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CelebrityNetWorth is a website which reports estimates of the total assets and financial activities of celebrities. It is operated by Corte Lodato LLC, which was founded by its CEO Brian Warner in 2008.

The website has been criticized for a lack of transparency for its calculations, with no way to verify the accuracy of the figures. Most content is written by freelance writers, rather than journalists or computer scientists that analyze data.

Activities

CelebrityNetWorth creates web pages that list a celebrity's name, a short biography, and estimates of net worth and salary. The site claims to calculate net worth based on "a proprietary algorithm" based on publicly available information, although, according to The New York Times, there are no computer scientists in their employment. Warner has said of their estimates that "If we end up too far off, there is always some kind of backlash. There have been a handful of cases when we’ve been proved to be off, and we’ve corrected it". The site also provides news articles on financial transactions of celebrities such as the purchase of a home or lawsuits, which are written by freelancers.

CelebrityNetWorth also creates lists ranking wealthy individuals based upon their wealth. In 2012, the company compiled a list of the 25 richest people in history, adjusted for inflation, naming King Mansa Musa of the Mali Empire at the top of the list. That same year, it created a list of the world's richest DJs, and a survey which named Ringo Starr as the world's richest drummer.

Interactions with Google

In 2014, Google requested permission from Warner to include CelebrityNetWorth's data in its Knowledge Graph. Warner declined. However, in February 2016, Google began using information from its search index of CelebrityNetWorth to display featured snippets with net worth at the top of their search result pages for relevant queries. The featured snippets were positioned above the search results, including results for CelebrityNetWorth. As a result, CelebrityNetWorth's web traffic declined by 65% from January 2016 to January 2017.

In July 2019, the site was asked to submit on-the-record testimony to the House Subcommittee on Antitrust as part of its investigation into Google's anti-competitive behavior. The testimony provided a timeline detailing Google's encroachment into CelebrityNetWorth's business through the use of scraped content and "Featured Snippet" answer boxes. The testimony made three primary arguments; 1) That Google used its market power as a monopoly to benefit itself while hurting competitors; 2) That Google's actions have had negative impacts on the open internet; and 3) That these actions harm everyday Internet consumers.

Criticism

The website has been criticized for a lack of transparency for its calculations, with no way to verify the accuracy of the figures. A piece in The New York Times criticized CelebrityNetWorth's accuracy, describing news articles as "clickbait", noting that most content is written by freelance writers, rather than journalists or computer scientists that analyze data. Warner himself has said that the amount is "ballparked" rather than "dollar level accuracy." Despite this, numerous publications often cite the publication. The piece also noted signs of interference; after Geoffrey Owens was spotted working as a retail cashier, his previous net worth of $500K was revised to $300K.

References

1. "CelebrityNetWorth.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools". WHOIS. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
2. https://www.linkedin.com/company/celebrity-net-worth
3. ^ Jeffries, Adrianne (17 Apr 2017). "How Google eats a business whole". The Outline. Retrieved 12 Jul 2018.
4. ^ Harris, Malcolm (September 19, 2018). "The Big Secret of Celebrity Wealth (Is That No One Knows Anything)". The New York Times. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
5. meredithqz (March 18, 2015). "Seven questions with the CEO who gets paid to know what every celebrity is worth". Quartz. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
6. "Celebrity Net Worth". CelebrityNetWorth. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
7. "Who's The Richest Person In History?". NPR. October 16, 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
8. Erik Ortiz (October 18, 2012). "King Mansa Musa of Mali named richest person of all time". New York Daily News. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
9. "Mansa Musa of Mali Named World's Richest Man of All Time; Gates And Buffet Also Make List". Huffington Post. October 17, 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
10. "Website names obscure 14th century African king the richest person in history". FOX News. October 17, 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
11. Tom Breihan (June 12, 2012). "The 30 Richest DJs In The World". StereoGum. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
12. Steve Chagollan (January 28, 2014). "Ringo Starr Talks Paul, Meditation and Why He Loves L.A." Variety. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
13. Warner, Brian (21 Jul 2019). "CelebrityNetWorth's Statement Submitted to the House Subcommittee on Antitrust". Medium. Retrieved 21 Aug 2019.

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