9 Richest LBGT Billionaires in The World and Their Net Worth

Deviating from what society considers the norm is never an easy prospect and one area where this manifests well is with regards to sexual identity and orientation. Members of the LBGT community, whether poor or a billionaire, often face daunting challenges and have to cope with hurtful prejudices in their everyday lives. Discriminatory practices also hinder them from achieving their full potentials.

Despite such dire circumstances, or perhaps because of it, several LBGT persons have gone on to thrive in the business, entertainment, arts, and even in the sports world. Some established personalities, who were previously in the closet, have also come out and made peace with their real identity. The result is that we have a burgeoning community of LBGT people who have recorded incredible achievements in different fields of endeavor. These achievements have brought them many accolades. It has also brought some of them much fortune, with their net worth running into billions.

The 9 Richest LBGT Billionaires in The World

9. Tim Cook

• Net Worth: $1 Billion
• Citizenship: U.S.A
• Source of Wealth: Apple
• LBGT Identity: Gay

When Apple CEO Tim Cook came out as gay in 2014, he became the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company. In an essay he penned for that purpose, he revealed that he is proud to be gay and considers it one of the greatest gifts that God had given him. It is now several years since that revelation and Cook has revealed that coming out cost him privacy in his private life. He remains proud of the step he took though as he wants to serve as an inspiration to LGBT youths as well as categories of other disadvantaged communities out there.

8. Domenico Dolce

• Net Worth: $1.6 Billion
• Citizenship: Italy
• Source of Wealth: Dolce & Gabbana
• LBGT Identity: Gay

Dolce & Gabbana co-founder, Domenico Dolce, has never hidden the fact that he is gay. He is one of the most prominent figures in the LBGT community but he still faced backlash after insinuating that parenthood should be reserved for men and women. In his opinion, gay people should not seek to thwart nature by resorting to synthetic children made from rented uteruses and sperm chosen from a catalog. As can be expected, such explicit words led to a public outcry with some personalities calling for a boycott of his fashion brand. He was, however, able to weather that particular storm.

7. Stefano Gabbana

• Net Worth: $1.6 Billion
• Citizenship: Italy
• Source of Wealth: Dolce & Gabbana
• LBGT Identity: Gay

Even if the name does not give it away, his source of wealth is a clear indication of the fact that Gabbana is the other half behind the famous Dolce & Gabbana brand. He and Dolce first met in a Milanese nightclub around 1981. They commenced a working and romantic relationship and by 1985, launched their eponymous fashion label. The label enjoyed moderate success for several years but got a big break in 1993 when Madonna hired them to design clothes for her Girlie tour. From thereon, the duo would build one of the most popular luxury labels in the world. They broke off their personal relationship in 2003 but still remain business partners.

6. Jennifer Pritzker

• Net Worth: $1.9 Billion
• Citizenship: United States of America
• Source of Wealth: Hyatt Hotels and Other Investments
• LBGT Identity: Transgender

The world’s only known transgender billionaire, Jennifer Pritzker, spent the first 53 years of her life as a man named James Nicholas, a time during which he rose to the rank of a lieutenant colonel in the Illinois National Guard. He retired from the Army in 2001 and spent the next 11 years as an investor and philanthropist before coming out as transgender in 2013. With regards to her wealth, Jennifer inherited a major portion of it as an heir to the Hyatt hotel chain run by her late father and brothers.

5. Stein Erik Hagen

• Net Worth: $2.7 Billion
• Citizenship: Norway
• Source of Wealth: Consumer Goods
• LBGT Identity: Gay

The 5th richest LBGT billionaire in the world is Norwegian businessman Stein Erik Hagen. Hagen is a self-made man who acquired his wealth from the popular Rimi grocery store chain in his country. He later sold the same and used the money to establish Orkla, a conglomerate that has interests across branded consumer goods, aluminum products, and financial investments. Hagen has revealed that he had little or no knowledge about homosexuality in his 20s. He thus embarked on a life that will see him marry and divorce two women, and have four children, before coming to the realization that he was gay. Once that realization came, he did not hesitate in coming out in 2015.

4. Jon Stryker

• Net Worth: $4.4 Billion
• Citizenship: U.S.A
• Source of Wealth: Medical Equipment
• LBGT Identity: Gay

Stryker inherited much of his wealth from the medical equipment corporation that his grandfather founded. He is now committed to using his wealth to achieving social justice in the areas of sexual orientation, sexual identity, and race. To this end, the Michigan native founded the Arcus Foundation about the same time that he came out as gay in 2000. He has since given more than half a billion dollars to the foundation and they have disbursed it to various worthy causes. One of them is $5 million for the funding of a national memorial for victims of racial lynching in 2016. Another is a $2 million check to Spelman College in 2019. This is for the first-ever queer studies chair at an HBCU.

3. Peter Thiel

• Net Worth: $5 Billion
• Citizenship: Germany and U.S.A
• Source of Wealth: PayPal, Facebook, etc.
• LBGT Identity: Gay

Thiel is the billionaire co-founder of various innovative tech platforms such as PayPal, Founders Fund, and Palantir Technologies. He is also one of Facebook’s earliest investors and notched over $1 billion for shares that he had purchased for just $500,000.

Thiel was outed as gay by the news site Gawker in 2007. He rightly did not find this funny and bided his time for revenge. The perfect opportunity came in 2016 when famous wrestler Hulk Hogan sued the site for exposing his sex tape. Thiel funded Hogan’s legal battle and the wrestler was eventually awarded about $140 million. The sum bankrupted Gawker and they shut down that same year.

2. Giorgio Armani

• Net Worth: $7.9 Billion
• Citizenship: Italy
• Source of Wealth: Fashion
• LBGT Identity: Gay

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Another famous fashion designer who ranks amongst the richest LBGT billionaires is Giorgio Armani. The Italian retains complete ownership of his eponymous label which easily generates $2 billion in revenue each year. Such margins have helped Armani accumulate a momentous net worth and he is living it up. He owns a massive real estate portfolio comprising several lavish homes in places such as Italy, St. Tropez, France, St. Moritz, Manhattan, and the Caribbean island of Antigua. He also owns a private jet as well as a 213-feet superyacht.

1. David Geffen

• Net Worth: $9.7 Billion
• Citizenship: U.S.A
• Source of Wealth: Movies and Record Labels
• LBGT Identity: Gay

The richest LBGT billionaire in the world is David Geffen, the founder of the hugely popular film studio, DreamWorks. He has also founded several record labels including Asylum Records, Geffen Records, and DGC Records. Geffen has been openly gay since 1992 and has dated a couple of men, including a college student Jeremy Lingvall. He has, however, not been married and so his closest surviving legal relatives are the children of his late older brother, Mitchell. Barring any provisions in his will to the contrary, Mitchell’s children stand to inherit Geffen’s sprawling real estate portfolio as well as prized art collections and superyachts.

Recap of The 9 Richest LBGT Billionaires in The World and Their Net Worths

1. David Geffen – $9.7 billion

2. Giorgio Armani – $7.9 billion

3. Peter Thiel – $5.6 billion

4. Jon Stryker – $4.4 billion

5. Stein Erik Hagen – $2.7 billion

6. Stefano Gabbana – $2 billion

7. Jennifer Pritzker – $1.9 billion

8. Domenico Dolce – $1.6 billion

9. Megan Ellison – $1.5 billion