Key Takeaways
- Tennis champion Serena Williams has a net worth of $290 million, according to Forbes.
- Williams earned $95 million in prize money from her career as a champion tennis player.
- Williams is an avid investor, and 14 of the companies in her portfolio are startups with a value of more than $1 billion.
- Williams has several of her own businesses, including those involved in makeup, clothing, jewelry, sports recovery, and entertainment.
Tennis legend Serena Williams has been quite busy since she retired from the sport in 2022.
While Williams has been an investor for many years, she has leaned into it even more since her retirement from tennis. In a TikTok posted to her page last month, Williams said she has 85 companies in her personal portfolio, 14 of which are unicorns, or startups with a value of more than $1 billion.
Williams captioned the video, “My mission after tennis is investing in us! Women, people of color and diversity.” Williams’ venture capital fund, Serena Ventures, is proof—about 79% of the companies backed by the company have underrepresented founders, and women founded 54%.
Williams is also an entrepreneur herself. Just last week, Williams launched her beauty brand, Wyn Beauty by Serena Williams, with products available online and at beauty retailer Ulta.
Williams had a net worth of $290 million as of June, according to Forbes. Williams built her wealth from her career as a champion tennis player, endorsement deals, investments, and business ventures.
Here are more details on how Williams made her millions.
Tennis and Endorsements
Williams is widely regarded as one of the best tennis players of all time.
Williams has 23 Grand Slam titles, spent a record 319 weeks as the world’s No. 1 singles player, and is a four-time Olympic gold medalist. Williams earned about $95 million in prize money from tennis by the time she retired in 2022, after nearly three decades on the court.
Williams ranked No. 49 on Forbes’ 2023 World’s Highest-Paid Athletes list (the only woman to make the top 50), earning an estimated $45 million pretax from 2022 to 2023, mainly from lucrative endorsements with brands including Nike, Lincoln, and Michelob Ultra beer.
In 2003, Williams signed a contract with Nike that would pay the tennis champion $55 million over eight years. The tennis star still has her own collection with Nike, the Serena Williams Design Crew. Williams has had partnerships with many major brands over the years including Puma, Audemars Piguet, Beats by Dre, and Gatorade.
Investments and Businesses
Williams also has been an avid investor for many years.
The tennis champion started her own venture capital fund, Serena Ventures, in 2015. Among the companies in its portfolio is Zigazoo, a social media app for kids, with more than 1 million users.
While Williams’ makeup brand is her most recent business venture, it’s not her first. In 2022, she co-founded Will Perform, a line of topical pain relief and body-care products for sports recovery. She also has her own line of clothing, S by Serena, and jewelry, Serena Williams Jewelry.
The tennis star also has her own multimedia production company, Nine Two Six Productions. The company has multiple projects in the works, including a soccer documentary, “Copa 71,” which she will executive produce along with fellow tennis player and sister, Venus Williams. The Williams sisters are also listed as executive producers on the Oscar-nominated film, “King Richard,” about their father.
The Williams sisters have had a stake in NFL team Miami Dolphins since 2009 and were the first Black women to hold a minority stake in the league. The Dolphins are worth an estimated $5.7 billion as of August.
The multi-hyphenate athlete is also an author—Williams released a children’s book, “The Adventures of Qai Qai” in September 2022.