How much is it worth?
Imagine putting everything you own of any value (the cash in your pocket, your credit, bank accounts, clothes, real estate, cars, stocks, investments, the money your cousin owes you, your name and even your reputation) in a pile. Now imagine another pile with all your outstanding debts (loans, bills, unpaid credit cards, that $40 you owe your cousin). The piles are inseparable. You can’t have one without the other.
While there are multiple ways to value the piles, all valuation models use a combination of what I call the “Three Ps.”
Pieces: The pile is worth the total value of everything in it. If it has $1 million in cash, $500,000 in stock, $500,000 in real estate and $1 million in credit card debt, the pile is worth $1 million.
Price: The pile is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. For instance, the only reason a hard drive with 50 unreleased Beyoncé recordings is worth more than 50 hours of me singing in the shower is because of what someone would pay for it.
Potential: The pile is worth how much money it could generate for the owner. Even if I owned the exact same lights, cameras and land used in Madea Meets the Holy Ghost, Tyler Perry Studios would still be worth more than Michael Harriot Films.
And Black culture is the most valuable product on the planet.
In 2025, the music industry made $11.5 billion. Hip hop and R&B accounts for about a third to a quarter of music streaming revenue. “Music of Black origin” accounts for 80% of all music revenue. The Black hair care industry made $3 billion last year. Mark Zuckerberg is wealthy because Black teenagers are overrepresented on social media. Black adults are, too. Before the film industry made $33 billion last year, researchers in 2018 found that movies with at least two Black actors perform better domestically and internationally. Another study showed that Black and Hispanic audiences kept Hollywood afloat in 2020 during the COVID pandemic, which just happened to be the highest-grossing year in the history of the film industry.
It’s a form of wealth.
The individual pieces of Black culture are the most valuable part of the music, fashion, tech, advertising and entertainment industries. Our art is the only reason people are willing to pay Spotify’s and Prime’s price to not own their digital media. The culture multiplies the earning potential of marketing firms, musicians, luxury houses and liquor brands.
Anyway…
In 2020, Tesla made a profit for the first time in the history of the company. If you include the $3 billion in profits from 2025, the company has made $44 billion. The largest shareholder (that Nazi-saluting guy) owns around 28% of the company. Most of the company is owned by investment groups. It sells fewer cars than any American manufacturer.
So how the hell is Elon Musk the richest man in the world?
Today’s Reading List:
Researcher uses hacked studio data to prove racially diverse casts are more profitable by Molly Callahan and Lia Petronio, Northeastern University
The true Hollywood story of ‘woke’ mermaids by Michael Harriot
The Black influence: How Black culture & identity drive the market by Nielsen
A Letter Not From a Birmingham Jail by Michael Harriot
Thank you, Lurie Daniel Favors, Dr Bhembe's Newsletter, Fat News Daily 📰, Cort Gross, J Davis, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.
