Yankees top Forbes’ list of richest MLB clubs

Major League Baseball may lose billions to the coronavirus shutdown, but its clubs appear to be on
firm footing according to Forbes’ latest list of franchise values released Thursday.

The financial publication estimated that 28 of 30 MLB clubs appreciated in value in 2019.


The New York Yankees once again top the list, appreciating 9% to $5 billion in total value.

According to Forbes, the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, worth an estimated $5.5 billion, are the only sports franchise in the world worth more than the Yanks.

Forbes predicted that strong recent profits will “help offset any downturn from the delayed season.”

MLB has indefinitely postponed the 2020 campaign, which had been scheduled to start on March 26, as health authorities urge social distancing to slow the spread of deadly COVID-19.

Until the setback, Forbes said, MLB profits were at record highs thanks to flat player costs and increased revenue of $16 million per team on average.

Forbes calculated that the Yankees generated $683 million in revenue in 2019.

The Los Angeles Dodgers were rated the second-most valuable team at $3.4 billion, and also posted the second-highest revenue, Forbes said.

The Boston Red Sox clocked in at third at $3.3 billion, followed by the Chicago Cubs ($3.2 billion), San Francisco Giants ($3.1 billion), New York Mets ($2.4 billion), St. Louis Cardinals ($2.2 billion) and Philadelphia Phillies ($2 billion).

Only the Pittsburgh Pirates and Miami Marlins dropped in value, the Pirates by 1% and the Marlins by 2%.

Only the Marlins, valued at $980 million, were outside the billionaire club, according to the calculations by Forbes.

Agence France-Presse

BTS, Cho Seong-jin make Forbes’ ’30 Under 30 Asia’ list in entertainment

K-pop group BTS and rising classical pianist Cho Seong-jin have been named among Asia’s 30 most influential people under the age of 30 in entertainment and sports this year.

BTS and Cho were included in Forbes’ “30 Under 30 Asia” list in the entertainment and sports category, which was published on the US magazine’s website Tuesday (local time).

The other Korean stars included on the list were actress Ahn Seo-hyun, figure skater You Young, skeleton gold medalist Yun Sung-bin, LPGA golfer Park Sung-hyun and professional climber Kim Ja-in. North Korean footballer Han Kwong-song also made the list.

Forbes described BTS as having “cracked the notoriously competitive US market,” referencing the band becoming the first K-pop act to perform at the American Music Awards, in November of last year. The K-pop sensation enjoyed massive success last year, with its EP, “Love Yourself: Her,” having sold over 1.49 million copies since September.

For Cho, the magazine explained how his recorded performance at the 2015 Chopin Piano Competition gained popularity worldwide, including in Poland, the birthplace of composer Fredric Chopin.

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Billionaire L’Oreal heiress Bettencourt dies aged 94

PARIS - French businesswoman and billionaire Liliane Bettencourt, whose family founded L'Oreal and still owns the largest stake in the cosmetics giant, has died aged 94, her daughter said on Thursday.

Bettencourt, listed by Forbes as the world's richest woman, was the heiress to the beauty and cosmetics company her father founded just over a century ago as a maker of hair dye.

Her death opens a new phase for L'Oreal, France's fourth-largest listed company, altering the relationship it has with key shareholder Nestle, the Swiss food company.

Bettencourt and her family owned 33 percent of the company. Her daughter Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, who sits on L'Oreal's board along with her own son, said in a statement the family remained committed to the company and its management team.

"My mother left peacefully," Bettencourt-Meyers said, adding that she had died during Wednesday night at her home in Paris.

"I would like to reiterate, on behalf of our family, our entire commitment and loyalty to L'Oreal and to renew my confidence in its President Jean-Paul Agon and his teams worldwide."

In 2011 Agon was appointed chairman and chief executive of L'Oreal, owner of the Lancome and Maybelline beauty and make-up brands and of Garnier shampoos.

Nestle, which owns just over 23 percent of L'Oreal, had agreed with the founding family that the two parties could not increase their stakes during Liliane Bettencourt's lifetime and for at least six months after her death.

The Swiss company has been a major investor since 1974, when Bettencourt entrusted nearly half of her own stake in the firm to Nestle in exchange for a three percent holding in the Swiss company. She made the move out of fear that L'Oreal might be nationalised if the Socialists came to power in France.

Activist hedge fund Third Point recently urged Nestle — which brought in a new chief executive, Mark Schneider, earlier this year — to sell down its stake as part of efforts to improve its performance.

A Nestle spokeswoman on Thursday did not comment on the company's stake, only saying: "It's time to send our sincere condolences to Madame Bettencourt's family."

Legal battles

Fascination with Bettencourt's wealth, complex family relations and scandal-tinged life often propelled her into society pages and headlines, though she remained private and rarely gave interviews.

Her net worth was estimated at $39.5 billion earlier this year by Forbes, making her the world's richest woman and among the 20 wealthiest people in the world.

In a testament to the influence L'Oreal came to have in France, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Thursday praised the stability Bettencourt had brought to the company through her ownership and said in a statement he hoped that the firm would maintain its close ties with its home market.

The marriage of the heiress to French politician Andre Bettencourt drew scrutiny when it emerged he had written anti-Semitic tracts at the start of World War Two. And Bettencourt was caught up in high-profile legal feuds almost until the last.

She had been under the guardianship of family members since a court fight, known as the "Bettencourt affair", ended with a ruling in 2011 that she was incapable of looking after her fortune because she suffered from dementia and had been exploited.

The case — brought By her daughter Françoise And which soured relations between the two — centered on Francois-Marie Banier, a celebrity photographer who befriended Bettencourt in the 1980s and received lavish gifts from her, including life insurance policies worth $400 million.

Another strand of the sprawling affair later led to allegations of illegal payments by Bettencourt to members of the French government associated with former president Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010. Sarkozy was eventually cleared in the case.

Paris-born Bettencourt joined her father Eugene Schueller's firm as an apprentice at the age of 15, mixing cosmetics and labelling bottles of shampoo.

She inherited the family fortune when her father Eugene Schueller, a chemist, died in 1957, though she delegated the day-to-day management of the firm. A widow since 2007, Bettencourt ceased to sit on L'Oreal's board in 2012. —Reuters

Jennifer Lawrence tops list of best paid actresses

LOS ANGELES, United States — Oscar-winning Jennifer Lawrence was named the world’s highest-paid actress for the second year running on Tuesday, with estimated pre-tax earnings of $46 million.

The 26-year-old American raked in the lion’s share from a profit share in the final “Hunger Games” movie, which grossed $650 million, Forbes magazine said.

An upfront fee for the forthcoming space thriller “Passengers” also helped the 26-year-old push her pay day above second-ranked Melissa McCarthy, who pocketed $33 million.

The world’s 10 highest-paid actresses made a combined $205 million in the 12 months from June 1, 2015 before fees and taxes, said Forbes.

But the actors’ list due to be published on Thursday is expected to show once again men banking far more than their female counterparts.

The issue of pay disparity grabbed headlines in 2014 after a leak of stolen emails from Sony Pictures Entertainment showed that Lawrence was paid less than her male co-stars in the hit movie “American Hustle.”

Patricia Arquette also railed against the industry’s gender-based wage gap during her acceptance speech after winning a statuette at last year’s Academy Awards.

Lawrence, who took the best actress Oscar for 2012 comedy-drama “Silver Linings Playbook,” is down from $52 million in last year’s list, although she is still considered Hollywood’s hottest property by some distance.

McCarthy, 45, earned $10 million more than the 2015 estimate thanks to a reported eight-figure payday for “Ghostbusters.”

Perennial A-list darling Scarlett Johansson came in third with $25 million, while Jennifer Aniston, who makes most of her cash through endorsements, bagged $21 million.

Fan Bingbing of China, a relative unknown in Hollywood, rounded out the top five, making the list for the second consecutive year with $17 million.

India’s Deepika Padukone — who made $10 million — was the only other actress from outside Hollywood to feature in the rankings.

The 30-year-old, who came 10th, earns far less than her Tinseltown counterparts for her Bollywood roles, but compensates with more than a dozen lucrative endorsements, Forbes said.

Four women, up from three in 2015, banked more than $20 million compared with 18 of the world’s leading men, Forbes said.

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Katy Perry’s $135 million tops Taylor Swift as highest music earner

NEW YORK - She didn't make as many headlines, nor sell as many albums, but Katy Perry handily beat Taylor Swift to become the highest-earning woman in music this year, according to Forbes.

Perry, 31, earned $135 million in the past 12 months, thanks to a huge worldwide "Prismatic" tour and endorsements deals with beauty companies like Coty and CoverGirl, Forbes estimated in a ranking released on Wednesday.

Swift, 25, was a distant second, with an estimated $80 million, despite some 8.6 million sales globally for her "1989" hit album and the start of a world tour.

Perry's latest album "Prism" has sold some four million worldwide since its release in 2013 and the "Roar" singer has been touring for most of the year.

British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac was placed third with $59.5 million although only two of its five current line-up are women. Nevertheless, the return of 1970s veterans Stevie Nicks and Christine McVeigh was seen as a key to the success of the band's year-long tour "On With the Show," Forbes said.

Lady Gaga was ranked fourth with $59 million—a long way behind her 2011 peak of $90 million when she was grabbing headlines with outrageous stunts and costumes.

Last year's top earner Beyonce slipped to 5th place with an estimated $54.5 million.

The Forbes list measures estimated pre-tax income from June 2014 to June 2015, and includes earnings from albums, touring, endorsements and other commercial deals. —Reuters

Richest 1 percent will own more than the rest by 2016 – Oxfam

LONDON - More than half the world's wealth will be owned by just one percent of the population by next year as global inequality soars, anti-poverty charity Oxfam said on Monday.

In a report released ahead of this week's annual meeting of the international elite at Davos in Switzerland, Oxfam said the top tier had seen their share of wealth increase from 44 percent in 2009 to 48 percent in 2014.

On current trends, it will exceed 50 percent in 2016.

The charity's executive director, Winnie Byanyima, who is co-chairing the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, said an explosion in inequality was holding back the fight against poverty.

"Do we really want to live in a world where the one percent own more than the rest of us combined?" she said on Monday.

"Business as usual for the elite isn't a cost free option. Failure to tackle inequality will set the fight against poverty back decades. The poor are hurt twice by rising inequality—they get a smaller share of the economic pie and because extreme inequality hurts growth, there is less pie to be shared around."

Oxfam said it would call for action to tackle rising inequality at the Davos meeting, which starts on Wednesday, including a crackdown on tax dodging by corporations and progress towards a global deal on climate change.

The richest 80 individuals in the world had the same wealth as the poorest 50 percent of the entire population, some 3.5 billion people, Oxfam said. This was an even bigger concentration at the top than a year ago, when half the world's wealth was in the hands of 85 of the ultra rich.

Members of the top 1 percent had an average wealth of $2.7 million per adult, Oxfam said.

The bulk of the world's remaining wealth was owned by the rest of the richest fifth, while the other 80 percent shared just 5.5 percent of the pot, equalling an average wealth of $3,851 per adult, it said.

Oxfam used data from the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Datebook, 2013 and 2014, and the Forbes' billionaires list to compile its research. — Reuters

Adam Sandler tops Forbes' list of most-overpaid actors

LOS ANGELES - American comedian Adam Sandler topped Forbes' list of Hollywood's most-overpaid actors, commanding a high up-front fee while delivering middling returns, the magazine said on Monday.

Sandler, 47, the star of recent comedies "Jack & Jill" and "That's My Boy," dethroned Eddie Murphy for the dubious distinction. Forbes estimated that Sandler's last three films returned an average of $3.40 for every dollar he was paid.

Murphy topped last year's list, returning an average of $2.30 at the box office for each dollar earned.

Katherine Heigl, who starred in the poorly performing films "Killers" and "One for the Money," placed slightly behind Sandler, returning an average of $3.50 per every dollar she earned.

The list, compiled annually by Forbes, counts the last three films an actor has starred in over the past three years. This year's list was cut off at June 1, and so it excluded Sandler's buddy comedy "Grown Ups 2," which was released in July and performed well at the box office.

Forbes did not say how much Sandler earned on his last three films. But the magazine said he was one of the few movie stars who could still command more than $15 million per film, on an "up front" arrangement. Hollywood studios in recent years have shifted to paying smaller up-front fees and tie actors' pay with the film's box office performance.

The magazine said it examined actors' pay, film budgets and expenses to calculate the average return an actor brings per dollar paid.

Reese Witherspoon, the star of recent films "Water for Elephants" and "This Means War," was third on this list, with an average return of $3.90 for every dollar she was paid.

Nicholas Cage was fourth, with a $6 average return, and comedian Kevin James was fifth, returning an average of $6.10. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Angelina Jolie highest earning U.S. actress - Forbes

NEW YORK - Angelina Jolie, who will next be seen on the big screen in the film "Maleficent," is Hollywood's highest paid actress with estimated earnings of $33 million in the last year, according to Forbes.

She easily surpassed this year's Best Actress Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, who came in second with $26 million, and pushed Kristen Stewart of the "Twilight" series, who topped the list last year, into third place with earnings of $22 million.

"Hollywood hasn't shied away from Jolie. She's still one of the few actresses who can demand a paycheck north of $15 million for the right movie - like Disney's retelling of the old Sleeping Beauty story, Maleficent," reporter Dorothy Pomerantz, wrote on Forbes.com.

Jolie, 38, made headlines earlier this year when she revealed she had a double mastectomy after learning she had inherited a high risk of breast cancer. "Maleficent" will be released next summer.

The celebrity mother, who has three biological and three adopted children with her fiance, actor Brad Pitt, rose from third place on 2012's list.

Jennifer Aniston, whose newest movie "We're the Millers" will be released in U.S. theaters next week, captured fourth place with earnings of $20 million and Emma Stone, who appeared in "The Amazing Spider-Man" with real-life boyfriend Andrew Garfield was No. 5 with $16 million.

Forbes talked to agents, managers and other people with knowledge of the film industry to compile the ranking based on estimated earnings from June 2012 to June 2013.

Sandra Bullock, who was third in last year's list, dropped to No. 7 with estimated earnings of $14 million and Julia Roberts slipped from sixth to 10th place this year, taking home $11 million.

Oscar-winner Bullock wowed audiences with the female buddy comedy "The Heat." Her 2009 film "The Blind Side," who which she won a best actress Academy Award, earned $309 million on a budget of $30 million, according to Forbes.

Mila Kunis, at No. 9, was a newcomer to the ranking this year with earnings of $11 million. Two films she starred in, "Ted" and "Oz: The Great and Powerful," earned a combined $1 billion at the global box office. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com