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The 12 most successful celebrity investors

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban reacts to a basketball game
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has amassed a net worth of billions. (Source: Getty) (USA Today Sports / reuters)

It’s no secret that the biggest names in showbiz rake in a fair bit of money.

With fame being so fickle, setting up a nest egg for after the curtains close would seem like a no brainer for successful celebs, but all too many seem to blow it on the fast life and wash up in bankruptcy court years later.

There are more than a few stand outs though, those celebrities who've been scrupulous with their earnings and diligent with their investments, leveraging their initial success to build something much greater.

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Here are the top celebrity investors according to investing news and education site invess.

The celebrity investors with the most successful investments

1. Entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban takes the cake here with companies he's invested in raising a massive $5 billion (US$3.3 billion).

It's also rather telling that Mark is a celebrity due to the success of his investments, rather than the other way round.

2. Actor and musician Jared Leto of 30 seconds to Mars fame comes up just a nose short with an eye watering $4 billion (US$2.7 billion) raised by companies he backed early on.

3. Actor Ashton Kutcher may have lost his car early on his career, but he appears to have done a much better job keeping track of his money, with start-ups he's invested in going on to raise more than $3 billion (US$2 billion)

Actors Sam Elliott (L) and Ashton Kutcher
Ashton Kutcher, pictured on the right with fellow actor Sam Elliott, is one of Hollywood's most business savvy stars. (Source: Reuters/Steve Marcus) (Steve Marcus / reuters)

Celebrities with the most diverse portfolios

1. Mark Cuban comes out on top again here with a massive 217 investments in his portfolio.

There might be something to the old investment adage about throwing a lot of umm ... darts and seeing what sticks.

2. Ashton Kutcher makes a second appearance here in second place with 67 investments.

Quality over quantity? We'll see if he takes out Cuban in the years to come.

3. Former NBA star Baron Davis pulls in at third place with 48 investments under his belt.

The former point guard started investing while he was still playing and encourages other young ballers to do the same.

Most active celebrity VCs

1. Ashton Kutcher pops up again here with his firm Sound Ventures topping the activity tables with 173 investments

2. Rapper Nas comes in hot at second place with QueensBridge Venture Partners and 128 investments.

When the rapper said "No idea is original, there's nothing new under the sun, it's never what you do, but how it's done" he may well have been talking his investment strategy on the DL, as he also has the least amount of lead investments - exactly zero.

Nas performs at a concert
Music star Nas has made scores of wise investments. (Source: Getty) (Paras Griffin via Getty Images)

3. Kevin Durant's Thirty Five Ventures comes in third with 59 investments.

Not far behind were tennis star Serena Williams' Serena Ventures and the Jiggaman Jay-Z's Marcy Venture Partners with 55 and 40 investments respectively.

Biggest celebrity owned brands

Last, but definitely not least, we have the most successful celebrity owned brands and the names here shouldn't really comes as any surprise.

1. The artist formally known as Kanye West's Yeezy clothing line takes out first place here worth an incredible estimate of $7.7 billion (US$5 billion).

2. Kim Kardashian's SKIMS takes the next spot at an estimate of just under $5 billion (US$3.2 billion).

They may not be together anymore, but they're still a power couple.

Kim Kardashian at the 2022 Met Gala
Kim Kardashian has parlayed reality TV stardom into a booming ecommerce business. (Source: Reuters) (Brendan McDermid / reuters)

3. In third place, we can't forget about Dr Dre with his iconic Beats By Dre line of headphones and audio tech worth an estimated $4.6 billion (US$3 billion).

It seems signing Eminem decades ago wasn't the iconic West Coast music producer's last sound financial decision.

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