifestyle
04:42business, you know, being centered around what Diddy originally created. And that was,
04:46you know, this, this, this aesthetic and this lifestyle that was associated with rap and R&B.
04:52So he had these multiple, incredibly successful revenue streams, whether it be alcohol,
04:58his music, which he originally was famous for, clothing line, amongst other things.
05:03And then in 2019, Forbes estimates he's worth $740 million. So bring us to more recent days
05:11when it all started crashing down. Take us to that starting point of where it came down.
05:16Sure. So it was fall of last year. Diddy's ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura,
05:24filed a $30 million lawsuit against him alleging a slew of really horrific allegations that
05:33he beat her, he, you know, was committing sexual assault, domestic violence,
05:40forced druggings, a slew of really, really ugly, ugly
05:46allegations. And that was kind of, I would say, the tipping point of what has happened to Diddy's
05:53empire since. It's important to note that as of today, Diddy has denied every allegation that's
06:05been placed against him. He hasn't been formally charged of any crime. But that, plus the lawsuits
06:13that followed from other women and former business associates alleging some of the same things,
06:21has really put a black mark on his reputation. And that is really where you started to see
06:30his empire crumble from the outside. It was already starting to collapse from within
06:35at that point, which is, I think, also a really important thing to think about.
06:41I want to get into that. So we saw his empire, as you say, crash from the outside,
06:47but take us to the inside before. What was going on there?
06:51So earlier in the spring of 2023, Diddy filed a lawsuit against Diageo. He basically accused them
06:58of being racist in the sense that they weren't diverting enough, you know, promotional and
07:03financial resources to his Ciroc vodka in his deli on tequila. And that really created a lot
07:10of animosity between the two parties. And that was playing out behind the scenes of
07:18the empire that was, you know, like we said, collapsing from within before it collapsed
07:23from the outside or fully fell apart, I guess, is the better way to put it.
07:27So when you're looking through Diageo's response, did anything stick out to you?
07:32Yeah, absolutely. What was really fascinating is Diageo stated they hadn't treated him any
07:38differently or the brands any differently because he was black and had devoted quite a lot of
07:44marketing and financial resources to making both of the brands a success. One of the really
07:50shocking things that was found out was with the deli on tequila, that Diageo had basically footed
07:57the bill for everything that they had been doing to launch that and rebrand that while claiming
08:03that, you know, Diddy had only invested 1000 of his own dollars into the brand at that time. So
08:09there was some real, I would say, conflict between the two camps for a while before
08:17everything came to a head with the sexual assault allegations.
08:21You noted this earlier, but when you think of Ciroc, you can't not think of Diddy. I mean,
08:26the two are synonymous, they go hand in hand. So was this partnership ending between Diageo and
08:31Diddy? Was that a real loss to Diageo a la Kanye West, yay, leaving Adidas?
08:39That is a great question. The answer to that is it really did not hurt Diageo's bottom line.
08:47The sources that I spoke with said that both Ciroc and Deleon accounted for just a few
08:54percentage points of Diageo's overall sales volumes and revenues. You know, you have to
09:01remember when you think about Diageo, they have some, like, absolutely massive spirits in their
09:07portfolio. We're talking Smirnoff Vodka, we're talking Johnny Walker Scotch, we're talking
09:12George Clooney's Casamigos Tequila, which legendarily, reportedly sold for a billion dollars.
09:20So you know, those, and from what I've been made to understand from my sources,
09:24those are the types of brands that would command a lot more of the budget that would be needed to
09:28promote them and keep their dominance in the space. Not to say that a Ciroc or Deleon couldn't
09:32eventually attain that sort of position, but it's a much longer play, takes a much longer time.
09:38So it's not really impacting Diageo's bottom line, but what about Diddy's? Because alcohol
09:42is a huge revenue stream for him. Yeah, it was really the, I guess, the straw that broke the
09:48camel's back of his business empire crumbling, because the way that we think about, as Forbes,
09:57valuing these sorts of partnerships or, you know, deals is, we're saying, okay, if you're making
10:03X amount annually, for him, it was around 66 million annually on average for the alcohol
10:10partnership. We're like, okay, like, what is a forward multiple that can be applied to that,
10:16right? And when you say forward multiple, basically, you're saying, okay, like, if he's
10:21making 66 million a year, do you multiply that by 10 for its value? Do you multiply it by 12?
10:27Like you speak to, you know, industry experts who can advise you on what, you know, if you were to
10:32sell this income stream, what it would sell for. And that was really valuable when he was at the
10:38height of his popularity and goodwill. But, you know, once the Diageo partnership melted,
10:44he doesn't have that to add to his net worth at that point. He can't sell it because he doesn't
10:48have it anymore. So it was much more harmful to Diddy than it was to Diageo. So now let's move back
10:54to the outside veneer, what we saw as just average people looking. And that was after the Cassie
11:01lawsuit, a video emerged, I believe it was back in 2016, of what appeared to be on CCTV footage,
11:08Diddy assaulting Cassie at a hotel. Has he responded? What has that been like? And then
11:15I want you to take us to when the feds raided his home. Sure. Yeah, that was a horrific video.
11:20CNN was able to obtain that surveillance footage, which then broke last fall after the sexual
11:27assault allegations came from Cassie Ventura. And yeah, the fallout from that has been really
11:35extreme. You know, about 48 hours after the video was broadcast, Diddy posted to his Instagram an
11:44apology video. He called his behavior disgusting, among other things, but he never mentioned Cassie
11:50Ventura by name, which struck people as odd. Since then, he's scrubbed his Instagram of all posts.
11:57So that original apology video post is now gone. And there was sort of a dam that broke once that
12:07once Cassie Ventura filed her suit. Again, it was settled the day after she filed it. But
12:15you know, six more people came forward with their own suits, their own allegations, including
12:23Diddy's former producer, Rodney Little Rod Jones. All the same sort of horrific allegations that
12:31Cassie had talked about sexual assault, forced drugging, domestic violence. Again, you know,
12:37Diddy's categorically denied all of those allegations. But, you know, in a post, I guess
12:42I would call it post me to world, those things really harm your reputation, and they really harm
12:49your business. And, you know, he's kind of persona non grata at this point, he's radioactive.
12:57And then we see the feds raiding his home. He wasn't there at the time. What was that for?
13:03So that is a little unclear. What we do know what the government what the federal government
13:09has said publicly that they raided the homes in connection with an investigation
13:16that is reportedly human trafficking. The Fed hasn't confirmed what the purpose or
13:24target of the investigation was. So that also means it's unclear if Diddy was a target of the
13:30investigation or if what was in his homes was incidental or correlating to whatever it was
13:39the government's investigating. So that remains to be determined. But again, in the in the hindsight
13:47of all of the different civil lawsuits and these federal raids, it's looking pretty dire for him
13:55right now. It's looking pretty dire. And you did use a term that I think encapsulates this perfectly
14:00and that is radioactive. So let's talk about his other business ventures and how they're impacted.
14:06So let's talk talk about revolt TV and network he founded over a decade ago, and he has a stake in
14:12what does that stake look like now? And has his fortune from that been decimated since the fall
14:18out of this? Yes. The answer to your last question is absolutely yes. And so to back that up, revolt
14:26TV was founded to showcase hip hop culture, youth creators. And, you know, I had some pretty
14:33successful programming, I believe drink champs is one of their most famous or most popular programs.
14:39And he had a little over 50% stake in that network. And what we were led to believe was that
14:48it was an equity stake, meaning that he had financial control over the company.
14:53A source that was close to the finances of revolt said that that wasn't true, that his equity stake
15:00essentially just controlled the voting rights of the company. So he didn't really have a lot of
15:05financial say, meaning that that stake he did have in revolt would be worth less. If you have
15:10financial control over the company, that's worth a lot. If you're just controlling, you know,
15:15the voting, which is essentially what decisions the business makes, it's not worth as much.
15:19Has revolt responded to this at all?
15:21They have. Yes. The day that they announced that Diddy no longer had any stake in the company,
15:30their CEO, Dottavio Samuel, said that they are going to hand Diddy shares over to employees.
15:35It's meant to be a way of equalizing everyone's place within the company to have everyone have,
15:44like, you know, skin in the game, essentially. It's also meant to be a way to drive or generate
15:50wealth for employees who have come from marginalized backgrounds in which, you know,
15:56wealth generation is a huge component of, you know, getting ahead in corporate America.
16:02I know that hip hop started Diddy's career, and I am curious about what this does to his music
16:09catalog, because the last time I can think of a persona non grata, like you said, in the music
16:15industry really is R. Kelly. And I'm not comparing the two and the allegations against either of
16:19them. But when you go out, you know, one's listening to R. Kelly anymore. So is Diddy's
16:24music catalog completely also decimated? It's not completely worthless. And music catalogs are
16:32such an interesting thing, right? You know, there have been so many headlines about people selling
16:36their catalogs for bonkers numbers, you know, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, you know, 500 million,
16:42Katy Perry, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars. Even Justin Bieber, I believe,
16:47has sold some of his music as well, if not all of it. And that's because, again, if you're looking
16:53at these deals, they're much like how we've valued the Diageo partnership. It's a forward
16:58multiple. So if your catalog generates $10 million a year for you, you can say, okay, I'm gonna,
17:05you know, take a 12 multiple of that, that's $120 million that it can be, you know, valued at and
17:10therefore sold at. And that's really a case by case basis. And when we talk about Diddy's catalog,
17:16we have to look at the bad boy roster. And we look at the bad boy roster. Okay, how many people have
17:21released albums, you know, Diddy has, obviously, there's a couple Biggie albums. And, you know,
17:28there's aren't that many other really big artists in his portfolio. So when you think about that,
17:35you know, my sources have said, okay, you know, people may not listen to Diddy much anymore,
17:41doesn't necessarily mean that they're gonna stop listening, you know, consumption doesn't change
17:45a lot post scandal, but they're definitely not not gonna listen to Biggie. You know, he's he's
17:51one of the the titans in the genre. So his stuff still remains valuable, even though it has that
17:57prior association with Diddy. But it has really knocked down the value of his overall catalog,
18:02because Biggie makes up such a small portion of it, simply because he died before he really
18:07could establish much of a career and therefore have a lot of material out there. At its height,
18:13we said that Diddy's catalog, the bad boy artist roster could be worth over $125 million.
18:20But now we've estimated around like $35 million based on what's happened with with him specifically.
18:26So slashed significantly, but not completely worthless. Now, what about the other lifestyle
18:32avenues like his eyewear line, like his fashion line?
18:36Sure. So again, when all of these allegations started surfacing, Macy's stopped selling Sean
18:43John, they pulled it from the shelves. And that was his main driver of revenue for that brand.
18:48The other thing to remember about Sean John is that at one point, it was hugely popular,
18:52making all that money, but it became less popular, became, you know, more of
19:00an older kind of not as, I guess, hot sort of brand, you know, it was replaced by like your
19:07Supremes and other sort of streetwear brands. He had to buy it out of bankruptcy a couple years
19:12ago. So it really wasn't worth a lot, you know, at the time of these allegations. And the eyewear
19:18has since been also removed from opticians who are carrying it. So it's virtually worthless at
19:23this point. And what about any other assets he holds? I know he does have a real estate portfolio,
19:29he has some art, what does that look like now? Sure. So the houses, the art, the cars, the plane,
19:35they all retain their value, minus any sort of like depreciation that you would consider for
19:40cars and planes. You know, he has a pretty impressive real estate portfolio, he owns
19:46very high end homes in Los Angeles and Miami, they're worth over $40 million a piece,
19:52but about half of the value of his real estate is tied up in mortgages.
19:56So he has debt on those that he still has to pay back, which slashes their overall resale value.
20:02The art collection is still very valuable. You know, he's got works by Jean-Michel Basquiat,
20:07Keith Haring, Kerry Marshall Brown. Again, you know, those are things that would, you know,
20:13you'd have to find a buyer, you'd have to go through a sale process, they'd probably have
20:18to be appraised. So it's a lengthy process. They still have some value. But you know, overall,
20:22they're, you know, making up a fraction of his net worth at this point.
20:28So in 2019, Diddy was worth $740 million. Now that has been slashed, what is Forbes estimating
20:36he's worth now? Diddy is now worth $400 million. And that is probably something that will fluctuate
20:45and, you know, based on market values of homes and artworks, and, again, you know, the catalog
20:52and what he has remaining and cash stores as well. Lisette, you cover celebrities, notably,
20:59just a few years ago, you covered Kanye West and his dissent. Do you think when it comes to Diddy,
21:04these all of these issues, the legal ones surrounding him are going to impact him long
21:09term, where people will no longer listen to his music no longer drink Ciroc? Or do you think
21:14people maybe in time will be able to separate the person from the products or the art from the
21:20artist? Sure. On a macro scale, you know, Ciroc will continue to go on, they'll be able to find
21:28other ways to market it. It's it's definitely not dead in the water. Same with Deleon. In terms of
21:34the the bad boy music, you know, people may not listen to Puffy as much. He was never really that
21:40popular. People are still going to listen to Diddy that are sorry, people are still going to listen
21:43to Biggie. They're gonna buy Biggie records. You know, he's always going to be a classic for a
21:48reason. And, you know, on a micro level, that's a personal choice every person has to make for
21:55themselves. It's looking pretty bleak for Diddy right now. I mean, as you said, his fortune was
22:00cut $300 million, a little more. So what is on the horizon for him both financially and legally?
22:07So, again, that remains unclear, because we don't know anything for sure.
22:12In terms of the civil lawsuits, those will play out in court. The important thing to remember
22:18about a civil lawsuit is that the only possible punishment is a financial penalty, because they're
22:24not part of basically criminal law. They're two separate things. When it comes to what's going on
22:30with the federal government's investigation, again, we're not sure as he hasn't been, you know,
22:35formally accused or charged. But if if he were to be charged under some sort of human trafficking
22:43allegations, that would likely be under RICO, which is the federal racketeering statute that
22:50human trafficking cases are historically prosecuted against. And punishments for those
22:57can, you know, be also huge financial penalties, but also really lengthy prison sentences.
23:03So a human rights lawyer that I spoke with said that, you know, she thinks there's going to be
23:10some, you know, pretty unpleasant days coming up for him. Well, Lissette, I appreciate your
23:15reporting. Thanks so much for coming in. Thank you so much for having me.
23:20Thank you.