Who is the Richest Black Woman in the World?

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Talk show-host-turned media mogul Oprah Winfrey reinvested the profits from her 25-year run on her namesake show into $2 billion, Forbes reported. Her media empire includes the cable channel OWN and O Magazine. She also recently signed a multi-year deal with Apple TV+.

Oprah Winfrey - The richest black woman in the world

Early life

Winfrey was born Orpah Gail Winfrey; her first name was spelled Orpah on her birth certificate after the biblical figure in the Book of Ruth, but people mispronounced it regularly and “Oprah” stuck. She was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, to an unmarried teenage mother. Her mother, Vernita Lee (1935–2018), was a housemaid. Winfrey’s biological father is usually noted as Vernon Winfrey

Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a single teenage mother and later raised in inner-city Milwaukee. She has stated that she was molested during her childhood and early teens and became pregnant at 14; her son was born prematurely and died in infancy. Winfrey was then sent to live with the man she calls her father, Vernon Winfrey, a barber in Tennessee, and landed a job in radio while still in high school.

By 19, she was a co-anchor for the local evening news. Winfrey’s often emotional, extemporaneous delivery eventually led to her transfer to the daytime talk show arena, and after boosting a third-rated local Chicago talk show to first place, she launched her own production company.

she has also been praised for overcoming adversity to become a benefactor to others. Winfrey had also emerged as a political force in the 2008 presidential race, delivering about one million votes to Barack Obama in the razor-close 2008 Democratic primary. In 2013, Winfrey was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama and honorary doctorate degrees from Duke and Harvard. In 2008, she formed her own network, Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).

Career

Early Broadcasting Career

In 1976, Winfrey moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where she hosted the TV chat show People Are Talking. The show became a hit and Winfrey stayed with it for eight years, after which she was recruited by a Chicago TV station to host her own morning show, A.M. Chicago.

Her major competitor in the time slot was Phil Donahue. Within several months, Winfrey's open, warm-hearted personal style had won her 100,000 more viewers than Donahue and had taken her show from the last place to first in the ratings.

'The Oprah Winfrey Show'

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Winfrey launched The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986 as a nationally syndicated program that ran for 25 years, until 2011. With its placement on 120 channels and an audience of 10 million people, the show grossed $125 million by the end of its first year, of which Winfrey received $30 million.

She soon gained ownership of the program from ABC, drawing it under the control of her new production company, Harpo Productions ('Oprah' spelled backward) and making more and more money from syndication.

In 1994, with talk shows becoming increasingly trashy and exploitative, Winfrey pledged to keep her show free of tabloid topics. Although ratings initially fell, she earned the respect of her viewers and was soon rewarded with an upsurge in popularity.

Projects with Harpo have included the highly-rated 1989 TV miniseries, The Women of Brewster Place, in which Winfrey also starred.

In 2004, Winfrey signed a new contract to continue The Oprah Winfrey Show through the 2010-11 season. At the time, the syndicated show was seen on nearly 212 U.S. stations and in more than 100 countries worldwide.

In 2009, Winfrey announced that she would be ending her program when her contract with ABC ended, in 2011.

Oprah’s Book Club

Winfrey contributed immensely to the publishing world by launching her "Oprah's Book Club," as part of her talk show. The program propelled many unknown authors to the top of the bestseller lists and gave pleasure to reading a new kind of popular prominence.

Winfrey has continued her book club. In 2018, she famously interviewed former First Lady Michelle Obama for the release of her memoir, Becoming.

Read More: Top 7 Richest Black Americans

Oprah Winfrey Net worth

Oprah Winfrey Net worth is estimated at $2.7 B.

* Oprah Winfrey has transitioned her hit talk show, which ran for 25 years, into a media and business empire.

* Winfrey parlayed her role as a news anchor into a 25-year talk show gig. Reinvested, the profits from her show add up to an estimated $2 billion.

* In 2011, Winfrey launched cable channel OWN. Her 25.5% of the network is worth about $75 million.

* The ‘Oprah effect’ has spread to Weight Watchers: she bought a 10% stake in 2015 (since lowered to 8%) and acts as a brand ambassador.

* In June 2018, she signed a deal with Apple’s streaming service to create original content that will include a book club, documentaries and TV series, according to Glusea.

Wealth, Charity and Awards

According to Forbes magazine, Winfrey was the richest African American of the 20th century and the world's only Black billionaire for three years running. Life magazine hailed her as the most influential woman of her generation.

In September 2002, Winfrey was named the first recipient of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.

In 2005, Business Week named Winfrey the greatest Black philanthropist in American history. Oprah's Angel Network raised more than $50 million for charitable programs, including girls' education in South Africa and relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Winfrey is a dedicated activist for children's rights; in 1994, President Bill Clinton signed a bill into law that Winfrey had proposed to Congress, creating a nationwide database of convicted child abusers.

She also founded the Family for Better Lives foundation and also contributes to her alma mater, Tennessee State University.

In November 2013, Winfrey received the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. President Barack Obama gave her this award for her contributions to her country.

In February 2018, after a shooting at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School left 17 people dead, Winfrey announced she would follow the example set by George and Amal Clooney and donate $500,000 to the Marc

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