Jaguar Wright Breaks Down Rihanna’s Fenty Empire: Billionaire Hype, LVMH & the Hidden Money Trail

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:01][music] [music] [music] [music] >> Let's talk Let's talk about the trap queen, the Fenty queen.

[00:00:34]You want to get into this because I know you were doing some research on all these things that's going on with the uh business dealings that that that are involved with Fenty and some very peculiar things that have came up with her um with her empire and how it's collapsing.

[00:00:57]Well, I mean that's the thing. Nobody is really talking um about what's going on with Fenty and uh you know for a long time they've been using this girl.

[00:01:16]And I've been saying it for a while like all of these women they're all shell corporations that they pretty much use to do all kinds of work through. We're not even going to like Okay, nobody wants to deal with her her phone numbers, two of her phone numbers being on Jeffrey Epstein's call log. That's fine. We don't have to deal with that.

[00:01:36]We could pretend like that's not even a real thing. Yeah. Yeah, that's not even Yeah, they they're going to act like that didn't exist. But go ahead.

[00:01:43]>> We're going to pretend like that's not a real thing. You got Russell Simmons doing interviews talking about, "Hey, I was only mentioning Epstein files because somebody he knew was trying to come to my house. Don't put me in that shit." Like like he You What what Why why so upset, dude, if there's nothing there while you're still living in Bali hiding from all of your cases?

[00:02:09]>> [laughter] >> It's just wild. Um I I I still don't understand what a young girl like her would have been doing on Jeffrey Epstein's call logs, but hey, you know, whatever.

[00:02:20]Uh You know, it's just there's there's always so much, but I think people tend to forget Rihanna has had to file for bankruptcy on a few occasions in the past before she became a billionaire.

[00:02:35]Um and then came along Fenty.

[00:02:41]Yeah.

[00:02:42]Yeah.

[00:02:44]You know, so let's just get into some of this. Let's start with this.

[00:02:51]These these We We got some bullet points we wanted to share with you guys regarding Fenty.

[00:02:56]So, we're going to start here with the Fenty empire collapse, okay?

[00:03:02]Yeah. Yeah.

[00:03:03]>> Okay, so this was a whole video that was done. I don't know if you guys seen it. We'll We'll probably take it and just drop a link to the video in the description after we're done today.

[00:03:17]But, let's start with this, okay? So, we open up by framing the Fenty empire as a story of massive hype followed by quiet financial unraveling.

[00:03:32]It starts with Forbes declaring Rihanna a billionaire in 2021 based largely on the estimated value of Fenty Beauty and Savage X Fenty.

[00:03:46]At the same time, LVMH was publicly saying Fenty Beauty had doubled revenue while Savage X Fenty was reportedly being prepared for a potential $3 billion IPO.

[00:04:07]But um several pieces several pieces of that empire later weakened. So what they said they talked about the Fenty fashion line that collapsed. Rihanna's fashion investment reportedly lost about what? 36 million and then the >> 36 million? Savage 36 million. The Savage X Fenty IPO it just went away.

[00:04:34]So Yeah, it it disappeared.

[00:04:36]>> left. And the CEO >> left 14 Yeah, left 14 months later.

[00:04:42]Right?

[00:04:44]Mhm. And LVMH later explored selling its Fenty Beauty stake at a valuation far lower than the number forms Forbes used to call Rihanna a billionaire. So before we move on, let's just let's just collapse all of that and make it real simple.

[00:05:07]Okay?

[00:05:09]She was given the billionaire status based on projections of what they wanted the business or they were hoping the business was going to do based off of her worldwide star power.

[00:05:26]Right.

[00:05:28]Almost like AI.

[00:05:30]Almost like these AI companies.

[00:05:32]>> That part.

[00:05:35]Okay. We might drop the link at the end.

[00:05:38]So I'd say just stick around.

[00:05:41]So I want people to understand that when they call people billionaires, It's not necessarily because they have billions or they've earned billions or have access to billions.

[00:05:55]It's because they're basing it on projections of what they're hoping to make off of someone else's star power.

[00:06:08]Projections.

[00:06:10]So, I want y'all to think about that considering that Rihanna became a billionaire before Beyoncé did and then all of a sudden Beyoncé became a billionaire. Like it it's So, yeah. Anyhooson.

[00:06:25]Did I miss anything?

[00:06:28]>> no. You got it. I was going to like like let's get to the math because what you were just saying about how these people all of a sudden become billionaire status cuz now they're saying that Drake is a billionaire, too. But, that's a whole 'nother conversation because of the three albums that he dropped.

[00:06:40]>> You're a billionaire.

[00:06:42]>> Yeah.

[00:06:43]But, you got to break down the math of her billionaire status.

[00:06:49]Forbes estimated Fenty Beauty at what?

[00:06:52]2.8 billion. This was an estimate because Rihanna owned 50% of it.

[00:06:57]Her stake was valued at half, 1.4 billion.

[00:07:01]Forbes then added her 30% stake in [music] Savage x Fenty which had been valued around a billion from a fun a funding round leading to an estimated net worth of 1.7 billion.

[00:07:18]So, what the video that we are going to show you guys is saying that the numbers were based on estimates and private market assumptions, not like a hard sale, not hard sale prices.

[00:07:33]And they they emphasize that not out no outside investor actually bought into Fenty Beauty Nope. at the $2.8 billion valuation and Savage Fenty real tested valuation was closer to $1 billion. Not $3 billion.

[00:07:54]Not the $3 billion um IPO narrative.

[00:07:58]Mhm.

[00:08:00]And considering all of these projections, I think it's fair to say that Rihanna ain't the one running the business. There you go.

[00:08:14]If we're listening, let's listen and let's really pay attention to she is the face of somebody else's pocketbook.

[00:08:28]Am I wrong? No. Is that Is that putting it That That That That says a lot. That's That's pretty much what it is, yeah.

[00:08:35]Okay, so let's get into the next parcel.

[00:08:37]And the next parcel is how the billionaire number was built.

[00:08:42]Okay?

[00:08:44]All right, so we're going to get into breaking down the math behind Rihanna's billionaire status.

[00:08:52]I just >> Forbes.

[00:08:54]What?

[00:08:55]>> I went over that. It's It's It's the um the LV What is it? Who is it? LVMH?

[00:09:02]>> LVMH, which is the Louis Vuitton corporation.

[00:09:04]>> Yeah, you you No, go into that. The The The Kendo brand The Kin Kendo brand.

[00:09:09]>> Whatever that is.

[00:09:11]Got it. All right, so here we go.

[00:09:16]The LVMH machine nobody sees.

[00:09:20]Okay? So, here we got it.

[00:09:22]Once we get into this section, we're looking at Fenty Beauty and how Fenty Beauty was not simply a celebrity brand launched in isolation.

[00:09:33]It was developed through Kendo Brands.

[00:09:37]And that's Kendo k e n d o Brands a beauty incubator owned by LVMH and distributed through Sephora which LVMH also owns.

[00:09:56]The video presents Fenty Beauty as the result of a powerful vertically integrated system.

[00:10:06]LVMH helped build the product.

[00:10:09]Sephora gave it premium retail access and Rihanna's social media presence gave it massive cultural reach.

[00:10:23]The transcript says Fenty Beauty did around 573 million in its first full year.

[00:10:33]And later expanded into Fenty Skin and Fenty Hair.

[00:10:40]But the chapter argues that Kendo's what is it? It's broader track the broader track record is kind of weak and claiming that other brands in its portfolio were sold, discontinued or struggling making Fenty Beauty a major asset keeping Kendo relevant. All right, so let's just let's just unpack that.

[00:11:12]This wasn't her company.

[00:11:19]This wasn't her company.

[00:11:21]That's what I'm hearing. I don't know what you're hearing, but that's what I'm hearing.

[00:11:26]This this was Louis Vuitton who owns Sephora.

[00:11:32]Sephora is already a heavy brand. You got Kendo Brands, which is also attached to LVMH, coming up with all of this stuff. And basically, it was her social media power that earned her the right for them to use her.

[00:11:52]So, I I I'm I'm not wrong here. The The this is her face on somebody else's pocketbook.

[00:12:01]I don't know. Am I What What do you What do you think about what we're getting into here? Cuz this is This is This is insane when you think about it.

[00:12:11]Social media?

[00:12:14]Th- This is Well, this is This is an example. That's why, you know, the story before with um Heartbeat.

[00:12:22]And this ties into what we were talking about with companies being tied to a celebrities' uh name. Yeah.

[00:12:33]>> Um Now, they were banking on Rihanna.

[00:12:38]And, you know, her name alone and her face and all that. I get it. It makes sense. You You got a lot of people who will see, "Oh, Rihanna. This is Rihanna's. The Oh, this is Rihanna Like it it it was it was looked at like that." But, they said this was developed through a a company which was owned by uh LVMH.

[00:12:59]Which also had brands that they had out there that were struggling and that were being discontinued and that were performing weak. So, basically, [music] for all we know, those Those brands that were tanking, they just took Rihanna's face and her name and slapped it on it. And And And And it's almost like um what do they call it? White Label?

[00:13:22]Where you would have Okay, yeah. You know, this makeup line will will And then if you know, you just put the sticker on it and say, "Oh, this is Rihanna's makeup."

[00:13:30]That I mean, that's what it sounds like.

[00:13:32]You know what I mean?

[00:13:33]>> sounds like.

[00:13:34]And welcome. Welcome. We have a new member here, Alternative Kel. Welcome.

[00:13:40]So, if the beauty line did around close to 600 million in its first year and then they got into the the skin care and the Fenty hair, >> Mhm. um they figured, "Okay, this is good. It's going to They they they figured that you know, the trains the gravy train's going to keep coming."

[00:13:59]But, uh uh yeah, it it it it it didn't work out. It obviously didn't work out. We're getting to the >> [music] >> um $36 million fashion disaster.

[00:14:14]Now, they were talking about Fenty failed um the failed Fenty fashion house. So, in 2019, LVMH I I can't say that quick. I don't know I it's LV cuz I'm looking at Louis Vuitton. What does the MH stand for?

[00:14:32]Uh Something I think it's something holdings. Okay, Louis Vuitton. I think it's that other company. Got you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was another company.

[00:14:40]>> holdings, yeah. So, so LVMH uh LVMH launched a new fashion house from scratch with Rihanna.

[00:14:49]They have never done this.

[00:14:51]Internally, um the project was reportedly called Project Loud France.

[00:15:00]And that was connected to Rihanna's Loud album era.

[00:15:05]Rihanna allegedly invested about 30 million through her holdings Denim UK, which >> [music] >> LVMH matched around another 30 million, creating a roughly $60 million venture.

[00:15:16]The problem according to what we were looking at prior was that the fashion line was priced for luxury consumers. So they were talking about $1,000 jackets, $1,000 corset dresses, $600 shoes, while Rihanna's main consumer base from Fenty Beauty and Savage x Fenty was broader and more accessible.

[00:15:40]The sales were weak.

[00:15:42]Then we had COVID disruption and the brand went quiet. LVMH eventually put the ready-to-wear option on hold.

[00:15:53]So they said years later, filings report showing roughly a $36 million loss tied to Rihanna's investment vehicle. So it looks like they had a successful cheaper line, which you know, that that's where this that's where they were able to the Fenty Beauty and they got into the Fenty skin care and then they got into the Fenty hair and then they said, "Okay, let's do a luxury line. We're going to put $60 million in it and it's going to be for the higher price, but that that didn't work out. Timing is everything. If you're trying to do something right before 2019 was right before COVID and then COVID dropped it.

[00:16:33]You that that was that was a disaster. That's why they said it was a $36 million disaster. Project Loud France. I've never heard of Rihanna's Loud album. Maybe I'm you know, I'm well, I don't know. I'm sleeping, but Project Loud France.

[00:16:53]1996 said, "Same as owning the Brooklyn Nets for a half a percent." Oh yeah. A half a percent.

[00:17:01]>> Yeah.

[00:17:02]>> Yeah.

[00:17:03]Yeah.

[00:17:03]>> Like that.

[00:17:05]So is the billionaire title just for show?

[00:17:08]Well, >> Of course.

[00:17:10]Well, yeah. I mean, yeah.

[00:17:12]>> [laughter] >> Of course.

[00:17:14]Of course.

[00:17:16]>> So here we go. All right, so then we get into the next parcel and that's, you know, the $3 billion IPO that never happened.

[00:17:25]Okay, so when we get into this portion, okay, we're going to shift to Savage X Fenty, which was the clothing line.

[00:17:34]All right, which was supposed to, you know, be the business that balanced out the failure of the fashion line.

[00:17:41]Savage X Fenty launched in 2018 as a joint venture with Textile Fashion Group, the company behind Fabletics and JustFab.

[00:17:56]Now, if I'm correct, didn't Kevin Hart do some endorsements for Fabletics?

[00:18:02]I believe so. He sure did. Isn't that interesting? That's very interesting.

[00:18:07]Coincidental.

[00:18:10]Okay. So, anyway, Textile Fashion Group, the company behind Fabletics and JustFab, the transcript says, Savage X Fenty raised $310 million across multiple funding rounds from 2019 to 2022 with investors including Marcy Venture Partners. And for those of you who don't know, Marcy Venture Partners is Shawn Carter's company.

[00:18:44]Okay? And then Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, also interesting, and L Catterton.

[00:18:55]In 2022, Bloomberg reported that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were working on a possible IPO that could value Savage X Fenty at $3 billion or more, but the IPO never happened. No S-1 was filed with the SEC. Rihanna stepped down as CEO in 2023. I think everybody keeps forgetting that.

[00:19:28]In 2023 she stepped down.

[00:19:32]Because if all of this stuff is a name only and she stepped down as CEO what does that say? Don't that kind of sound like what what's going on with Kevin Hart over there?

[00:19:42]>> Exactly. Exactly.

[00:19:45]Y'all can put two and two together. Ooh.

[00:19:48]Okay, so let's just let's just recap.

[00:19:53]All right. I'm going to say this again.

[00:19:56]In 2022 Bloomberg reported that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were working on a possible IPO that could value Savage X Fenty at 3 billion or more, but the IPO never happened. No S-1 was filed with the SEC.

[00:20:17]Rihanna stepped down as CEO in 2023.

[00:20:22]And her replacement Hillary Super left after 14 months to become CEO of Victoria's Secret.

[00:20:33]>> There we go. That's the Epstein connection. Les Wexner. Mhm.

[00:20:38]Mhm.

[00:20:40]A direct competitor. Okay, so >> [laughter] >> Victoria's Secret who is a direct competitor to Fenty.

[00:20:49]Rihanna steps down. They they put in this Hillary Super person and then she leaves to go work for their competitor.

[00:20:58]So they're saying that this leadership change is evident that the IPO story had lost momentum.

[00:21:07]Ain't that something? Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley were working on the possible possibility that the IPO could value them at 3 billion or more.

[00:21:22]But it never happened.

[00:21:24]And that IPO story lost momentum. That was Yeah, very interesting.

[00:21:31]Uh, you want to know what else I also find is very interesting?

[00:21:37]Goldman Sachs.

[00:21:39]Is that where Jeffrey Epstein's Yeah.

[00:21:43]little pet Yeah.

[00:21:45]>> Rumler, what was her name? Katherine Rumler?

[00:21:47]>> Kathleen, yeah. Uh-huh.

[00:21:51]Who was President Obama's private counsel while he was in the White House?

[00:21:57]And and a lovely pet to Jeffrey Epstein, the person that put him and Alex Spiro together?

[00:22:08]Who ended up becoming the [ __ ] man's attorney through Quinn Emanuel? It like the connections is just so tight.

[00:22:22]Like it's just Oh, Moet and Hennessy. Thank you.

[00:22:29]Oh, how how how could I have not gotten that? Moet and Hennessy used to be two of my favorites. All right.

[00:22:39]So.

[00:22:42]It's just uh We see you over here.

[00:22:47]We see you over here, Kel.

[00:22:49]Yeah, Katherine Rumler. So, I just want people to look at those connections.

[00:22:55]So, Goldman Sachs was involved with the IPO for Fenty uh a Savage X Fenty or yeah, Fenty Savage.

[00:23:05]Okay.

[00:23:06]Meanwhile, you got Marci Holdings involved. You got >> [laughter] >> And Jeffrey Epstein is tied to all of this.

[00:23:21]The CEO that took over for Rihanna went to a Les Wexner company, Victoria's Secret. Jeffrey Epstein. Like it's not like all roads lead back to Epstein?

[00:23:34]Mhm.

[00:23:35]Okay.

[00:23:37]All right. All right.

[00:23:40]Go go on ahead. Go on ahead cuz we got one more parcel to No, it's it's actually what um two more, right? Because Oh, yeah, it is.

[00:23:50]>> my No, three more, actually.

[00:23:52]>> more, actually. Yeah. In all honesty, we can just wrap I can Let me do these two here, look.

[00:23:58]They're They're They're They're They're explaining something about deceptive billing pattern of uh Savage X Fenty's membership billing model.

[00:24:09]Members were charged basically about $50 a month uh unless they skipped between the 1st and the 5th of the month.

[00:24:16]And unused credits could expire after 1 year. They point out that uh consumer protection laws filed by several California district attorneys and the Santa Monica city attorney alleging deceptive billing practices and failure to properly disclose recurring charges to the the This case reportedly settled for 1.2 million including civil penalties, investigation costs, and restitution. Um They connect the issues to a TechStyle past noting that the same parent company had previously paid 1.8 million in 2014 over similar auto billing practices connected to Fabletics, JustFab, and ShoeDazzle.

[00:25:01]Wow. Uh they So, they were saying that Savage X Fenty's billing controversy was not framed as an isolated mistake, but a part of repeated business patterns.

[00:25:16]If If If If this had happened 4 years prior, and uh well, no. Don't know. Actually, I'm sorry. Not 4 years. Cuz that was 2014.

[00:25:27]2014. Mhm.

[00:25:29]>> Um So, but but but it happened similar similarly to those companies we mentioned before, ShoeDazzle, Fabletics, and JustFab.

[00:25:39]>> Yeah.

[00:25:41]So, this basically calls LVMH to say, "Hey, we we we up out of here. We don't want none of this."

[00:25:52]And LVMH, they are reportedly exploring a sale of of its 50% stake in Fenty Beauty. So, Reuters reported in 20 25, October 2025, that LVMH was working with Evercore to explore selling its stake with the entire brand value somewhere between 1 billion and 2 billion.

[00:26:19]Um now, they're saying that this will undercut the earlier $2.8 billion uh uh Forbes valuation that helped make Rihanna a billionaire on paper. If Fenty Beauty were valued at only 1 billion, Rihanna's 50% stake would be worth 500 million instead of 1.4 billion, which would wipe out 900 million dollars from the earlier calculations. The chat This the the >> Pause. Go ahead. Go ahead.

[00:26:50]Wait a minute. Before you move forward last year it was reported that Rihanna's company had lost $400 million.

[00:27:02]Oh.

[00:27:02]There there you go. Where you think that Where you think it came from?

[00:27:06]In this whole valuation. No, but my thing is if it lost the 400 million and all it was worth was if she lost her stake lost 400 She ain't got no money.

[00:27:24]I think I think there's something with this. The same thing you like >> Go ahead.

[00:27:28]>> Like why Nicki Minaj was saying about Remember, you know, cuz she's saying about the whole thing with uh Tidal and, you know, what she gave and this and that and what they gave her. Like we we may have to double back and and and and compare these to that situation, but that's another story. I digress.

[00:27:46]Um so Forbes later reduced Rihanna's estimated net worth by $400 million from 1.4 billion to a billion. Then um compares Fenty Beauty with Rare Beauty arguing that Selena Gomez's brand now may be valued higher.

[00:28:10]And it's growing faster.

[00:28:16]Hm. Now, before we move on, I just wanted to say Kel, thank you and please um I understand you got to go. You're welcome here anytime and feel free to leave an email at the real jag Gmail address if you want to reach out.

[00:28:31]Okay. Have a good night. Yep. Yep. So All right.

[00:28:40]Go ahead if you want to talk about >> little Yeah, this last little parcel that we have here is a the distraction reveal.

[00:28:49]Where the real money is. Now, this is important.

[00:28:54]So, as we move into this last bit of conversation regarding the Fenty brand and the LVMH holdings with the company, okay? All right, we pulled we pulled this whole argument together here, okay? So, the fashion failure, the vanished Savage x Fenty IPO, the CEO exits, and the LVMH sale talk were distractions from the asset that still matters.

[00:29:29]Fenty Beauty, okay? So, the transcripts as we read on, it argues that Fenty Beauty remains the real engine because it generates hundreds of millions in annual revenue through Sephora in what, more than 150 countries?

[00:29:50]Rihanna owns 50% of the whole operating business, which is different from the speculative startup equity or paper wealth tied to the fundraising rounds, okay? So, as we come to the conclusion, let's just get into it. Rihanna's billionaire status may have been overstated when Forbes first calculated it.

[00:30:20]But, the long-term business story is not necessarily over.

[00:30:25]If Rihanna or new partner ends up controlling more of Fenty Beauty and the brand continues producing real revenue, the billionaire story could become true in a more grounded way.

[00:30:41]Could.

[00:30:43]It could become true.

[00:30:45]The core lesson is that celebrity wealth headlines are often estimates, not facts.

[00:30:52]And in this case, the gap between the estimate of reality could be around $900 million.

[00:31:00]Mhm.

[00:31:05]So, to sum this up in a more relaxed [music] uh version of communication, it's [ __ ] Is it selling? Yeah, it's selling, but it's not selling what they said it was selling.

[00:31:23]Whose money is it? Where's the real money?

[00:31:28]Could it do okay as long as somebody else steps in? Absolutely. Could it become a billionaire company? Possibly, but it ain't right now.

[00:31:39]Interesting.

[00:31:44]What you got to say about all this?

[00:31:46]I don't have too much to say. I'm It's It's very interesting tying in that last conversation with this here. And um the whole thing with Fenty Beauty, and I guess there's been issues with people calling the consistency, the quality, Mhm. the also something about the the ethical sourcing concerns and offensive product naming.

[00:32:16]I guess she had one thing called Geisha Chick.

[00:32:20]Yeah.

[00:32:21]>> and that got you know, that got kind of people were like, "What's up with that?"

[00:32:24]So, they had to apologize and they removed it.

[00:32:27]Very interesting. Just very very interesting how um I mean, this is how they do business.

[00:32:34]It's It's smoke and mirrors. Someone said that. Smoke and freaking mirrors.

[00:32:41]>> [music] [music]