How Rich is Dr. Dre?
Hip-hop king and business mogul Dr. Dre is among the richest celebrities who grew up poor. He knew the value of hard work and dedication from a young age and used this drive to amass a vast empire over the last four decades.
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Dr. Dre Net Worth: $500 Million
Proving that he hasn’t lost his luster, Dre headlined the 2022 Super Bowl Halftime Show with protégés Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Eminem, Mary J Blige and Kendrick Lamar.
Early Career
From humble beginnings in Compton, Calif., the rap mogul co-founded Death Row Records with Marian “Suge” Knight in 1991. After N.W.A. disbanded in 1992, he helped launch some of the biggest names in rap, including Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur and his own solo career.
While under the label, he released his debut solo album “The Chronic,” which sold 5.7 million copies in the U.S. and spent 28 consecutive weeks on the Billboard Top 10 chart in 1993. In July 2015, after more than 20 years off the charts, the album sold 8,000 copies and claimed the No. 72 spot on the list.
In 1996, Dre left Death Row Records and founded Aftermath Entertainment. The record company has launched a number of A-list rappers and renowned albums, including Eminem’s “The Slim Shady LP,” Dr. Dre’s “2001,” 50 Cent’s “Get Rich or Die Tryin'” and The Game’s “The Documentary.” Dr. Dre and Eminem are still signed to the label, as well as newer artists Kendrick Lamar and Jon Connor.
To date, the rapper has been nominated for 26 Grammys, taking home seven of the coveted trophies.
Beyond the Projects
After 20 years in the recording industry, Dre co-founded Beats by Dr. Dre — an audio brand that sells premium headphones, earphones and speakers — with Jimmy Iovine in 2006. The wildly successful company was acquired by Apple in 2014 for $3 billion in cash and stock options. The Apple-Beats deal earned Dr. Dre a whopping $500 million after taxes, which effectively catapulted him to near billionaire status. As part of the deal, Dr. Dre and Iovine now hold executive roles at Apple.
Proving that a success story translates well on screen, Dr. Dre’s rise to fame in the rap group N.W.A. was chronicled in the 2015 “Straight Outta Compton” movie. The runaway hit had a production budget of $28 million, but earned $60.2 million at the box office during its debut weekend and amassed a total of $201 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
It’s unclear how much Dre earned from the film, but he released “Compton” — his first album in 16 years — days before the film hit theaters, and the well-timed move boosted U.S. sales to 295,000 units in its first week.
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Real Estate Ventures
Dr. Dre’s net worth is apparent by his lavish taste in real estate. In 2014 — shortly after he sold Beats to Apple — he dropped $40 million on a nearly four-acre estate previously owned by Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen in the swanky Brentwood, Calif., neighborhood of Los Angeles.
One year later, the rapper and his then-wife Nicole Young sold their 9,696 sq. ft. Hollywood Hills home for $32 million, which was nearly double the $15.4 million they paid in 2011. He also reportedly owns a $4.8 million 8,842 sq. ft. beachfront property in Malibu and a $2.4 million 13,748 sq. ft. home in Woodland Hills.
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Following their divorce, Young walked away with a massive $100 million settlement, acquiring more than one-fifth of the rap icon’s fortune and roughly half of his liquid assets.
Jennifer Taylor contributed to this article.
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