As the founder of Bad Boy Records Sean “Diddy” Combs sits in a Brooklyn jail awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking and extortion charges and prepares to fend off multiple civil lawsuits alleging sexual assault, those in the music industry are asking how much of his fortune might be at stake.
Sources say Bulletin board that the hip-hop mogul has sold many of the assets that brought him hundreds of millions of dollars. And Forbes estimated that Combs' net worth — once fueled by ventures in music, fashion, liquor and cable TV — has fallen from about $740 million in 2019 to $400 million last June.
Federal prosecutors and lawyers for the alleged victims will likely seek the money Combs earned from his businesses and other assets, and his own legal defense could potentially cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars as well. That said, prosecutors will have to prove the businesses were somehow connected to the alleged crimes, to which Combs has pleaded not guilty. Attorneys representing people suing Combs in civil court do not have to meet that evidentiary hurdle. It is unclear when a jury trial will be held on the federal charges, and the many civil lawsuits he faces are in various stages of litigation.
Combs' attorneys, representatives and federal prosecutors did not respond to requests for comment.
Here's a breakdown of Combs' current financial picture through music, real estate and cable TV:
Bad Boy Records
While Combs began diversifying his investments a long time ago, his core investments in the music industry have dissipated. He once owned his master and publishing rights through Bad Boy Records. Currently, he may still own his publishing rights and albums recorded from 2010 onwards, but he probably no longer owns the albums he recorded before 2009, which were the most successful of his career.
BIG and Diddy
This is due to a joint venture that Combs entered into with Warner Music Group for the entire Bad Boy catalog in 2005. The deal ended in 2009 with WMG retaining full ownership of the vast majority, if not all, of the catalog that had been released from Bad Boy before that. year. These include the catalogs of The Notorious BIG, Faith Evans, Mase and a dozen or so platinum-selling Bad Boy artists.
In June, Billboard estimated that Diddy's catalog brings in $2.4 million annually in recorded revenue, as well as $600,000 in publishing revenue, of which his share is $222,000. We estimated that his catalog would be worth $42 million.
Since finding that Combs no longer owns his top-selling albums, Billboard has revised that estimate — based on a calculation that nearly 60 percent of his catalog's annual business is with WMG — to 1.05 million dollars. His music publishing earnings remain unchanged at $1.25 million in take-home pay.
List
One asset Combs is unlikely to sell anytime soon is his catalog because of the nature of the alleged abuses outlined in the various lawsuits he faces and the fact that the recordings were not released under a single, recognizable brand — he has released music as Puff Daddy, Puff Daddy & the Family, P. Diddy, Diddy and Diddy-Dirty Money — are making it harder to trade, institutional investors tell Billboard.
While private equity investors aren't keen on music released under Diddy's names, financial sources say music from other artists he's worked with still has value, and those artists could sell their proceeds. However, some Bad Boy Records artists have asked the various majors if their albums might drop the Bad Boy logo, sources tell Billboard.
In 2023, Combs revealed that he had returned ownership of the releases to the artists who recorded on Bad Boy Records. In a Q&A with Bulletin boardreported that Mase, Evans, The LOX, 112 and the estate of The Notorious BIG are among the creatives who have already signed deals to reclaim those rights.
REVOLUTION
Co-founded by Combs as a music cable channel in 2013, REVOLT was originally broadcast by Comcast and Time Warner Cable to a total of approximately 34 million subscribers. Over the past decade, it has built a reputation as a prominent black-owned media company and was profitable as of 2018. Last summer, it joined a group of investors that bid for a majority stake in Paramount Global's BET Media Group. As a private company, it has never disclosed its financials. Combs stepped down from his role as chairman of REVOLT last November, and in March reports surfaced that he sold his stake to an unnamed bidder. Sources say Combs' Billboard share likely netted him a sum in the low to mid-eight figures.
Real estate
It is documented in court documents filed in connection with the federal charges against Combs that Combs has homes in Los Angeles and Miami. The latter, which is located on Miami's exclusive Star Island, has multiple pools, a spa and a guest house was listed as part of its $50 million bail bond. (Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky denied his release, and Combs' lawyers filed an appeal this week.) Combs' Beverly Hills home is currently listed for $61.5 million.
