How much is Ben Baller worth?
| Net Worth: | $33 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Jeweler |
| Date of Birth: | January 27, 1973 (age 50) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 6 ft (1.83 m) |
About Ben Baller
Ben Baller, whose real name is Ben Yang, is an American actor, music producer, jewelry designer, and entrepreneur. He began his career immediately after he graduated from the San Francisco State University. As of now, he has an estimated net worth of $33 million, and among some of his many celebrity clients are BTS, Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, Drake, and Floyd Mayweather among many others.
He was born on January 27, 1973, in Los, Angeles, California. He is Korean-American through his parents, Korean immigrants that settled in Los Angeles during the 1960s. His mother was a popular garment businesswoman who owned her own jeans factory in California. His father was an academic in the Asian-American studies and worked as a history professor at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles).
Ben has two siblings – a brother named David who works as a video game developer and a sister Jeanne, who is a celebrity stylist. He attended the Beverly Hills High School, from which he graduated in 1992. After that, Yang enrolled at UCLA by the mid-1990s, he earned a Bachelor’s degree in cinematography. During his time in both high school and university, Yang had a passion for basketball and football. He was dubbed by his coaches “Baller” thanks to his success in both sports, and that’s how he decided to use Baller as his stage name.
Breaking Down Ben Baller’s Net Worth
What made this businessman so rich are his jewelry and other business ventures. His diverse career in the entertainment business began in the early 1990s while he was still attending UCLA.
Influenced by his passion for music, he landed a job as a DJ at Denzel Washington’s restaurant in New York. While working at other venues, he also met DJ Dre who offered him a job. Ben then began working as a music producer at Dre’s record labels Priority Records and Aftermath Entertainment.
By the early 2000s, the music producer was already earning an estimated $100 thousand dollars per year from his different jobs. Also in the early years of the new century, he became an actor and reality television star. His television debut came in the television series “The Daily Show” and he also made appearances in “America’s Next Top Model”, “Celebs React”, and “Ridiculousness”.
In 2012, he landed his documentary series that follows his personal and professional life. The show, which included appearances from various entertainers such as Rob Kardashian, Sean Kingston, and Mac Miller, helped Yang achieve national popularity.
In 2004, he collaborated with his cousin and uncle to establish the flagship business Icee Fresh Jewels and Co. Since its foundation, the jewelry brand has created custom jewelry accessories for athletes, hip-hop artists, and many other bling enthusiasts. At this time, Baller began to build the base of his net worth. Through his association with Icee Fresh Jewels and Co and the jewellery businesses that followed, he was able to build a net worth estimated at $3 million in 2015. Mostly because he had managed to acquire A-list customers, including Michael Jackson.
He has created many eye-popping customer gems such as diamond-encrusted Soju bottles, diamond Tesla rings, and one-of-a-kind rubies among many other truly astonishing creations. He created a diamond-encrusted belt buckle for Michael Jackson. Apart from the jewelry company, he also has his own store in Slauson Supermall, as well as an online store that has thousands of customers from around the world.
Besides creating jewelry and appearing on television, Baller, who most recently developed the nickname “K-Town Hustler” is also a music producer that has worked with multiple best-selling artists for the creation of well-received hit singles. He has appeared in several music videos and projects of Justin Bieber, who happens to be one of his client celebrities. His most recent appearance in a music video is in A$AP Ferg’s “Plain Jane”.
Baller’s Total Net Worth
About half of Ben Baller’s wealth has been earned via his association with the various jewellery companies that he has been involved in. Both as a salesman, and as an owner. One should be careful when valuing jewellery businesses like those Baller owns, however. After all, if he was not the one running them they would be worth nothing more than their inventory, advantageous relationships and the customer base who did stick around.
The inventory can be pricey, that is for sure. Ben Baller had “the world’s most expensive chain” retailing at $3.115 million dollars. When it comes to the value of Baller’s group of jewellery companies, one should also of course consider revenue and profits. However, as noted, it does not translate into the company’s value as much as a more generic brand like Coca-Cola. This is because Ben Baller is the face and heartbeat of the brands he owns. He is the man to see and he often designs custom products. If he was out of the picture his group of companies would be worth far less.
It is estimated that revenue from his group of jewellery companies may have exceeded $50 million. The profit may be close to $20 million. The products are made out of precious metals and jewels, however include a large markup. Profit margins are around 40%. His BBDTC (“Ben Baller Did the Chain”) has reportedly been earning as much as $10 million per year, in recent years. A likely profit would be around $4 million a year then. In total, for all of Baller’s jewellery brands, including If And Co, of which he owns a reported 51%. It is estimated that what he owns is only worth about $5 million.
If the group was sold and Baller were under contract to continue his existing work, then it could be worth triple or quadruple that amount because of his influential clients. However it is important to separate assets from the individual. Despite the established supply chain and so on, plus no doubt more skilled professionals. Celebrities like Snoop Dogg still might decide to find another jewellery company to work with. If Ben Baller was not around.
Ben Baller owned a reported 85% of cannabis company, VVS PENS. It has been reported that revenues had been as high as $25 million per year, however that is entirely doubtful. A more likely estimate given the size of the market and its competitors in it, is a figure of $10 million. The profit margins were likely 30%, which would have had the company earning about $3 million before tax. After deducting sales, corporate tax and associated fees, which is perhaps 10-20%, after hiring a tax optimization specialist, that leaves between $2.7-2.4 million profit at its peak. If profits were distributed to shareholders via dividends, that money would be liable to be taxed again.
A good thing that the company was sold because one can underestimate the costs of research and development (R&D) in a market like vape pens, as well. Those costs were not deducted from the above earnings but they could be, likely cutting down the actual profit in almost half even when paying off R&D over a period of three years . It seems unlikely that Baller owned the full 85% of VVS PENS when it was eventually sold for a reported $45 million. In that case however, it is estimated that Baller earned over $20 million from the deal after the various fees and taxes, including capital gains tax. The reason a larger company would acquire a small company like VVS PENS for $45 million, is because of the greater infrastructure and marketing that they possessess. Allowing them to earn more revenue and incur less expense on sales of the products, while also cutting down on their own R&D costs.
Ben Baller has some of his capital in property. He reportedly owns a $6 million home and a $3 million condo. His car collection has been reported as being worth over $2 million. However I see a lot of new cars in his collection, not even a single classic. He has what appears to be an Audi, Bentley, Rangerover, Lamborghini, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Mercedes, and they are all new models. Knowing Ben it is likely that he has acquired many, if not all, of these vehicles second hand and refurbished. Still, I cannot see the entire collection having cost much more than $1.3 million. In the event of a sale, or liquidation, they may be worth less than that.
Baller must have invested quite some money into VVS PENS, perhaps one third of the money earned from his jewellery businesses; which would have been about $7.5 million after tax. It was a good investment though, that turned that $2.5 million into $20 million. The rest of his taxed earnings he likely put into his real estate, it is unlikely somebody like Ben keeps much cash around. His acting credits and appearances also come up negligible against his normal spending habits in my calculations. Which leaves his group of jewellery brands which is valued at $5 million. His real estate; that I consider is likely worth closer to $7 million in total, not $9 million, in the event of a sale and taxes and so on. I consider net worth to mean how much all of an individual’s assets are worth if liquidated today, which is important when calculating Ben’s. I consider his car collection to be worth about $1 million.
Korean-Americans as a group, and especially the entrepreneurs among them, are known to be good with money, and Ben Baller is certainly no exception. Perhaps it is owing to strong family and financial values but immigrants in general have performed well since settling in America. Everything that Ben Baller owns is an asset in one shape or form or he has a buyer and is making it specifically knowing that it is contractually being sold to them. He hasn’t had any legal troubles to speak of and is of balanced demeanor.
Overall, that makes Ben Baller’s total net worth $33 million.
Summing-Up
Ben Baller has become publicly well-known as an actor, music producer, and entrepreneur. But besides these professions, he’s known among the elite for being a jeweller. Not any jewelry designer, either, he is a trend-setter for some of the most famous celebrities in the world. Justin Bieber, 50 Cent, Floyd Mayweather, and Kanye West are just four of the many names that have trusted Ben Baller and contributed to his success. As of 2023, almost two decades after he established his own company, the businessman is worth an estimated $33 million and he’s one of the most influential entrepreneurs in Hollywood.
