TENDULKAR CASHES IN ON IPO FRENZY WITH AZAD STAKE
▶ In our celebrity investment round-up, Adam Sandler is Hollywood’s highest earner in 2023 and Miley Cyrus invests in a self-tanning brand, writes Felicity Glover
The retired cricketer’s strategic investment in Azad Engineering has paid off after the Indian company joined the country’s initial public offering boom and listed on the National Stock Exchange in December.
Tendulkar, 50, invested in the company, which provides engineering and technology solutions for equipment manufacturers in the energy, defence and aerospace sectors, in May last year. His stake and investment amount were not disclosed at the time.
But the former India batsman acquired 438,120 shares in the company at an average price of 114.10 Indian rupees ($1.37), valuing his total investment at 49.9 million rupees, India’s Mint newspaper reported.
Since listing on the NSE at 720 rupees a share on December 28, the company’s shares have surged, rising to as high as 1,355.30 rupees on March 7.
By the close of trade on Friday, the stock was priced at 1,212 rupees, valuing Tendulkar’s stake at an impressive 531 million rupees, or
$6.4 million.
In recent years, he has made several equity investments in Indian companies, including smart devices brand Smartron, used car start-up Spinny and gaming platform JetSynthesys.
In 2022, Tendulkar, who holds the record for most runs in Test cricket and one-day internationals, teamed up with digital collectibles platform Rario as an investor and brand ambassador, marking his first foray into non-fungible tokens.
The platform offers fans NFTs and personalised experiences that feature highlights from Tendulkar’s 24-year career.
He has a net worth of $200 million, according to estimates by wealth tracker Celebrity Net Worth.
Adam Sandler
The American actor and comedian has been named Hollywood’s highest earner in 2023, with an annual net salary of $73 million, according to Forbes magazine.
Sandler, 57, appeared in three Netflix films last year – Murder Mystery 2, The OutLaws and You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, as well as producing and voicing the title character in the streaming service’s animated movie, Leo.
In 2014, Sandler’s Happy Madison production company signed a four-film deal with Netflix. The agreement was extended in 2020 for another four in a deal worth about $250 million.
“Whether you know him as Sandman, the Water Boy, Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, Nick Spitz or simply Adam, one thing is clear: our members can’t get enough of him,” Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, said at the time.
“They have spent a whopping two billion hours watching his films since 2015 – the year that
The Ridiculous 6 premiered – proving there’s no such thing as too much Sandler.”
It is the first time Sandler has appeared at the top of the list since 2002, when he earned $47 million, Forbes said.
The star of Grown Ups has a net worth of $440 million, Celebrity Net Worth data shows
“At various points during his career, Adam has been the highest-paid entertainer in the world,” the website said.
He currently earns about $25 million for every movie, plus a percentage of gross profits, and has a property portfolio worth an estimated $60 million, with homes in California, Hawaii and New York.
Australian actress Margot Robbie, star of box-office hit Barbie, was ranked second on the Forbes list of Hollywood’s top earners in 2023 with an annual net salary of $59 million, followed by Top Gun star Tom Cruise on $45 million.
Robbie’s Barbie co-star Ryan Gosling and Matt Damon, who appeared in the academy-award winning blockbuster Oppenheimer, were tied in fourth place with earnings of $43 million each.
Actress and producer Jennifer Aniston was ranked sixth, with her salary coming in at $42 million, followed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jason Statham, who earned $41 million each. Ben Affleck was the ninth-highest earner, with a salary of $38 million, and Denzel Washington was 10th on $24 million.
Miley Cyrus
The singer has teamed up with self-tanning brand Dolce Glow, investing an undisclosed amount in the California company. Cyrus announced the deal to her followers in an Instagram post last month, saying: “I can buy myself tanner … get that endless summer vacation glow,” in a nod to the lyrics of her song, Flowers.
“I am an official partner in Dolce Glow because I truly love and trust this product,” she added.
Cyrus has been a client of Dolce Glow for the past three years. The company, which sells its Australian-made products online and has a tanning salon in the Californian city of San Fernando, was founded by Isabel Alysa in 2016.
The brand’s product catalogue includes tanning mousses and mists, as well as self-tanning and body lotions.
“This will be one of Miley’s first investments as she is passionate about the product as a longtime client and friend of Isabel Alysa,” Dolce Glow said on its website.
Other celebrity clients of the brand include Jennifer Lopez, Kylie Jenner, Olivia Culpo and Selena Gomez.
Cyrus, 31, has a net worth of about $160 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
In 2022, the former child star of Disney’s Hannah Montana series closed one of the highest property deals in the Nashville area. According to land registry records, the five-bedroom ranch sold for $14.5 million. Cyrus bought the property in 2017 for $5.8 million.
She has owned at least three other homes in California, including in Studio City, Malibu and a ranch in Hidden Hills, which she sold in 2018 for $5 million.
LeBron James
The billionaire basketball player has joined a $20 million
Series A funding round in sports virtual reality start-up StatusPro.
The funding round was led by Google Ventures, the venture capital arm of Google parent Alphabet.
Other investors included India’s Dream Sports, Minnesota Vikings owners Mark and Zygi Wilf’s Wise Ventures, JDS Sports, Alumni Ventures and Canadian rapper Drake, StatusPro said.
The Los Angeles Lakers forward also invested in the company’s $5.2 million seed round in August 2021, along with Drake and tennis star Naomi Osaka.
Co-founded by former American football players Andrew Hawkins and Troy Jones, StatusPro combines player data with extended reality to create training and fan engagement products in sports.
Its custom solutions are used by players and coaches from several National Football League teams, including the Baltimore Ravens.
StatusPro plans to use the additional cash to expand its virtual reality technology and launch new sports-themed games to build on the success of its officially licensed NFL Pro Era, which has been downloaded more than a million times, the company said in a statement.
“No matter if it’s virtual reality or spatial computing, our vision at StatusPro is to define first-person sports and deliver experiences that truly embody the emotion, competition and sense of community that comes with being a professional athlete,” said Mr Jones, who is also chief executive of the start-up.
In 2021, James, 39, became the first active NBA player to join the elite billionaire’s club with an estimated net worth of $1 billion.
He is a part-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team through his partnership with sports, entertainment and property company Fenway Sports Group, which also has a stake in the Boston Red Sox baseball team.
In addition to the Penguins, James has been a minority owner of English Premier League football team Liverpool since 2011. His 2 per cent stake, which he purchased for $6.2 million, is now estimated to be about $49.2 million, with KPMG valuing the club at $2.6 billion.
The Space Jam: A New Legacy star extended his contract with the LA Lakers in 2023, in a deal worth $97.1 million over two years.