A Fraud Lawsuit, A Collapsed Startup And Wildly Different Rare Beauty Valuations: Is Selena Gomez Still A Billionaire?

In July 2024, we declared Selena Gomez a billionaire, thanks overwhelmingly to the value of Rare Beauty. A few months later, Bloomberg went even further, estimating her fortune at $1.3 billion.

Then came a much more conservative assessment. In May 2025, Forbes estimated Selena Gomez's net worth at just $700 million. Forbes wasn't questioning whether Selena had become extremely wealthy. The disagreement centered almost entirely on how much Rare Beauty was worth and how much of the company Selena actually owned.

More recently, Selena's other major startup, Wondermind, suffered a spectacular collapse. The mental-health company missed payroll, laid off most of its staff and is now the subject of a federal lawsuit brought by investors who accuse Selena, her mother Mandy Teefey, co-founder Daniella Pierson and Wondermind of fraud and other misconduct. The allegations have not been proven.

Given all the controversies and debates about valuations and final net worth estimates, is Selena Gomez still a billionaire right now?

(Ian Gavan/Getty Images)

How Much Of Rare Beauty Does Selena Actually Own?

Rare Beauty is privately held, and its capitalization table is not public. We know Selena is the founder and controlling figure behind the brand, but there are other shareholders.

Forbes estimates that Selena owns 51% of Rare Beauty.

Bloomberg's earlier $1.3 billion estimate for Selena's personal fortune also appears to point toward an ownership stake in roughly the same neighborhood. Bloomberg attributed about 81% of her $1.3 billion net worth to Rare Beauty, or approximately $1.05 billion. If Rare Beauty was worth around $2 billion at the time, that would imply a stake of roughly 53%.

So, for the purposes of estimating her net worth, a stake of roughly 50-55% appears to be a reasonable working range. And that brings us to the much bigger variable:

How Much Is Rare Beauty Actually Worth?

This is where the estimates diverge dramatically.

One reason Selena was widely declared a billionaire in 2024 was Rare Beauty's reported $2 billion valuation. Bloomberg reported in March 2024 that Selena had hired advisers to weigh investment and acquisition offers for the company after attracting interest from potential buyers. Six months later, Axios reported that Rare Beauty had paused the sale process after failing to find a buyer willing to meet the $2 billion valuation.

Today, Forbes values Rare Beauty at around $1.3 billion. That estimate is based in part on a California filing showing $367 million in 2023 revenue, combined with feedback from beauty-industry analysts who argued that valuations in the sector had come down. At $1.3 billion, Rare Beauty would be valued at about 3.5 times its 2023 revenue.

There is more recent sales information available. WWD estimates Rare Beauty generated around $400 million in sales in 2024, up 14% from the previous year. More importantly, WWD's 2026 ranking of the world's largest beauty companies estimates Rare Beauty generated approximately $400 million again in 2025. If those estimates are accurate, Rare Beauty's explosive growth slowed considerably after 2023.

That slowdown gives some support to Forbes' conservative valuation. A company growing from $100 million to nearly $400 million in a couple of years can command an enormous growth multiple. A company doing roughly $400 million two years in a row generally can't command the same premium.

On the other hand, Rare Beauty has continued to expand. In February 2026, the brand launched nationwide at Ulta Beauty, its first major U.S. retail expansion beyond Sephora. The rollout put Rare Beauty into more than 1,500 additional stores, giving the company a major new source of potential growth that would not be reflected in its 2025 sales.

Curiously, estimates subsequently went in the other direction. Fortune reported in October 2025 that estimates placed Rare Beauty's value at around $2.7 billion, describing it as one of Sephora's top-selling brands globally.

Hailey Bieber's Rhode Gives Us A Useful Comp

Fortunately, we have a recent celebrity beauty acquisition that provides a much harder valuation benchmark.

In May 2025, e.l.f. Beauty agreed to acquire Hailey Bieber's Rhode for up to $1 billion. Rhode had generated $212 million in net sales during the 12 months ending March 31, 2025. The deal included $800 million in cash and stock at closing, plus another potential $200 million tied to the brand's future performance.

The guaranteed portion of the deal valued Rhode at about 3.8 times sales. Including the potential earnout brings the multiple to roughly 4.7 times sales.

Applying that range to Rare Beauty's estimated $400 million in annual sales would produce a valuation of roughly $1.5 billion to $1.9 billion.

And That's Where Selena Gets Very Close To $1 Billion

Assume Rare Beauty is worth $1.8 billion and Selena owns 51%. Her stake would be worth:

$918 million.

At 53% ownership, the same stake would be worth:

$954 million.

At 55%, it would be worth:

$990 million.

And Rare Beauty is obviously not Selena's only asset. Selena has generated roughly $90 million in gross career earnings from acting, music, touring and endorsements, including a reported $30 million Puma deal and around $24 million from her Steve Martin + Martin Short hit Hulu series, "Only Murders in the Building." She also owns real estate and has accumulated investments and other assets over more than two decades as a highly paid entertainer.

What About Wondermind?

The collapse of Wondermind has generated a lot of attention, but it has surprisingly little impact on Selena's net worth.

Wondermind raised $5 million in 2022 at a valuation of approximately $100 million. According to the investor lawsuit filed in August 2026, Selena owned approximately 16% of the company. Mandy Teefey allegedly owned around 32%, while Daniella Pierson owned around 33%.

At the $100 million fundraising valuation, Selena's stake was therefore worth around $16 million on paper. Even if Wondermind is now completely worthless, wiping out Selena's entire stake would reduce a billion-dollar fortune by a negligible amount for our purposes.

The lawsuit itself is potentially much more significant from a legal and reputational standpoint. The plaintiffs invested a combined $1.175 million and allege that they were induced to invest based on representations about Wondermind's products, business partnerships, growth prospects, and Selena's involvement. Among other claims, they allege Selena was supposed to play an active marketing role and leverage her enormous social-media following to help build the company.

The complaint also alleges that an agreement governing Selena's services to Wondermind was supposed to be a condition of the financing and claims she did not fulfill the role investors had been promised.

Bottom Line: Is Selena Gomez Still A Billionaire?

Yes. We think $1 billion remains the most reasonable estimate of Selena Gomez's net worth.

Though if at some point it is proven that Rare Beauty is worth closer to $1.5 billion, Selena would lose her billionaire status.