Wesley Snipes worked his butt off for more than a decade to reach the pinnacle of wealth and success in Hollywood. He smashed through perceptions and stereotypes along the way to becoming arguably the biggest action star on the planet in the 1990s. Along the way, he earned tens of millions of dollars from his blockbuster film salaries. Unfortunately, like many other stories of Hollywood ascension, what goes up must come down. But unlike most fallen stars who succumb to drugs or alcohol, Wesley Snipes' personal demon was much more bland. He stopped paying his taxes.

During that career pinnacle when he was earning tens of millions of dollars, Wesley Snipes wasn't sending Uncle Sam his cut. Amazingly, he truly believed he did not have to pay. He believed so strongly that he fought all the way up to the Supreme Court. This is the story of how Wesley went from Passenger 57 to prisoner #43355-018…

Wesley Snipes Tax Problems / Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

The Rise: Snipes The Action Star

When Wesley was 23, an agent discovered him in 1985 during a martial arts competition. A year later, he made his film debut in the 1986 Goldie Hawn movie "Wildcats". That same year, he appeared on the hit TV show "Miami Vice" as a drug-dealing pimp. In 1987, Snipes put his dance performance training and martial arts skills to good use when he appeared in the Martin Scorsese-directed music video of Michael Jackson's "Bad". That video caught the attention of director Spike Lee, who offered Snipes a small role in "Do the Right Thing". Snipes turned Lee down, opting for the larger part of Willie Mays Hayes in "Major League".

"Major League" was the first in a string of big box office hits for Snipes throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. He appeared in Spike Lee's "Mo' Better Blues" and as the lead in the interracial relationship at the center of the drama in "Jungle Fever". Snipes' role as the drug kingpin Nino Brown in 1991's "New Jack City" was written especially for him, and his amazingly nuanced performance cemented his status as a Hollywood superstar. Snipes worked steadily throughout the 1990s in films such as "Passenger 57", "Demolition Man", "Money Train", "The Fan", "U.S. Marshals", "Rising Sun", and "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar" in which Snipes played a drag queen.

Snipes was on a roll, showing audiences and Hollywood studio executives that he had range- playing everything from drug lords to drag queens. In fact, in 1997, Snipes won the Best Actor award at the Venice Film Festival for his dramatic performance in the Joe Eszterhas-written, Mike Figgis-directed film "One Night Stand". The film was a flop, in large part due to an interview Snipes gave in Ebony magazine in which he lashed out at African American women and listed all the reasons he didn't date them.

The following year, "Blade" gave Snipes his biggest box office success, grossing more than $150 million worldwide. Snipes was also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and an honorary doctorate from his college alma mater, SUNY/Purchase. Blade was also turned into a franchise. Wesley was at the top of the Hollywood food chain and the peak of his career. Unfortunately, Wesley's arrogance and ego were beginning to lay a path of destruction in his life that would last for more than a decade.

As the third installment of the "Blade" franchise was getting ready to go into production, Wesley's arrogance led him to believe that he was owed input on every aspect of the production. New Line froze him out of all decisions, which pissed Snipes off mightily. Snipes filed lawsuits against New Line Cinema and the director of "Blade: Trinity", David S. Goyer, claiming that he was intentionally cut out of casting decisions and that his role was reduced to make more time for the roles of co-stars Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel. The suit with New Line was settled, but Snipes' problems were just beginning.

Unlike most Hollywood celebrities, Wesley's self-imposed path of destruction did not involve a single drug or a drop of alcohol. Wesley's downfall involved something far more dangerous than drugs and alcohol: The Internal Revenue Service.

The Fall: Snipes The IRS Protestor

Wesley's problems with the IRS date back to 2006 when he was charged with attempting to avoid paying taxes and filing $12 million worth of false refunds dating all the way back to 1996.

Between 1996 and 2004, Snipes earned approximately $37.9 million from various acting jobs. Unfortunately, during those years, he apparently failed to pay a single penny in taxes.

In 2002, Wesley bought a lavish 10,000 square foot mansion in Alpine, New Jersey. He paid $5.6 million. Within a few years, he also stopped paying the property tax bill. Here's the mansion:

He was forced to sell this home in 2014 at a $2.1 million loss.

As if failing to pay taxes for many years wasn't bad enough, Wesley took things a step further.

Wesley also used forged documents to receive $12 million worth of undeserved refunds reflecting his income between 1996 and 1998. So why did he essentially ignore and steal from the IRS? This is where the story takes a crazy turn. Wesley explained his actions by using a controversial tax theory called the..

"861 argument"

The "861 argument" revolves around the language of section 861 of the Federal tax code. People who use this 861 argument claim the tax code's language makes domestic income of U.S. citizens and residents not taxable. The language instead states that "compensation for services" is taxable. This argument claims that because the 861 provision does not specifically list wages, for example, from acting in a movie, they therefore are not taxable. As a side note, the 861 argument has never been successful for anyone in the history of American tax law. Furthermore, Snipes failed to file tax returns for 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004.

Unfortunately, the government wasn't buying what Wesley was selling. Wesley Snipes spent four years battling the government on his tax charges. He went to trial in February 2008. His defense team intimated that their defense would take a month, and they planned to call an illustrious list of witnesses, including Muhammad Ali, Spike Lee, and even Barbra Walters. However, in the end, his defense spent just ONE HOUR arguing his case.

The prosecution was not as brief. They presented a fairly rock-solid and simple case of a person earning $40 million, paying zero in taxes, AND requesting $12 million in refunds.

Wesley was found guilty of three misdemeanor counts of failure to file federal income tax returns. He was sentenced to three years in prison. And while three years may sound like a long sentence for a silly tax issue, the prosecution had been seeking a 16-year sentence. So Wesley got off easy in a way.

In addition to his prison sentence, over time, Wesley was ordered to pay $17 million in back taxes, interest, and penalties to the IRS.

Snipes appealed the verdict without success in 2010. He began his three-year sentence at McKean Federal Correctional Institution on December 9, 2010. Snipes took his appeal all the way to the United States Supreme Court, but in 2011 the justices declined to hear the case.

Between December 2010 and April 2013, Wesley Snipes served 845 days in federal prison in McKean County, Pennsylvania. He served 90% of his three-year sentence.

Wesley was released from prison on April 2, 2013.

An Offer They Can Refuse

After being released, Wesley made what is called an "Offer In Compromise" (OIC) to the IRS.  Essentially, with an OIC, a tax offender offers an amount of money he or she hopes the IRS will accept to settle the debt once and for all, typically for pennies on the dollar. By this time, with interest and penalties, Wesley's debt had ballooned from $17 million to $23.5 million. Wesley offered to clear that debt in exchange for an OIC of $842,061, citing his lack of means to pay the remainder. That's 3.5% of the total amount due.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the government rejected his OIC.

This rejection kicked off another legal appeal. That appeal would drag on until November 1, 2018, when a judge upheld the IRS' rejection of his OIC, claiming that Snipes had failed "to provide bona fide documentation to prove his assets and financial condition."

The IRS countered that based on his assets and income potential, Wesley's "reasonable collection potential" was $17,482,152.

After yet another appeal, the IRS extended an offer to reduce the debt to $9,581,027.

Wesley rejected this offer!!! Instead, he reasserted his original OIC of $842,000.

From the judge's ruling:

"Given the disparity between petitioner's $842,061 OIC and the settlement officer's calculation of $9,581,027 as his RCP, as well as petitioner's inability to credibly document his assets, the settlement officer and her manager had ample justification to reject the offer… Accordingly, we conclude that the settlement officer did not abuse her discretion in determining that acceptance of petitioner's OIC was not in the best interest of the United States."

Wesley has continued to work in the years since his release from prison. His first film role of his post-prison career was in the third installment of the Sylvester Stallone "Expendables" franchise. He has appeared in a number of television series over the years, and in 2021, he had a memorable part in Eddie Murphy's "Coming 2 America."

I actually can't determine if Wesley has paid off any of his debt. I could not find a recent filing from the government showing he had either paid or failed to pay down what is presumably the $9.5 million proposed offer. Considering how stubbornly he has fought the debt up to this point, maybe he's still fighting. We may not know the answer until the IRS officially clears him after the debt is satisfied, OR if they file another suit due to lack of payment. Either way, what's the lesson of this story? Simple. Pay your damn taxes!

Read more: Wesley Snipes Played Chicken With The IRS… And Lost. Badly. Really Badly. He Literally Went From Passenger 57, To Prisoner #43355-018

In response to Business Insider's reporting, Mayweather's attorney, Bobby Samini, pushed back strongly against the overall narrative, denying that Mayweather is "experiencing financial strain."  Samini provided the following statement to BI:

"Floyd Mayweather rose from poverty and hardship to become one of the greatest champions in boxing history, transforming his talent and discipline into an undefeated legacy and a highly successful business empire. Creating unfounded narratives misrepresents the truth and minimizes the achievements of an individual who has risen from adversity to become one of the most successful athletes and entrepreneurs of his generation."

It should also be noted that Floyd is currently suing Business Insider and one of the reporters, Daniel Geiger (one of the authors of this latest article), for defamation over previous coverage of a commercial real estate investment made by Mayweather. In his $100 million lawsuit against the outlet and its reporter, Floyd claims: "Daniel Geiger refused multiple invitations to review verified transaction records and documentation that would have proven the deals were executed as described." Mayweather's team also argued that the reporting was not just inaccurate but racially motivated, claiming Geiger made disparaging comments suggesting Floyd was "unqualified" to own such assets.

With those disclaimers firmly in place, Business Insider recently published a lengthy, eyebrow-raising investigation examining Floyd Mayweather's financial life after boxing. According to the report, the authors reviewed public records, loan documents, lawsuits, and conducted interviews with current and former associates to paint a far more complicated picture of the man long known as "Money" Mayweather.

The article focuses on how his immense fortune has been managed in retirement, highlighting heavy borrowing against real estate, disputed business claims, alleged foreclosures, liens, lawsuits, and an increasing reliance on leverage and exhibition fights to sustain an extraordinarily expensive lifestyle.

(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

One Of The Highest Paid Athletes In History

Let's start with a couple of indisputable facts:

1. Floyd is an extremely shrewd businessman.
2. Floyd has earned at least $1.1 billion during his career.

The vast majority of boxers who came before Floyd were not much more than highly paid employees of promoters. They received set fees for showing up and fighting, but they did not participate meaningfully in the enormous profits generated by pay-per-view, ticket sales, and event promotion. For the first decade of his career, Floyd was no different. He fought under Bob Arum's Top Rank promotions and collected guaranteed purses.

Up to that point, Floyd's career already looked like a textbook success story. He was undefeated, a multi-division world champion, and widely regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. Yet after nearly ten years as a professional, his total career earnings were still under $10 million.

In April 2006, Bob Arum offered Floyd $8 million to fight Antonio Margarito, a massive leap from anything Floyd had earned previously. Instead of accepting and remaining a highly paid employee, Floyd chose to become an owner.

In an extremely risky move, Floyd paid $750,000 to buy himself out of his Top Rank contract. As we like to say around here at American Billionaire Networths: If you believe in yourself, BET ON YOURSELF.

After extricating himself from Top Rank, Floyd effectively became a self-financed independent promoter. For his next fights, he fronted the money for venues, production, concessions, marketing, and even his opponents' guaranteed purses. The risk was enormous. If a fight underperformed, Floyd would have been personally responsible for millions in costs. The upside, however, was unprecedented: by financing the operation himself, Floyd positioned himself to capture the lion's share of the profits.

The gamble paid off spectacularly. Instead of capping his upside at tens of millions per fight, Floyd entered an era where individual bouts routinely generated nine-figure paydays. He earned more than $550 million from just two fights alone:

• $250 million from his 2015 bout against Manny Pacquiao
• $300 million from his 2017 fight against Conor McGregor

Thanks to his $1.1 billion career earnings, Floyd Mayweather is one of the highest-paid athletes in history. At the time of his retirement from professional boxing, we estimated Floyd Mayweather's net worth to be $400 million.

Getty Images

Business Insider's Allegations About Floyd's Post-Boxing Finances

Floyd retired from professional boxing following his August 2017 fight against Conor McGregor, which capped his career at 50–0. According to Business Insider, the very traits that once fueled Floyd's success—total control, aggressive risk-taking, and a willingness to front massive sums of his own money—may have become liabilities in retirement. The report argues that instead of institutionalizing his fortune through conservative asset management, Floyd increasingly relied on leverage, optimistic dealmaking, and a loosely governed inner circle as he expanded into real estate, brand licensing, and exhibition bouts.

What follows is a breakdown of Business Insider's central claims: how Floyd's real estate investments were structured, why several high-profile deals are now being questioned, how debt and litigation entered the picture, and why critics quoted in the report say his post-boxing financial life looks far more fragile than the image he continues to project publicly. Again, these are allegations and interpretations drawn from public records and interviews cited by Business Insider.

Real Estate: Ownership Claims vs. Public Records

One of the central pillars of Business Insider's reporting concerns Floyd Mayweather's post-boxing real estate activity, particularly claims he has made publicly about owning large portfolios of commercial property. According to Business Insider, Mayweather repeatedly portrayed himself as the outright owner of high-value apartment buildings and commercial assets, especially in New York City. However, the outlet reported that it could not locate property records supporting several of those claims.

Business Insider focused heavily on Mayweather's statements about buying a 62-building Manhattan apartment portfolio and later acquiring roughly $400 million worth of rent-regulated apartment buildings in Upper Manhattan. According to the report, people with knowledge of those transactions said Mayweather's financial participation was nominal, short-lived, or ultimately absorbed by other partners. In one widely publicized deal, Business Insider reported that Mayweather's initial equity investment was later wiped out, leaving him with no ownership stake when the portfolio was eventually spun off into a publicly traded entity.

Mayweather disputes this characterization and is currently suing Business Insider and its reporter, Daniel Geiger, for defamation, seeking $100 million in damages, related to earlier coverage of commercial real estate investments.

Borrowing and Leverage

Another major focus of the Business Insider investigation is Mayweather's increased use of debt after retirement. According to the report, Mayweather borrowed approximately $54 million over a roughly 12-month period from billionaire specialty lender Don Hankey, at an interest rate of around 9%, to "fund other ventures."

Business Insider reported that the loans were secured using a broad cross-collateralization structure that included 14 residential properties, Mayweather's Las Vegas strip club, and his private jet. Experts cited by Business Insider noted that this type of borrowing structure carries elevated risk because a default could place multiple assets at risk simultaneously rather than one property at a time.

Mayweather's attorney told Business Insider that borrowing against appreciated assets is a common practice among wealthy individuals and denied that the loans indicate financial distress, describing Mayweather as an "ideal client."

YURI CORTEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Foreclosures, Liens, and Unpaid Obligations

Business Insider also detailed a series of foreclosures, tax issues, liens, and lawsuits that it says emerged in recent years. According to the report, at least two commercial properties associated with Mayweather were foreclosed upon within an 18-month span. Another Las Vegas commercial building tied to Mayweather faced foreclosure over approximately $52,000 in unpaid property taxes and penalties.

The article further cited lawsuits and liens alleging unpaid bills for a range of expenses, including aviation fuel, aircraft maintenance, luxury vehicles, jewelry, and municipal services. Among the specific figures cited by Business Insider:

• A Texas aviation fuel supplier alleged $137,000 in unpaid jet fuel bills.
• An FAA lien of approximately $358,000 was placed on Mayweather's aircraft for maintenance work before later being removed.
• Clark County placed a $568 lien on Mayweather's Las Vegas mansion for unpaid trash collection.
• A Nigerian media company won a judgment that has reportedly grown to nearly $3 million with interest, stemming from an alleged failure to appear at paid events.

Car Dealership Lawsuits

Floyd is also currently the plaintiff and defendant in lawsuits involving a luxury car dealer in Las Vegas called Vegas Auto Gallery.

According to a lawsuit filed by Vegas Auto Gallery, back in July 2025, Floyd bought four cars worth $2.25 million through his LLC, Mayweather Promotions LLC. He apparently returned three of the cars. The car he kept was a Mercedes G-Class SUV that is valued at $1.2 million. He allegedly agreed to pay for the car by September 1. He allegedly did not pay. Auto Gallery agreed to extend the deadline to September 18, but once again, he allegedly failed to pay. Auto Gallery also claims that Mayweather then defamed the dealership over Instagram posts in which he told his followers it "does bad business," identifying one of the dealers by name, who apparently received threats from Mayweather fans, which had to be reported to the police.

Floyd filed his own lawsuit against the dealership, claiming it never provided him with the necessary documentation to title or register the G-Wagon in Nevada as promised.

Past Tax Issues and Liquidity Concerns

Back in March 2017, the IRS hit Floyd with a demand for $22.2 million in back taxes related to his 2015 income. More specifically, the IRS filed a "Notice of Federal Tax Lien" naming the taxpayer "Floyd J Mayweather" as having an "Unpaid Balance of Assessment" of $22,238,255.

Interestingly, Floyd responded to the lien claiming that he didn't have enough liquid cash to cover the debt. A few months later, Floyd's lawyer filed paperwork assuring the IRS that their bill would be paid in full soon because their client was about to have a "significant liquidity event." That event was his August 2017 fight against Conor McGregor. The IRS had demanded to be paid immediately, to which Floyd's legal team replied:

"Although the taxpayer has substantial assets, those assets are restricted and primarily illiquid. The taxpayer has a significant liquidity event scheduled in about 60 days from which he intends to pay the balance of the 2015 tax liability due and outstanding."

Back in 2020, 50 Cent (Floyd's former BFF turned ultimate hater) went on a radio show and claimed Floyd's "money was GONE":

In 2022, Jake Paul claimed his brother Logan had not been paid for their ridiculous fight because Floyd didn't have the money. Jake claimed, "Floyd is Broke man. I've been saying it the whole entire time… I think he spent [the money] paying all those girls to be around him."

The Private Jet and Mansion Sales

Another highly visible symbol of Mayweather's wealth addressed in the Business Insider report is his primary private jet, the $60 million Gulfstream G650 dubbed "Air Mayweather." According to FAA records cited by the outlet, Mayweather sold the aircraft in late 2025. This sale followed a period in which the jet had been used as collateral for high-interest loans and was the subject of liens from aviation fuel suppliers and maintenance firms over allegedly unpaid bills. Mayweather has since been seen traveling in a secondary Gulfstream III (often called "Air Mayweather II").

Business Insider also highlighted a shift in Mayweather's residential portfolio, suggesting that recent sales were less about "flipping for profit" and more about offloading debt:

Mayweather also sold or is in the process of selling several high-profile residential properties:

• One of his longtime Las Vegas mansions is currently for sale for $8.5 million. He bought this home in 2009 for $9.5 million.
• His Beverly Hills mansion, which he bought in 2017 for $25.5 million, is currently listed for $48 million.
• In December 2024, Floyd sold a home in Miami for $22 million. He bought his house in 2021 for $18 million.

What Business Insider's Reporting Does — and Doesn't — Prove

A lot of people on social media (Twitter mainly) have taken Business Insider's headline and confidently used it to proclaim that Floyd Mayweather is broke, insolvent, or unable to meet his long-term financial obligations. That's not true. It's important to separate liquidity issues from net worth. Many ultra-wealthy individuals hold the majority of their wealth in illiquid assets such as real estate, private businesses, or long-term investments. Borrowing against those assets, even aggressively, does not automatically indicate financial collapse.

The more reasonable takeaway is not that Floyd's fortune has vanished, but that his post-boxing financial position may be more complex, more leveraged, and less bulletproof than the public persona of "Money Mayweather" suggests.

Floyd Mayweather's story is not unique among ultra-high-earning athletes. The transition from peak earning years to retirement often exposes structural weaknesses in cash flow, investment strategy, and oversight. What makes Floyd's case especially compelling is the sheer scale of his success. Very few athletes have ever earned over $1 billion. Fewer still attempted to remain their own boss, promoter, and chief decision-maker long after the primary revenue engine shut off.

For now, Floyd remains enormously wealthy, publicly defiant, and actively disputing Business Insider's portrayal of his finances. With a defamation lawsuit pending and several financial matters unresolved, this story is far from finished.

Read more: Business Insider Just Published An Eyebrow-Raising Investigation Examining Floyd Mayweather's Finances

But if you want to just sit back (actually, lie down) and earn generational wealth (literally!), without having to buy crypto, get naked, stream endlessly on Twitch, build and maintain an Instagram following, or take pictures of your feet… a new path has emerged!

In a revelation that stunned both the tech world and the public, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has announced that he plans to leave his entire multi-billion-dollar fortune to his children. Now, on the surface, a billionaire leaving his wealth to his children isn't all that stunning. But with Pavel, there's a twist. He doesn't just have one or two kids. He doesn't have three or four. Pavel has fathered OVER 100 children in the last 15 years. And no, he is not the world's most impressive lothario. He has fathered the majority of the children through sperm donations. So if you're a woman of childbearing age, this may be your shot at the big time! Pun intended!

(Photo by Sameer AL-DOUMY / AFP)

100 Children… And Counting

According to a recent Wall Street Journal exposé, Pavel Durov's sperm-donation operation is far more organized, intentional, and ongoing than was previously understood. The Journal confirmed that Durov's frozen sperm has been actively marketed through a private Moscow fertility clinic called AltraVita, which promoted his "biomaterial" to women under 37 and, in some cases, offered IVF procedures paid for by Durov himself. Former clinic staff described a steady stream of well-educated, healthy women drawn not just by the free treatment, but by the idea of having a child with a wildly successful tech founder.

The WSJ also confirmed that Durov now publicly acknowledges having at least 100 biological children across more than a dozen countries, in addition to the six children he has had through relationships. Importantly, Durov has reiterated that all of his biological children, including those conceived through anonymous sperm donation, will be entitled to an equal share of his inheritance once they can establish shared DNA. In interviews and podcast appearances, he has even floated the idea of "open-sourcing" his genetic data in the future so his offspring can identify one another decades from now. In other words, this isn't a one-off eccentric experiment. It is a long-term system, backed by real money, real clinics, and a billionaire who appears fully committed to seeing it through.

No Access for 30 Years

Durov's net worth is $14 billion. In a June 2025 interview with Le Point magazine, Durov explained that none of his children will have access to their inheritance for the next 30 years:

"I want them to live like normal people, to build themselves up alone, to learn to trust themselves, to be able to create, not to be dependent on a bank account."

At the time of that interview, Pavel confirmed he had fathered 106 children so far. We don't know how many more he has welcomed in the last six months. Let's just assume he had zero new kids to make this simple.

If his $14 billion fortune were divided equally among those 106 heirs today, each child would stand to receive roughly $132 million.

But here's where it gets interesting: under Durov's will, the children won't receive a cent for 30 years. If his fortune grows at a modest average annual rate of 5%—roughly the long-term historical average for conservative investments—his net worth could be $60.5 billion by 2055. In that case, each child would eventually inherit around $570 million. Or, if by then there are 200 half-siblings, each would get $285 million.

Of course, all of this is hypothetical. Durov insists he isn't motivated by personal wealth and claims much of his net worth is on paper, tied to Telegram's potential market value rather than liquid assets. Still, the math offers a striking glimpse into just how massive this deferred inheritance could become.

Durov has framed the effort as a response to declining fertility rates, falling sperm counts, and what he sees as a broader civilizational decline, arguing that healthy men have a civic duty to reproduce.

From VKontakte to Telegram

Often dubbed "Russia's Mark Zuckerberg," Durov co-founded VKontakte (VK) in 2006 and turned it into Russia's largest social network before being pushed out by Kremlin-linked shareholders in 2014. He sold his stake and left Russia, relocating to Dubai. That same year, he launched Telegram with his brother Nikolai as a secure, privacy-first messaging platform.

Telegram has since grown to more than one billion monthly users and become a go-to communication tool for activists, political dissidents, and ordinary users across the globe. But its resistance to government oversight has made Durov a target of criticism and legal action in several countries.

Legal Troubles in France

In 2024, Durov was arrested in Paris and charged with 17 criminal counts, including complicity in drug trafficking, money laundering, and the spread of child sexual abuse content through Telegram. He has denied all charges, calling them "totally absurd." Durov claims Telegram has cooperated with law enforcement when proper legal procedures are followed, and emphasizes that the company has never disclosed a single private message in its history.

Durov remains barred from leaving France while the investigation continues, a restriction he says has kept him from visiting his sick parents and newborn son in Dubai.

Refusal To Sell, Commitment to Independence

Durov owns 100% of Telegram and has refused all acquisition offers, including a $1 billion bid from Google in 2017. "Telegram is not for sale," he told Le Point. "Because Telegram is not a commodity, it's a project. An idea. A promise of independence."

He also confirmed that if anything were to happen to him, a nonprofit foundation would take over Telegram to ensure it continues operating according to its founding values.

Durov has said the foundation structure is designed to prevent any future heirs from selling or commercializing Telegram against his wishes.

Minimalist Billionaire

Despite his theoretical multibillion-dollar net worth, Durov claims his liquid assets are relatively modest and primarily stem from early Bitcoin investments. Telegram, he says, has never paid him a salary or dividend. "For me, Telegram is a source of expenses, not revenue," he said.

He maintains an ascetic lifestyle: no alcohol, caffeine, sugar, or nicotine. He does 300 push-ups and 300 squats every morning and often swims in icy lakes. "I don't own a house, a yacht, or a private jet," he added. "I think owning things can distract me from my mission."

Whether it's a revolutionary act of wealth distribution or the world's most eccentric trust fund, one thing's clear: Pavel Durov isn't just thinking about the next generation—he's personally creating it.

Read more: Want Your Kid To Inherit $500 Million In 30 Years? Simple! Join The 100+ Women Who've Been Impregnanted By Tech Billionaire Pavel Durov

Her story is often told as a tale of inevitability. Destiny. Royalty. A straight line to the top. The reality is far messier. Failed auditions. Lost record deals. Public blame for group turmoil. Family strain. Lawsuits. Reinvention. Then reinvention again. What ultimately separates Beyoncé from nearly every peer is not just talent or timing, but an unmatched capacity to absorb setbacks, adapt, and slowly convert creative success into real ownership.

That long arc now ends at a rare destination. Beyoncé has crossed the billionaire threshold on her own balance sheet. Not by inheritance. Not by marriage. But by stacking decades of touring revenue, music ownership, film work, fashion, endorsements, and most recently, a spirits brand that scaled into a genuine enterprise. The surprise album she dropped in December 2013 is now just one checkpoint on a much longer financial and artistic journey.

Beyonce NetWorth / Buda Mendes/Getty Images

Early Life and Early Resolve

Beyoncé Knowles was born on September 4, 1981, in Houston, Texas. From an early age, she demonstrated unusual focus. She began taking dance lessons as a child and quickly revealed a powerful singing voice. At seven, she won a local talent competition against performers twice her age. By nine, she had already decided music would be her career.

She enrolled at Parker Elementary School, a music magnet program, and later attended Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Outside of school, she sang as a soloist in the St. John's Methodist Church choir. The through-line during these years was discipline. Beyoncé did not drift into entertainment. She trained for it.

Girl's Tyme, Star Search, and Early Failure

At eight years old, Beyoncé auditioned for a pre-teen girl group alongside her close friend Kelly Rowland. The group, Girl's Tyme, performed throughout Houston and eventually landed a spot on "Star Search." They lost.

That loss mattered. It was public, deflating, and formative. Recognizing both the group's talent and its lack of direction, Beyoncé's father left his job to manage them full time. The decision came with consequences. The family's income collapsed. They sold their house and split into two apartments. Members were cut. The group was renamed Destiny's Child and spent years opening for established acts.

They signed with Elektra Records. The deal fell apart. They were dropped. The stress fractured Beyoncé's parents' marriage. For a time, the entire project seemed doomed.

Young Destiny's Child /Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Destiny's Child Breakthrough and Public Backlash

In the mid-1990s, Destiny's Child finally stabilized after signing with Columbia Records. Their debut album produced the hit "No, No, No" and multiple Soul Train Awards. Their second album, "The Writing's on the Wall," turned them into global stars with songs like "Bills, Bills, Bills," "Jumpin' Jumpin'," and "Say My Name."

Success triggered chaos. Two members were replaced amid management disputes. Public backlash followed, and Beyoncé became the focal point of fan anger. Despite Grammy wins and chart dominance, she spiraled privately, withdrawing and struggling with the emotional toll of being blamed for decisions she did not fully control.

By 2000, Destiny's Child had narrowed to its final lineup: Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. The group rebounded with "Independent Women Part 1" and then "Survivor," an album that debuted at No. 1 and produced multiple hits. Lawsuits followed from former members. The group pressed on.

Solo Ambitions and Proving Herself Alone

While Destiny's Child dominated radio, Beyoncé quietly laid the groundwork for independence. She starred in "Carmen: A Hip Hopera," then appeared in films like "Austin Powers in Goldmember" and "The Fighting Temptations." Critics questioned whether she was positioning herself above the group.

In 2003, she answered decisively with her debut solo album, "Dangerously in Love." It debuted at No. 1, sold more than 11 million copies worldwide, and won five Grammy Awards. Beyoncé had crossed the most difficult threshold in pop music: proving she could stand alone.

After one final Destiny's Child album, "Destiny Fulfilled," the group officially disbanded in 2005.

Beyonce /Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Control, Ownership, and the Shift From Star to CEO

The years that followed transformed Beyoncé from a hitmaker into a business force. Album after album debuted at No. 1. Tours became larger, longer, and more lucrative. She built an empire of endorsements with Pepsi, L'Oréal, Tommy Hilfiger, Emporio Armani, and American Express.

More importantly, she began insisting on ownership and control. Her 2013 self-titled album, released without warning, changed the music industry's release model overnight. It sold a million copies in under a week with virtually no traditional marketing. Artists took notice. Executives adjusted.

Parallel to her music, Beyoncé expanded into fashion, fragrance, film production, and eventually spirits. Her brand evolved from endorsement-based income to equity-driven wealth.

The Billionaire Milestone

Today, Beyoncé is a billionaire. The figure reflects decades of touring revenue, music catalogs, visual projects, endorsements, fashion ventures, and the explosive growth of her premium spirits brand. While she did marry into wealth through her relationship with Jay-Z, her fortune stands independently and would qualify on its own.

This distinction matters. Beyoncé did not simply monetize fame. She converted cultural power into long-term assets. The surprise album drop of 2013 was not a stunt. It was a signal that she no longer needed permission, marketing calendars, or industry validation.

A Career Defined by Endurance

Beyoncé's story is not about effortless dominance. It is about surviving enough setbacks to learn where power actually lives. Failed deals. Public humiliation. Lawsuits. Reinvention. Then patience.

The child who lost on "Star Search" now owns her narrative, her output, and her wealth. The teenager blamed for Destiny's Child turmoil became the adult who redefined how music is released and valued. The artist once fighting for a record deal now controls her own empire.

Perseverance is an overused word. In Beyoncé's case, it is simply accurate.

Read more: Beyoncé's Journey From Obscurity to Billionaire Pop Superstardom Is a Masterclass in Perseverance

If you sat next to Jack on a public bus, you would have been forgiven for assuming he was a solitary, lonely old man living out his final years just barely above the poverty line. Jack only rode public transportation, using a discount fare card for people above a certain age. He wore ragged, used clothes. His sweaters were filled with holes. He was a passionate coupon clipper, always on the hunt for a bargain.

That wasn't the full story. As it turned out, that rag-wearing bus passenger was secretly sitting on an absolutely insane personal fortune. The full extent of that fortune only became known in the weeks following Jack's death when three Seattle charities received the surprise of a lifetime…

(via Seattle Children's Hospital)

Who Was Jack MacDonald?

Jack Rupert MacDonald was born May 5, 1915, in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. When he was three years old, his family moved to Seattle. Jack attended Broadway High School, the University of Washington, and the UW Law School.

After spending three years serving in the Army in the South Pacific, Jack returned to Seattle, where he worked as an attorney for more than 30 years. In 1971, Jack met and married Mary Katherine Moore, a widow who had two adult children. In his 50s at the time of the marriage, Mary Katherine helped open Jack's eyes to the wonders of the world. When they weren't traveling to places like Africa, Australia, and Europe, the couple made their home in the Seattle suburb of Magnolia, Washington.

In 1997, Jack and Mary moved into a retirement community called The Horizon House. Mary died two years later, leaving Jack a widow for the next 16 years until his own passing in 2013.

Secret Millionaire

In addition to his raggedy clothes and coupon clippings, if you visited Jack at The Horizon House, you might have been struck by the numerous copies of Forbes Magazine and The Wall Street Journal that were neatly stacked in every corner of his room. Clearly, the stock market was a bit of a hobby for the former attorney. In fact, Jack walked to his stockbroker's office once a day to check on his accounts.

According to his own stepdaughter, Jack was "amazing" at picking stocks:

"He didn't trust a lot of other people to do his research. He directed what he wanted bought, and he really knew what he wanted."

But before his death, only a very small circle of family and advisors had any concept of just how amazing Jack was at picking stocks.

It should be noted that Jack didn't exactly start from scratch. In 1933, his parents founded the MacDonald Meat Company, which eventually grew into a very profitable supplier of meat and seafood to Washington area restaurants and hotels. Today, the company exports its products all over the world to consumers in various Asian countries and even as far as Russia. After inheriting the business, Jack began investing his profits into the stock market.

Secret Philanthropist

Despite his frugal appearance, over the years, Jack did provide a few clues about his wealth. At some point, he started sending anonymous donations to a sleepy Canadian town called Elora, which is where his paternal grandfather emigrated to from Scotland. As the donations to Elora totaled more than $150,000, Jack was eventually revealed as the source. Elora used the money to build an ice rink and refurbish the town hall. Elora renamed their town square after Jack.

While he was alive, Jack also donated $536,000 to a hospital called the Seattle Children's Research Institute. He would periodically ride the bus to the hospital to visit with the children and hear their stories. And while giving away roughly $683,000 to charity is extremely commendable, it still pales in comparison to what the world found out next.

Secret Massive Fortune

As we mentioned at the start, Jack MacDonald died on September 13, 2013. Within a few weeks of his death, three Seattle charities were informed that they were the beneficiaries of his estate. In his will, Jack left his estate as follows:

• 40% to the Seattle Children's Research Institute
• 30% to his alma mater, The University of Washington Law School
• 30% to the Salvation Army Northwest Division

So, exactly how much money would these three charities be splitting?

Jack MacDonald, the frugal man who clipped coupons, wore ragged clothes, and rode public transportation, left behind an estate valued at…

$187.6 million

Let that sink in. All that time Jack MacDonald was riding the bus, he was secretly sitting on an absolute fortune. Judging by his appearance when Jack walked to his stockbroker's office every day, you would have assumed he was checking on an IRA or 401 (k) account containing a few hundred thousand dollars, at most. But nope, this former attorney was managing a roughly $200 million stock portfolio, all from a modest room within a suburban retirement home!

The University of Washington Law School and the Salvation Army each received $56.3 million. Jack's donation to UW still stands as the largest gift in the history of both the law school AND the University of Washington at large.

The Seattle Children's Hospital received $75 million. They named a building in his honor: The Jack R. MacDonald Seattle Children's Research Institute.

It Gets Better!

Assuming they haven't sold the stocks that made up the portfolio, at the time of his gift, each charity was projected to earn between $3 and $4 million per year in interest and dividends alone off the trusts.

All from a man who lived in a modest retirement home. A man who wore ragged clothes rode the bus and clipped coupons every day of his life. This is a man whom you would have attempted to take out for a hot meal and a new set of sweaters, not a financial tycoon with a portfolio that would have impressed fellow Seattle philanthropist Bill Gates himself. But as we have learned, appearances can be deceiving. Jack MacDonald was an amazing man whose life and legacy will hopefully inspire many others to follow his path!

Read more: He Wore Rags And Took Public Transportation While Secretly Hiding A $200 Million Fortune. And Then He Gave It All Away

Now imagine that you spent the previous night drinking way beyond your limit, only to be startled out of bed by a piercing 5:30 am wake-up call. In an attempt to get your head and body feeling remotely human again, you scarf down some waffles, eggs, bacon, and at least two glasses of coffee at the hotel's breakfast buffet before jumping on the shuttle to the private airport.

Within a few minutes of arriving at the airport, your entire group is seated, and the plane begins to taxi down the runway. At this point, you might feel a bit of relief as the morning's blur subsides. All you have to do is sit back and relax for the one-hour flight to the next city.

There's just one problem.

In your rush to get out of the hotel, down to breakfast, and onto the plane, you forgot to do one very crucial thing:

Go to the bathroom.

And I'm not talking about peeing.

You have a stomach full of dinner, dessert, drinks, eggs, waffles, and coffee churning around your lower intestine at 30,000 feet. But that's not the worst part. True horror sets in when you realize you're not on a spacious 20-person G5 with couches, beds, lay-z-boys, and a fully tucked-away private bathroom. For example, this is the actual bathroom on professional golfer Greg Norman's Gulfstream:

Greg Norman's private-jet bathroom (Photo by: aviation-images.com)

That's not the bathroom on the IPO roadshow jet.

No, on this day, you are traveling on a six-person puddle jumper, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with your clients and co-workers. But wait, somehow, the story gets even worse…

The following nightmare is a 100% fully verified true story. It happened to a very unlucky investment banker who has asked to remain anonymous for obvious reasons. He submitted the story to the Twitter page "Goldman Sachs Elevator" (@GSElevator). GSElevator was kind enough to let us re-post the full account of this incredible real-life horror story below…

Most Embarrassing Private Jet Flight / Steve Parsons-Pool/Getty Images

The Most Embarrassing Private Jet Flight Of All Time

Just over halfway through the flight, all the coffee in my stomach feels like it's percolating its way down into my lower intestine. I hunker down and try and focus on other things. What feels like an hour, but probably isn't more than twenty minutes, passes. We then enter what turns out to be pretty violent turbulence. With each bounce, I have to fight my body, trying not to shit my pants. "Thirty minutes to landing, maybe forty-five," I try and tell myself, each jostle a gamble I can't afford to lose. I signal to [the flight attendant], and she heads toward me.

"Excuse me, where is the bathroom, because I don't see a door?" I ask while still devoting considerable energy to fighting off what starts to feel like someone shook a seltzer bottle and shoved it up my ass. She looks at me, bemused, and says, "Well, we don't really have one per se." She continues, "Technically, we have one, but it's really just for emergencies. Don't worry, we're landing shortly anyway."

"I'm pretty sure this qualifies as an emergency," I manage to mutter through my grimace. I can see the fear in her face as she points nervously to the back seat. The turbulence outside is matched only by the cyclone that is ravaging my bowels. She points to the back of the plane and says, "There. The toilet is there." For a brief instant, relief passes over my face. She continues, "If you pull away the leather cushion from that seat, it's under there. There's a small privacy screen that pulls up around it, but that's it." At this point, I was committed. She had just lit the dynamite, and the mine shaft was set to blow.

I turn to look where she is pointing, and I get the urge to cry. I do cry, but my face is so tightly clenched it makes no difference. The "toilet" seat is occupied by the CFO, i.e., our fucking client. Our fucking female fucking client!

Up to this point, nobody has observed my struggle or my exchange with the flight attendant. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." That's all I can say as I limp toward her like Quasimodo impersonating a penguin and begin my explanation. Of course, as soon as my competitors see me talking to the CFO, they all perk up to find out what the hell I'm doing.

Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images

Given my jovial nature and fun-loving attitude thus far on the roadshow, almost everybody thinks I'm joking. She, however, knows right away that I am anything but and jumps up, moving quickly to where I had been sitting. I now had to remove the seat top – no easy task when you can barely stand upright, are getting tossed around like a hoodrat at a block party, and are fighting against a gastrointestinal Mt. Vesuvius.

I manage to peel back the leather seat top to find a rather luxurious-looking commode with a nice cherry or walnut frame. It had obviously never been used, ever. Why this moment of clarity came to me, I do not know. Perhaps it was the realization that I was going to take this toilet's virginity with a fury and savagery that was an abomination to its delicate craftsmanship and quality. I imagined some poor Italian carpenter weeping over the violently soiled remains of his once beautiful creation. The lament lasted only a second as I was quickly back to concentrating on the tiny muscle that stood between me and molten hot lava.

I reach down and pull up the privacy screens, with only seconds to spare before I erupt. It's an Alka-Seltzer bomb, nothing but air and liquid spraying out in all directions – a Jackson Pollock masterpiece. The pressure is now reversed. I feel like I'm going to have a stroke. I push so hard to end the relief, the tormented sublime relief.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

My apologies do nothing to drown out the heinous noises that seem to carry on and reverberate throughout the small cabin indefinitely. If that's not bad enough, I have one more major problem. The privacy screen stops right around shoulder level. I am sitting there, a disembodied head, in the back of the plane, on a bucking bronco for a toilet, all while looking my colleagues, competitors, and clients directly in the eyes. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" briefly comes to mind.

(Getty Images)

I literally could reach out with my left hand and rest it on the shoulder of the person adjacent to me. It was virtually impossible for him, or any of the others, and by others, I mean high-profile business partners and clients, to avert their eyes. They squirm and try not to look, inclined to do their best to carry on and pretend as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening, that they weren't sharing a stall with some guy crapping his intestines out. Releasing smelly, sweaty, shame at 100 feet per second.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," is all the ashamed disembodied head can say…over and over again. Not that it mattered.

Read more: The Most Embarrassing Private Jet Flight Of All Time

The film famously journeys through Ralphie's vivid daydreams, where the BB gun transforms him into a hero. In one of the most memorable vignettes, Ralphie imagines writing a school essay in which he lists reasons why the Red Ryder would be an ideal Christmas gift. In Ralphie's fantasy, the essay is so profound that it moves his teacher, Miss Shields, to tears. Miss Shields—the quintessentially strict, 1940s schoolmarm—is so impressed she grants him a legendary "A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus" before leading the class in a thunderous chant of "Ralphie! Ralphie!"

Of course, reality is much harsher. In the real world of the film, Miss Shields hands back a disappointing C-plus with the devastating marginalia: "You'll shoot your eye out."

The actress who played Miss Shields, Tedde Moore, has appeared in dozens of films and TV shows you've probably never heard of.  Her most recent IMDB credit is a 2017 TV movie called "Magical Christmas Ornaments." But "A Christmas Story" is not Tedde Moore's only contribution to mainstream entertainment and culture. As it turns out, without Tedde Moore, the world would never have heard of Drake…

A Legacy of Canadian Creativity

Tedde Moore wasn't just a character actress; she was part of a Canadian artistic dynasty. Her father, Mavor Moore, was often referred to as the "grandfather of Canadian professional theater," and her husband, Donald Shebib, is a titan of Canadian cinema, best known for directing the 1970 masterpiece "Goin' Down the Road."

Following in the family footsteps, Tedde and Donald's son, Noah Shebib, initially pursued an acting career. He landed various roles in shows like "Wind at My Back" and "Goosebumps," as well as the critically acclaimed film "The Virgin Suicides." But while he was building a respectable resume in front of the camera, his true obsession was taking shape in the bedroom studio of his family home.

From "DJ Chilly" to "40"

In the early 2000s, Noah shifted his focus toward music, performing under the alias DJ Chilly. When he wasn't DJing parties around Toronto, he was at home obsessively crafting beats and honing his engineering skills. He began working with a roster of local Toronto artists like Empire, Knamelis, Stolenowners, Christopher Morales, and the legendary Saukrates.

It was during these early, grueling sessions that he earned the nickname "40 Days & 40 Nights" (later shortened to simply "40"). The moniker was a tribute to his relentless work ethic. He famously would stay in the studio for days on end without a wink of sleep.

Around 2005, Noah's path crossed with a 19-year-old Canadian actor who was then starring in a popular teen drama called "Degrassi: The Next Generation."

That actor, Aubrey Graham, was a household name in Canada for his role as the basketball star Jimmy Brooks, but he wanted to be something more than a Canadian teen soap star. He had a vision of becoming a world-class rapper, and he needed a sound that didn't exist yet.

When the son of "Miss Shields" from "A Christmas Story" sat down at the mixing board with the star of "Degrassi", the foundation for a global empire was born.

The chemistry between the two was immediate. While Graham brought the ambition and the lyrics, Noah "40" Shebib brought a revolutionary sonic perspective. Together, they began to craft a sound that was a stark departure from the high-octane, "bling-era" rap dominating the airwaves at the time.

Drake and Noah Shebib (Photo by Noel Vasquez/GC Images)

Creating the "Toronto Sound"

Instead of chasing trends, "40" utilized his background in acting and theater, perhaps a gift from his mother, Tedde Moore, to approach music with a cinematic sensibility. He famously began "filtering" his drums, removing the high frequencies to create a "submerged," underwater effect. This moody, ambient atmosphere became the perfect canvas for Graham, who would soon go by the rap moniker Drake.

Their collaboration resulted in the 2009 breakout mixtape "So Far Gone," which featured hits like "Best I Ever Had" and "Successful." It didn't just launch Drake to superstardom; it fundamentally shifted the trajectory of popular music, making room for a more emotional, melodic style of hip-hop that remains the industry standard today.

Noah has been nominated for 20 Grammy awards, with two wins. He won his first Grammy in 2013, in the Best Rap Album category, for producing Drake's second studio album, 2013's "Take Care." In 2019, he won his second Grammy, in the Best Rap Song category, for producing Drake's song "God's Plan.'

Noah is the co-founder of the OVO Sound record label. He has been the executive producer on every single one of Drake's major projects, from "Thank Me Later" and "Take Care" to "Certified Lover Boy" and "For All The Dogs".

So, when you sit down this December to watch "A Christmas Story", and you see Miss Shields standing at the blackboard grading Ralphie's paper, you aren't just looking at a random Canadian actress who has long been forgotten. You are looking at the woman whose son helped define the sound of the 21st century. And for that, she deserves an A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.

Read more: Drake Probably Wouldn't Be Famous Today Without The Teacher From "A Christmas Story"

Sounds too good to be true? Well, we will admit that generally speaking, it is difficult to write a hit song. But listen to the radio for five minutes, and you'll know it's definitely not impossible. And we're here to tell you that if you are going to try to write any kind of hit song at all, you would be very wise to make it Christmas-friendly. There is a massive fortune out there up for grabs.

Mat Hayward/Getty Images

Christmas songs might not get played all year round, but they are what the industry refers to as "evergreen." Unlike a typical pop song that has a life span of maybe 3-4 months before being shoved aside for something newer and shinier, Christmas songs keep coming back every year. Furthermore, Christmas songs are arguably the most covered type of song in the world. Every year, hundreds of popular artists from every musical genre around the world line up to pay top dollar for the rights to cover a popular Christmas song. So, how much money could you be looking at if you successfully write a classic Christmas song? Below is a list of the most profitable Christmas songs:

Top Earning Christmas Songs (yearly royalties):
#1) Slade – "Merry Christmas Everybody" (1973): $840,000
#2) The Pogues – "Fairytale of New York" (1987): $630,000
#3) Mariah Carey – "All I Want for Christmas Is You" (1994): $600,000
#4) Wham! – "Last Christmas" (1984): $500,000
#5) Band Aid – "Do They Know It's Christmas" (1984) – $130,000

And here is a list of the Top Earning Christmas songs of all time:

#5) Paul McCartney – "Wonderful Christmastime" (1979). Estimated earnings: $40 million
Before Paul McCartney and The Beatles became famous, they signed a particularly horrible record contract that entitled the songwriters (Lennon and McCartney) a relative pittance for every dollar that was earned. After that debacle, Paul had learned his lesson and set about to ensure that he owned 100% of every song he wrote from then on. Ironically, this is the same lesson that McCartney taught Michael Jackson that resulted in MJ buying the entire Beatles catalogue behind Paul's back decades later. But that's a different story. McCartney was very careful to write, produce, and perform all aspects of "Wonderful Christmastime," and today it earns him $400-600 thousand in royalties per year.

#4) Mel Torme – "The Christmas Song" (1944). Estimated earnings: $45 million
You probably know this song by its opening line, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire." Ironically, Torme is Jewish and wrote the music and the song in under 45 minutes during a blistering hot Chicago summer. He was just 19 years old. The song has since been covered by hundreds of huge artists, including Michael Bublé, Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, NSYNC, and many more. Despite having written more than 250 songs during his career, "The Christmas Song" was by far Mel's biggest financial success. He often referred to it as "my annuity."

#3) Haven Gillespie & Fred J Coots – "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (1934). Estimated earnings: $50 million
The second of three Christmas songs on this list. The day after the song debuted, over 100,000 people ordered copies of the sheet music. 400,000 copies had sold within a few months. The song has been covered by a wide range of artists, including Justin Bieber, Bruce Springsteen, and Mariah Carey.

#2) Mariah Carey & Walter Afanasieff – "All I Want For Christmas Is You" (1994). Estimated earnings: $60 million
As you may have noticed, Maria and Walter's Christmas classic is basically unavoidable between November 30 and December 25 every year. The song is featured in dozens of Christmas movies and is a massive hit around the holidays on streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora. The song, which reportedly only took 15 minutes to write, generates an estimated $600,000 per year in royalties for Walter and Mariah, $60 million to date.

#1) Irving Berlin – "White Christmas" (1940). Estimated earnings: $65 million
No song captures the heart of the holidays like "White Christmas." This is ironic when you consider the fact that it was written by a Jewish immigrant from Russia. Bing Crosby's version is by far the most famous, but countless other artists have recorded the song. Crosby's version is one of the bestselling pieces of music in history, with over 100 million copies sold worldwide to date. The Guinness Book of World Records recently named "White Christmas" the bestselling single of all time.

So there you have it. Time to start writing Christmas songs! Oh, and if someone out there is inspired by this article and ends up writing the next "White Christmas," could we get a cut? We're not greedy. Just a little taste of the backend so we can retire and do nothing all day with you!

Read more: Want To Make A Ton Of Money For The Rest Of Your Life? Write ONE Hit Christmas Song.

Unlike a pop song that has a life span of maybe three or four months before being shoved aside for something newer and shinier, Christmas songs keep coming back every year. Furthermore, Christmas songs are arguably the most covered type of song in the world. Every year, hundreds of popular artists from every musical genre around the world line up to pay top dollar for the rights to cover a popular Christmas song.

"Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer"

This song was written by Johnny Marks. He based the song on a short story his brother-in-law, Robert May, wrote in 1939 for the department store Montgomery Ward. This is the song that gave birth to the idea of flying reindeer. It was a 1949 hit for Gene Autry. Marks wrote a number of other Christmas songs, including "A Holly Jolly Christmas," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," "Run Rudolph Run," and "Silver and Gold."

"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"

This song was written by Sammy Cahn (born Samuel Cohen on the Lower East Side of Manhattan) and Jule Styne. They wrote the song during a 1945 heatwave in Hollywood. Styne (born Julius Stein) wrote the music. Dean Martin made the song a hit.

"The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)"

Mel Torme, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, teams up with Robert Wells, who is also Jewish, to write this classic tune in 1945. The two were longtime collaborators. Like "Let It Snow!", this song was also written during a hot summer in Chicago to conjure up cold thoughts. Torme was just 19 when he wrote the song. It took him less than 45 minutes to write and has made him more than $45 million in the past 74 years. It has been covered by hundreds of artists, including Michael Buble, Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, NSYNC, and many more. Despite having written more than 250 songs during his career, "The Christmas Song" was by far Mel's biggest financial success. He often referred to it as "my annuity."

Mel Torme in June 1967. (Photo by Larry Ellis/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"

Edward Pola, a Hungarian Jew born Sidney Edward Pollacsek, wrote this Christmas classic with George Wyle, born Bernard Weissman. It was a huge hit for Andy Williams in 1963. Given the fact that this song was written by two Jews and contains the lyric "scary ghost stories and the glories of the Christmases long, long ago," makes you think.

"Santa Baby"

This song, written by Joan Javits and Philip Springer  – both Jewish – was a huge hit for Eartha Kitt in 1953. The song about Santa's annual gift-giving spree offered a cheeky take on the materialism of the Christian holiday.

"Silver Bells"

This song was written by Jay Livingston, aka Jacob Harold Levinson, and Ray Evans, the son of Philip and Frances Lipsitz Evans. Livingston contends that the song was inspired by sidewalk Santa Clauses and their bells. Evans said the song was inspired by a bell on an office desk. It was a high hit for Bing Crosby. Fun fact: the song was almost called "Tinkle Bells" until Livingston's wife told him that was slang for urination. Dean Martin made this song a hit.

Getty

"White Christmas"

Irving Berlin, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, wrote this Christmas classic, made most famous by Bing Crosby. Crosby's version is one of the bestselling songs in history, with over 100 million copies worldwide. Berlin has earned approximately $65 million from the song, which was named the bestselling single of all time by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Read more: A Lot Of Jewish Songwriters Have Made A LOT Of Money Writing Christmas Songs

Early Life

Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama. Her father, Amasa Coleman Lee (A.C.), was a lawyer, newspaper editor, and eventually a 12-year member of the Alabama House of Representatives. Early in his career as a lawyer, A.C. Lee defended two black men, father and son, who were accused of murdering a white storekeeper. A.C. lost the case, and both men were hanged. Remnants of this event would eventually make their way into To Kill A Mockingbird (TKAM).

Move to NYC

After earning a degree in English Literature from Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama, Harper Lee briefly attended law school at the University of Alabama but dropped out after two years to focus full-time on writing. At the encouragement of her childhood best friend, Truman Capote, she soon began submitting stories to a literary agent in New York City named Maurice Crain. Crain encouraged the 30-year-old to move to Manhattan to see what might develop.

While staying in New York City, Harper lived with the famous Broadway lyricist Michael Brown and his ballet dancer wife Joy Williams, who were also close friends of Truman Capote. In order to earn money in the big city before she was a full-fledged author, Harper toiled away as an airline reservation receptionist. A job she not only despised but also left her so exhausted and beat down after work that she never had time to write.

Getty Images

A Christmas Gift That Changed Harper's Life

On Christmas morning in 1956, Harper found a small envelope under the tree with her name on it. Inside the envelope, there was a note from Michael Brown and Joy Williams that said:

"You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas."

Michael and Joy were essentially telling Harper that she could continue living with them for free for one year as long as she adhered to one major stipulation: Harper had to use her year to work on a passion project that she otherwise wouldn't have time for. Some people might have used their year to start a small business, maybe record an album, master a language, or travel the world… As you've probably deduced by now, Harper Lee's passion was writing, so she chose to write a book. And what a book she ended up writing!

With her newfound freedom and confidence, Harper began writing a collection of short stories about racism in her hometown of Monroeville. She submitted the stories to her agent, Michael Crain, and an editor at the publishing house J.B. Lippincott & Co. Both men convinced Harper that the stories should be developed into a full-length novel. She spent two and a half years crafting what would eventually become "To Kill A Mockingbird." Once the book was finished, her editors at J.B. Lippincott warned Harper that TKAM probably wouldn't sell more than "a few thousand copies."

"To Kill A Mockingbird" was published on July 11, 1960, under the original title "Atticus" (Harper changed the title soon after). The book was an instant success. Within a year, TKAM had been translated into 10 languages, and the 35-year-old first-time author had won numerous literary awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. To date, TKAM has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and has been reprinted in 40 languages. In 2006, an organization of British librarians ranked TKAM as the number one book every adult should read before they die. Coming in second place? The Bible. In 1962, a movie based on the book starring Gregory Peck and a young Robert Duvall was released. The movie went on to win three Academy Awards and three Golden Globes.

"To Kill a Mockingbird" Royalties

The book has had such a profound cultural impact that, over the decades, it has become required reading in pretty much every high school in America. Unlike most books that would be extremely lucky to sell a few hundred thousand copies in their lifetime, more than 50 years later, TKAM sells between 750,000 and 1 million copies EVERY YEAR. So, how much money has this put into Harper Lee's pockets? Thanks to a rather messy legal ordeal involving a former agent who allegedly mishandled Harper's copyright and finances, we actually have some precise numbers.

According to legal papers filed against former book agent Sam Pinkus, in the first six months of 2009 alone, Harper Lee earned $1,688,064.68 in royalties. Assuming 2009 is an average year, that works out to $3,376,129.39 per year. That's $9,249 per day!

To be fair, Harper didn't exactly enjoy the wealth and fame that came with the enormous success of TKAM. Overwhelmed by the personal attention and press received, Harper stopped giving interviews about herself altogether in 1964 and has scarcely spoken publicly at all ever since. She made an extremely rare public appearance in 2007 when President George W. Bush awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Harper attempted to write two more books, one fiction and one nonfiction, but stopped after finding herself unsatisfied with the work.

Harper Lee spent the last few years of her life at an assisted living home in Monroeville. Towards the end, she was in poor health, with a very bad memory, near-total blindness, and very bad hearing. But as book sales continued to churn, her royalties remained strong.

Harper Lee died on February 19, 2016, at the age of 89. According to American copyright law, Harper's heirs will continue to earn big royalties from the book for 70 years following her death. That's the year 2086!

For comparison, the estate of John Steinbeck earned $45 million in royalties between 1994 and 2004 alone. And let's not forget the $50+ million that Harper has already earned from the book since it was published in 1960.

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Conclusion

In the end, that one simple Christmas gift in 1956 inadvertently launched one of the most profitable books of all time. I'm obviously not implying that we all have a rich uncle who will give us a year's salary for Christmas. Although that would be really awesome. But I am saying that if you have a passion, you might need to get creative in order to make it work. As much as you love your amazing apartment and your car and your iPad and your flat-screen TV, maybe you need to give some of it up in order to spend a year focusing on your real-life goals. Maybe you need to move home for a while and live dirt cheap to get your dreams off the ground. I'm not an expert, so if you're still not convinced, follow the example of Steve Jobs:

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it." -Steve Jobs.

Read more: How A Simple Christmas Gift In 1956 Allowed Harper Lee To Write What Became One Of The Most Profitable Books Of All Time