Celebrity Entrepreneurs 2011
Bethenny Frankel
May 2010 to May 2011 Earnings: $55 Million
The reality show veteran makes her debut on Forbes list as the first TV personality to successfully launch--and unload--a brand on-camera. In March Frankel sold Skinnygirl Cocktails in a estimated $100 million deal to Fortune Brand's Beam Global. The entrepreneur is unstoppable: Frankel foods, sodas, kids clothes and even a daytime talk-show are all in the works.
Jillian Michaels
Jillian is best known as a strength trainer and life coach on the hit television show, The Biggest Loser. Over the years she has helped shape and inspire the lives of millions. She is an ambassador for Stand Up to Cancer and The Alliance for a Healthier Generation and is the New York Times bestselling author of Master Your Metabolism, The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook, and Making the Cut. Her website, JillianMichaels.com, receives more than 100 million page views per year and ranks as the fourth most visited health-and-wellness site in the world.
Toby Keith
May 2010 to May 2011 Earnings: $50 Million
May 2009 to May 2010 Earnings: $48 Million
"Toby is Ford family," says Keith's manager T.K. Kimbrell, describing the star's multimillion dollar truck sponsorship which is entering its tenth year. It's the envy of the industry, but just one of Keith's many deals. The crooner raked in an estimated $8 million from his I Love This Bar & Grill restaurants in 2010. He recently launched his own line of mezcal and continues to sign acts to his Show Dog-Universal record label. To top it off, Keith's tour numbers are the best they've been in years.
Sean "Diddy" Combs
May 2010 to May 2011 Earnings: $35 M
Music now accounts for less than 20% of earnings for the artist formerly known as Puff Daddy, thanks to big stakes in clothing lines Sean John and Enyce, record label Bad Boy and marketing firm Blue Flame. But it's his Ciroc vodka deal that led Forbes to estimate his net worth at $475 million. Under terms he struck with beverage giant Diageo, Diddy gets an annual cut of profits plus a big piece of the pie (likely nine figures) if Ciroc is ever sold.