From sports to fashion to fine tech, Serena Williams continues to diversify her financial portfolio, expanding her net worth to an estimated $340 million.
Where Is She Collecting the Bag?
Since retiring from professional tennis, Serena Williams has leveraged her iconic status into a financial juggernaut. According to Forbes, which places her on its 2024 Top 100 America’s Richest Self-Made Women list at No. 97, Williams has amassed her wealth through savvy business ventures and strategic investments. Her entrepreneurial prowess extends beyond the tennis court, with successful ventures in fashion, including her own clothing line and investments in tech startups.
The youngest of five sisters, she got her start playing tennis on public courts in Los Angeles’ Compton neighborhood. No one, outside of her family, might have ever suspected that from her humble beginnings she would be propelled to international stardom. Her father, Richard Williams, specifically set her up to understand money and to make decisions in the boardrooms.
When she was 16 and received her check from Puma, her father charged her with managing that fund and all monies coming from endorsement deals she made. Between that time until she was 21 years old, she earned over $13 million, working with her financial team as a decision maker while most people were studying in school.
Serena hung up her racket in 2022, ending a career in which she earned nearly $95 million in prize money. Since leaving, she still is securing endorsement deals as her star continues to be bankable. Over the last two years she has secured approximately 12 contracts with brands all over the world.
However, her attention has been shifted to investments. With over a decade of investment experience, she took a pivotal step in 2014 by establishing Serena Ventures.
The venture capital fund has investments in over 60 companies across multiple industries, including e-commerce, food & beverage, fashion, health & wellness, and social good. The General Partner is Alison Rapport Stillman. On March 1, 2022, the company announced it had raised its first outside capital of $111 million for its inaugural fund.
The same year that she founded Serena Ventures, she also married Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, who has an estimated net worth of $150 million. Ohanian and his co-founders sold Reddit to Condé Nast a year after its launch in 2005.
Serena also has stepped her to fashion lane. She has made significant strides in the fashion industry with her clothing line, S by Serena, and her jewelry line, Serena Williams Jewelry. In early 2024, she entered a licensing deal with Wyn Beauty cosmetics, further expanding her influence in the beauty sector.
In addition to being a boss, she sometimes becomes talent. During this year’s Paris Week, the mother of two and her sister Venus Williams walked in the Vogue World 2024 show wearing Marine Serre and Off-White, the brand founded by the late Virgil Abloh.
The Glam Slam winner has co-founded or launched several businesses.
In 2022, she is a co-founder of Will Perform, a startup that launched products for topical pain relief and muscle and skin care, and became an author of her first children’s book, “The Adventures of Qai Qai.”
In 2023, Williams launched multimedia company Nine Two Six Productions to expand her efforts as a producer, signaling her entry into the entertainment industry. She has also helped other businesses, serving on the board of both Poshmark and Survey Monkey.
While exploring outside interests, Serena is still invested in sports. In 2009, she and her sister purchased a small stake in the Miami Dolphins, making them the first Black owners of an NFL franchise, according to First and Pen.
As a move to create generational wealth, she started her young daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. as a sports franchise investor. Four years ago, when the little one was only 2, she made headlines as the youngest owner of a professional sports team when she, alongside her famous parents, became part-owners of Angel City FC, a women’s soccer team based in Los Angeles, CA.
Fast-forward to June 2023, and Olympia shattered records once again by becoming the youngest owner of two professional sports teams. This historic achievement saw her family— including her parents and her aunt, the tennis icon Venus Williams — join forces as part-owners of the Los Angeles Golf Club. This club is a trailblazer in Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s innovative TGL, a tech-driven golf league poised to revolutionize the sport.
In all of her endeavors, the champion tennis player continues to diversify her financial portfolio, embodying the spirit of a self-made woman who excels in every arena she enters. In a world where athletes often struggle to find footing post-retirement, she stands out, with her little girls tugging on her shirt tail as a beacon of what is possible.
