Beyonce's fans love Queen Bey, there's no doubt about that. But sometimes, their admiration of the pop diva can lead them to spread or believe in misinformation floating around the Internet. Proof of this is a recent viral tweet claiming that the 37-year-old singer earned $300 million from investing on the ride-sharing company Uber.
Misleading Tweet
The tweet immediately went viral with hundreds of thousands of likes and retweets
So, the story first started three years ago. Beyonce was invited to perform at a private event for Uber's employees and instead of taking her $6 million talent fee in cash, she took its equivalent in the company's stock. Since then, Uber has grown and now one Twitter user going by the name Kelvin Lee Jones is saying that her shares' value has risen to $300 million.
There's no doubt that Queen Bey made a wise business decision by taking major stock instead of cash, but Jones' conclusion seems to have come from an unreliable source. While reputable news outlets like Forbes and The New York Times do confirm that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick did agree with the singer's request, there's no proof that she earned that much from the deal.
Tracing the source of Jones' info leads to a site called ThatGrapeJuice.net, a self-proclaimed 'urban pop culture website'. Their article seems to be referencing another one published on another site Inside Edition. This, in turn, appears to be a rewrite of a Forbes writeup which references a The New York Times report.
What Really Happened
Other celebrities have also invested in the company including actor Ashton Kutcher and Beyonce's husband Jay Z
That's not saying that Beyonce's shares didn't increase in value over the years though. It's just that it couldn't have grown into something as large as $300 million in just a few years. First, it's important to clarify that Beyonce was paid $6 million worth of stocks and not six million shares.
Assuming the singer held onto all of her stocks, the value of her shares would've only risen to a respectable $9 million considering Uber's market caps three years ago and today. Now, that sounds more realistic, right? Though it's highly doubtful that this more logical version of the story will go viral like the exaggerated one did.
It's also worth noting that many celebrities have invested in the company years before Beyonce did and safe to say, the fruits of their shares aren't as big as the Twitter poster made out Beyonce's to be. For example, elite cyclist Lance Armstrong has had stakes on Uber as early as 2009 and the estimated value of his shares is just around the $20 to 30 million range.
Just Another Rumor
Beyonce's documentary covers her historic performance at Coachella and is currently streaming on Netflix
Aside from the outrageous first claim, Jones also talked about how she only took half her paycheck for her 2018 Coachella performance so she can have the film rights to her documentary, Homecoming. This is another falsehood as the diva reportedly got the standard $4 million fee.