TYLER PERRY SECURES BILLIONAIRE STATUS
Congratulations are in order for Tyler Perry! The media mogul is
now the latest addition to the Billionaire club!
This is not necessarily a shocker, but it is a testament to the fact that where you are in life doesn’t have to be where you’ll stay. In an article
titled, “From ‘Poor As Hell’ To Billionaire: How Tyler Perry Changed Show Business Forever,” Forbes details TP’s massive fortune.
“The 51-year-old entertainer owns the entirety of his creative output, including more than
1,200 episodes of television, 22 feature films and at least two dozen stage plays, as well as a 330-acre studio lot at the edge of Atlanta’s southern limits. He used that control to leverage a deal with ViacomCBS that pays him $150 million a year for new content and gives him an equity stake in BET+, the streaming service it debuted last September. Forbes estimates Perry has earned more than $1.4 billion in pretax income since 2005,which he used to buy homes in Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, as well as two planes. Quite a lifestyle for a once-homeless playwright raised in poverty in New Orleans. Today, Forbes estimates his net worth at $1 billion, with a clear path to future
membership in The Forbes 400.” Yes, we all know the story of how, at one point in his life, Perry was sleeping in his car. It’s a story that inspires the masses and one that Tyler still enjoys hearing. “I love when people say you come from humble beginnings,’ ” he told Forbes.“[It] means you were poor as hell.” 
But, it also makesthe victories that much more triumphant“Ownership,” he adds, “changes everything”. Tyler Perry with long time girl
friend Gelila. So, if you’re keeping count
at this point, like TMZ did, then
you’ll know THIS is how the man who created Madea amassed his fortune:
— $320 million for his entire library of movies,
TV shows, plays, etc., as he owns
100% of the content he has
created
— $300 million in cash and
investments
— $280 million for Tyler Perry
Studios, which sits on 330 acres
in Georgia
— $60 million for his equity stake
in BET+, the streaming service
that debuted last year.
— $40 million in homes and toys.
Raised in poverty in New Orleans,
Perry dropped out of high school
and went through a period of homelessness as he struggled as a
playwright.
Those plays turned him into a star and launched a career that would eventually lead him to become a media mogul and first African American to independently own a
studio.
“Ownership changes everything,”
he told Forbes.
One of the things it changed is his bank account.
Forbes has added Perry to its list of billionaires and estimates that he has earned “more than $1.4 billion in pretax income since 2005.”
According to Forbes, Perry $30 million for the studio property in Atlanta in 2015 and spent $250 million building the studio operation there.
He relishes being a Black man with a studio on the grounds of Fort McPherson, which had been Confederate military stronghold.
The studio is also helping to increase his wealth.
“I own the lights. I own the sets, he told Forbes. “So that’s where the difference is. Because I own everything, my returns are higher.”
