As Dangerous Boy Data founder Sean “Diddy” Combs sits in a Brooklyn jail awaiting trial on federal intercourse trafficking and racketeering expenses and prepares to fend off a number of civil lawsuits alleging sexual assault, these within the music trade are asking how a lot of his wealth could possibly be at stake.
Sources inform Billboard that the hip-hop mogul has bought most of the belongings that earned him a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars}. And Forbes estimated that Combs’ internet price — as soon as fueled by ventures in music, style, liquor and cable TV — has fallen from roughly $740 million in 2019 to $400 million as of this previous June.
Federal prosecutors and attorneys for the alleged victims probably will go after the cash Combs earned from his companies and different belongings, and his personal authorized protection probably may value him a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} as properly. That stated, prosecutors might want to show that the companies have been ultimately related to the alleged crimes, to which Combs has pled not responsible. Attorneys representing people suing Combs in civil courtroom don’t want to satisfy that barrier of proof. It’s unclear when a jury trial will happen for the federal expenses, and the various civil lawsuits he faces are at varied phases of adjudication.
Combs’ attorneys, representatives and federal prosecutors didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Here’s a breakdown of Combs’ present monetary image seen via his music, actual property and cable TV belongings:
Dangerous Boy Data
Whereas Combs started diversifying his investments way back, his core music trade holdings have dissipated. He as soon as owned his masters and publishing rights via Dangerous Boy Data. At present, he should still personal his publishing rights and albums recorded from 2010 onward, however he probably not owns the albums he recorded earlier than 2009, which have been essentially the most profitable of his profession.
That’s due to a three way partnership Combs entered with Warner Music Group for the whole Dangerous Boy catalog in 2005. The deal led to 2009 with WMG retaining full possession of the overwhelming majority, if not all, of the catalog launched by Dangerous Boy previous to that yr. These embrace the catalogs of The Infamous B.I.G., Religion Evans, Mase and one other dozen or so platinum albums by Dangerous Boy artists.
In June, Billboard estimated that Diddy’s personal catalog brings in $2.4 million yearly in recorded masters income, in addition to $600,000 in publishing income, of which his share is $222,000. We estimated his catalog would carry a valuation of $42 million.
Since figuring out that Combs not owns his best-selling albums, Billboard revised that estimate — based mostly on a calculation that nearly 60% of his catalog’s annual exercise is owned by WMG — to $1.05 million. His music publishing earnings stay unchanged, which provides as much as $1.25 million in take house pay.
Catalog
One asset Combs is unlikely to promote quickly is his catalog as a result of his the character of the alleged abuses outlined within the varied authorized circumstances he’s going through and the truth that recordings weren’t put out beneath a single, identifiable model — he has launched music as Puff Daddy, Puff Daddy & the Household, P. Diddy, Diddy and Diddy-Soiled Cash — make it tougher to market, institutional buyers inform Billboard.
Whereas personal fairness buyers don’t have any urge for food for music issued beneath the Diddy names, monetary sources say that music from different artists he has labored with nonetheless have worth, and people artists may promote their revenue streams. Nevertheless, some Dangerous Boy Data artists have requested the assorted majors if their albums may drop the Dangerous Boy brand, sources inform Billboard.
In 2023, Combs disclosed that he has been returning possession of publishing to the artists who recorded on Dangerous Boy Data. In a Q&A with Billboard, he reported that Mase, Evans, The LOX, 112 and the property of The Infamous B.I.G. are among the many creatives who’ve already signed agreements to regain these rights.
REVOLT
Co-founded by Combs as a music cable channel in 2013, REVOLT was initially broadcast by Comcast and Time Warner Cable to a mixed roughly 34 million subscribers. Over the previous decade, it has constructed a popularity as a distinguished black-owned media firm and has been worthwhile since 2018. Final summer season it was a part of a gaggle of buyers bidding for a majority stake in Paramount International’s BET Media Group. As a personal firm, it has by no means disclosed its financials. Combs stepped down from his function as chairman of REVOLT final November, and experiences circulated in March that he bought his stake to an nameless bidder. Sources inform Billboard Combs’ stake probably netted him a sum within the low to mid-eight figures.
Actual Property
It’s documented in courtroom paperwork filed in reference to the federal expenses in opposition to Combs that Combs owns properties in Los Angeles and Miami. The latter, which is situated on Miami’s unique Star Island has a number of swimming pools, an on-site spa and a guesthouse was listed as a part of his collateral for his $50 million bail bond. (Decide Robyn F. Tarnofsky denied his launch, and Combs’ attorneys filed an attraction this week.) Combs’ house in Beverly Hills is at the moment for sae for $61.5 million.