urtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson, is a rapper, entrepreneur, actor, and producer from South Jamaica, Queens, New York, is most well known for his illustrious music career. He has been at the top of any industry that he has tried his hand at and has made some very smart investments along the way. During the writing of this article, 50 Cent net worth is approximately $32 million dollars USD, although he has made much more than that throughout his career. Using publicly posted numbers, it is reported that Curtis Jackson has made over $260 million from his various financial endeavors, record deals, and productions. Even though he has seen mass amounts of money throughout his life, in 2015, 50 Cent claimed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. To find out more about his bankruptcy filing and other lucrative investments, read below.
Early Beginnings
Before 50 Cent's net worth exploded, Curtis Jackson was born to his mother, Sabrina Jackson in 1975. He grew up in the South Jamaica neighborhood in Queens, New York; which posed its fair share of hardship and poverty. At just 8 years old, Curtis lost his mother and was subsequently raised by his grandmother for the remainder of his adolescent life. To cope with the harsh realities of his surroundings, he started to deal drugs by the age of 12. The newfound money was too easy to pass up as he continued to deal throughout his teenage years. The lifestyle eventually caught up with him during high school when he was arrested for having a gun and large sums of money. He was arrested again in 1994 for selling a narcotic substance to an undercover cop, and again for possession of heroin and crack cocaine. Curtis Jackson served his time and even earned his high school diploma.
Career Takeoff
Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson popped onto the underground rap scene in the late 1990s when Jam Master Jay, from Run-DMC, discovered his musical genius and in turn, produced an album for him. Although the album never came out, it gave 50 Cent the momentum he needed to create his next album ‘Power of a Dollar’. The album was supposed to be his first for Columbia Records but it also didn’t come out. It was however bootlegged and fans fell in love with it. ‘Power of a Dollar’ featured ‘How to Rob’, his coming out hit that showed the world his ability to mix lyricism with humor.
Curtis Jackson’s personality, lyrics, and way he antagonized his foes did however catch up with him. In the year 2000, 50 Cent was the victim of a shooting. As it is mostly common knowledge, he was the target of the shooting, which is confirmed in the nine gunshot wounds he suffered. This however spurred him to work even harder and put more time and effort into his music career. He formed a group called G-Unit, which included Marvin ‘Tony Yayo‘ Bernard and Christopher ‘Lloyd Banks‘ Lloyd, and the three started to put out hit after hit. In 2002, 50 Cent released his ‘Guess Who’s Back’ mixtape with his G-Unit affiliates. Their efforts were noticed shortly after by Eminem and Dr. Dre, who in turn signed them to their record label, Shady Records under Aftermath Entertainment. This would be the start to 50 Cent’s net worth explosion and exponential growth.
Music Career
Under his new label, Shady Records, 50 Cent was finally able to release his first studio album, ‘Get Rich or Die Trying’ which was produced by Eminem and Dr. Dre. Singles like ‘In Da Club’ and ‘P.I.M.P’ helped his sales skyrocket, eventually selling over 9 million copies. 50 Cent’s ability to mix the production of Dr. Dre and Eminem with his image and lyricism aided in his popularity in the mainstream music industry. Radio stations began to play his hits, albeit only the censored versions. He was a fresh face on the rap scene and had now cemented his place in music.
Under Shady Records, 50 Cent signed his fellow G-Unit members, Tony Yayo, Lloyd Banks, and Young Buck. They released their first joint album in 2004 called ‘Beg for Mercy’. This saw more than 5 million sold copies.
In 2005, 50 Cent released a follow-up album to ‘Get Rich or Die Trying’ with ‘ The Massacre’. Much like ‘Get Rich or Die Trying’, it had its fair share of radio heavy singles such as ‘Candy Shop’ and ‘Just a Lil’ Bit’. This again bolstered his sales to an amazing 9 million copies sold and even gained him the status of the album of the year on Billboard 200. 50 Cent net worth began to grow.
His later album releases would not do as near as well. His album ‘Curtis’, which was released in 2007, was marketed against Kanye West’s album ‘Graduation’.This was a brilliant marketing move that was beneficial for both artists. The two music moguls pitted their sales against each other and even did as much as going on different TV shows like ‘106 and Park‘ to amp up the rivalry. In the end, ‘Graduation’ ended up moving 960 thousand units to ‘Curtis’ 691 thousand in the first week. Even though 50 Cent lost the first-week sales competition, he would use his marketing genius to bolster his later investments.
Vitamin Water
Throughout the music industry, Curtis Jackson was widely known as a well-spoken and brilliant entrepreneur. In early 2007, he would use his personality and negotiating ability to obtain a minority stake in Vitamin Water for being their celebrity endorser for their ‘Formula 50’ flavor.
Later the same year, The Coca-Cola Company acquired Glaceau, the makers of Vitamin Water, for $4.2 billion dollars. This acquisition was due to Coca-Cola’s lack of market presence in non-carbonated beverages. For 50 Cent, the deal he negotiated would pay off handsomely. Although 50 Cent’s stake in Vitamin Water was initially estimated at 10%, it was later confirmed at 2.5%. This would put his payout at somewhere in the ballpark of $100-150 million dollars to 50 Cent’s net worth.
Effen Vodka
If you followed any of 50 Cent’s net worth and social media between 2014 and 2017, you should’ve been well aware of his relationship with Effen Vodka. He promoted the adult beverage quite heavily and even featured it in some of his music videos. In this situation, he again had skin in the game. It was rumored that he had a minority stake in the company, which was later confirmed by him in 2017 when he announced that he sold his stake. This would net him around $60 million. The actual payout is not confirmed by anyone other than 50 himself. A spokesperson of Beam Suntory later came out and disputed the parting of ways.
“CONTRARY TO ANY INACCURATE MEDIA REPORTS, EFFEN VODKA’S PARTNERSHIP WITH 50 CENT CONTINUES”
Although reports of a separation conflict with each other, it is apparent that 50 Cent has moved on. He has recently started a new alcohol brand, Branson Cognac. If this business venture is anything like his past deals, he’s sure to make a pretty penny on it.
SMS Audio
With Dr. Dre creating Beats, 50 Cent saw this is as the perfect blueprint for him to make his own headphone/audio company. Just like earlier rappers pioneering new clothing lines like Jay-Z (Rocawear) and P-Diddy (Sean John), Curtis Jackson thought he could do the same but in a different industry. Being that Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine (Co-Founder) had direct relations with 50 Cent through record deals, somewhat bad blood was developed and relationships were stretched to the brink. 50 Cent however was able to partner his new company (SMS Audio) with the tech giant, Intel. With additional partnerships with NBA star Carmelo Anthony and music producing legend, Timbaland, 50 Cent found himself a very viable company to build on.
Upon 50 Cent declaring bankruptcy in 2015, SMS Audio suspended its operations. The headphones can still be found on various online shops and some stores, but the marketing has seemed to come to a grinding halt and 50 Cent net worth was most certainly affected.
Additional Partnerships
In 2004, Curtis Jackson negotiated a deal with Reebok that featured a full clothing and sneaker line for his G-Unit brand. It was marketed heavily and produced by the masses to attract the larger demographics of people. 50 Cent claims that he made $80 million from this deal, which isn’t that far fetched of a number adding considerably to 50 Cent’s net worth.
In addition to his major investments, record deals, and TV production, Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson landed multiple video game deals including ’50 Cent: Bulletproof’ in 2005 as well as ‘Blood on the Sand’ in 2009. Blood on the Sand features 50 Cent as the main character and is tasked with combat, driving and helicopter missions, and has a similar play style to GTA games. It was regarded as a fairly solid game title for the time, getting a 7/10 rating on IGN. Although its gameplay and reputation were relatively positive, its sales did not mirror this. In fact, compared to its predecessor, Blood in the Sand sold only 56,000 compared to Bulletproof’s 1.2 million copies.
Real Estate
With his quick rise to fame and money, Curtis Jackson wanted to make a splash and purchase a large home. In 2003, he did so. A 17-acre property in Connecticut was available for purchase from the bank when it was foreclosed from its original owner, Mike Tyson. Purchasing it for $4.1 million, 50 Cent put an additional $6 million into the house for upgrades such as a helipad, infinity pool, and theatre. Property acquisitions such as this one would no doubt impact 50 Cent net worth.
The newly renovated home featured 52 rooms, night club, billiards rooms, recording studio, koi ponds, basketball court, hidden grotto, 19 bathrooms, and 25 bedrooms. If it seems like a lot, it is. The agent who brokered the deal knew how special it was.
“IT’S THE LARGEST HOUSE IN THE NORTHEAST”
In 2007, he tried to sell the property for a whopping $18.5 million but was not able to seal the deal. The house remained for sale for years and years. He even reduced to price to a mere $4.995 million in 2018 to try and make a quick sale. The results remained the same.
One year later, he lowered the price to $2.9 million. It finally sold.
Filing Bankruptcy
In 2015, it was reported by the Wall Street Journal that 50 Cent had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, not something you’d expect from 50 Cent. Due to his personal debts, it was very beneficial for him to file for this, enabling him to pay his debts over a longer span of time. In the filing, 50 Cents assets had a reported value in the $10 million to $50 million range; in which he claimed to have a debt of an equal amount.
Interestingly enough, the filing was produced just days after he was ordered to pay Rick Ross‘ ex-girlfriend, Levonia Leviston, $5 million. This was the result of intentionally releasing a sex tape in which she was involved, without her permission. The $5 million payouts were broken down by $2.5 million for using her likeness/image and an additional $2.5 million for emotional damage. The judge also ordered Curtis Jackson to provide proof of income and worth to further determine additional damages.
Just a year prior, 50 Cent was ordered to pay $17.5 million in trademark infringement penalties with his company, SMS Audio. A total of $22.5 million in debt was now on his horizon, hurting 50 Cent’s net worth.
Being that Curtis is somewhat of a business genius, he strategically filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Doing this allowed him numerous benefits. Levonoia Leviston was now not able to claim his assets or infringe any of his business, the penalty for the release of the sex tape would be lowered and any further damages placed by the jury onto him would be prevented.
He was then free to accept any new business ventures, continue his music career and reassign wealth to his financial debtors. Overall, a brilliant chess move and method of retaining 50 Cent’s net worth overall.
Personal Life
In 1996, 50 Cent and his former girlfriend Shaniqua Tomkins, had their son, Marquise Jackson. Child care accusations and relationship issues escalated after the birth. So much so that Shaniqua Tompkins sued 50 Cent for $50 million for neglecting to “care for her for life”. The judge found no evidence of an agreement and the case was dismissed.
He later went on to have another son, Sire Jackson, with actress, Daphne Joy. Relations with his first son are non-existent as he fully discloses on social media.
Expensive Interests
Apart from hundreds of thousands in jewelry and watches, 50 Cent net worth has allowed him to flaunt his collection of expensive cars. Although some of the cars may not have all been in possession at the same time, it is important to note his expense taste. The following cars have all been owned at some point by 50 Cent:
- Lamborghini Murcielago: $300,000 USD
- Rolls Royce Phantom (2 of them) and Ghost: $500,000 USD each
- Maserati MC12: $2.5 million USD
- Ferrari Enzo, FF and F12: $3 million, $300,000 and $400,000 respectively
- White Lightning (custom made jet car): Price Unknown
- and more…
