People You Can Invest In: Rihanna Edition


Robyn Rihanna Fenty, better known as Rihanna, is one of the bestselling musicians in the last decade-plus. The Barbados-born pop star has sold well over 230 million records worldwide. She hit sales and listener records in the U.S. and U.K. only achieved by the Beatles. Her music can generally be found on every pop, hip-hop, and R&B radio station and in every club around the world.

Simply put, Rihanna is one of the biggest pop stars alive.

She’s also a savvy businesswoman. Aside from owning her own sub-label through Jay Z’s management company, Roc Nation, Rihanna has endorsement and licensing deals with top brands. Stores the world over carry her products, and sales are strong enough to generate additional products from the same manufacturers, as well as interest from new ones.

Best of all, you can invest in Rihanna. While the 29-year-old starlet is not, in fact, a publicly traded entity, you can directly invest in those who invest in her. Yet which companies have a vested interest in Ri Ri, and should you put your hard-earned money in their endeavors? Let’s take a look.

Rihanna used to be on a major, publicly traded label, but that is no longer the case.

Rihanna’s first seven albums were released through Def Jam, a label owned by Universal Music Group. After her seventh album, Rihanna’s contract was fulfilled and she started releasing music through her own label and Roc Nation, her management company. Other best-selling artists like her have opted to do the same in recent years, including other artists under Roc Nation’s management.

Samsung helped Rihanna release and market her album through a $25 million endorsement deal.

Like Jay Z’s previous record, Ri Ri’s Anti was released free to the public and sponsored by Samsung. Samsung’s branding was prominently featured on her website and social media platforms, and Rihanna became the spokesperson for the brand in certain marketing ops. Samsung, being one of the biggest mobile device companies in the world, is a publicly traded company, albeit on the OTC and Korean Stock Exchanges ($SSNLF and $005930, respectively).

Rihanna also has a deal with Puma and Fenty for footwear and accessories.

Vimeo/Conde Nast Russia

Co-branded Fenty Puma sneakers designed and endorsed by Rihanna are available internationally. Since the products have the name of an expensive fashion house and a world-renowned pop star, they cost considerably more than your average pair of Pumas. Rihanna’s most recent collaboration with Puma (her third overall) recently debuted in Paris to much fanfare. Puma, which trades on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as $PUM, has performed considerably well since they started selling Rihanna-branded products. Though the singer’s involvement is not the sole reason for their success, it still contributed to their 59.68% increase on the market in the last year.

Rihanna’s fragrances are immensely popular, and she has Perfumania to thank.

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Jay Z, co-founder of Roc Nation, struck a deal with a Perfumania Holdings subsidiary several years ago to make licensed perfumes based on Roc Nation artists. Rihanna was one of the names licensed. Since then, her fragrances have performed exceptionally well, and several iterations of her original fragrance have since been released under names like Rogue by Rihanna, Nude, and Rebelle. Perfumania, which sells their products in department stores around the country, is a publicly traded entity ($PERF). Unfortunately, the company fell on some pretty hard times recently, with their stock decreasing by 50% in the last year alone.

Should you invest in Rihanna? While you can’t buy into Rihanna’s Tidal streaming service or her privately owned Fr8me style agency, you can invest money into the three stocks mentioned above. Yet with $PERF performing poorly in the last year and Samsung in hot water over exploding phones and other reasons, you might want to be wary of those two stocks. Puma, however, is performing exceptionally well, and will likely continue releasing the pricier Rihanna-branded collection for the foreseeable future.

If you’d like to support this talented pop star’s endeavors and make some decent gains, you might want to consider investing with the German company. Just be sure to do your research beforehand.