Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has joined the billionaire club for the first time, becoming one of the world’s richest actors, according to a new list.
The 59-year-old’s net worth is estimated at a staggering $1.4bn (£1.03bn), according to the Hurun India Rich List 2025, an annual ranking of India’s wealthiest individuals.
This puts him in the league of global celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger, pop star Rihanna, golfer Tiger Woods, and singer Taylor Swift, whose net worth is pegged at $1.6bn by Forbes magazine.
Other Bollywood personalities on the list include actress Juhi Chawla, actors Hrithik Roshan and Amitabh Bachchan and film director Karan Johar.
Often called Bollywood’s king of romance, Khan has spent more than three decades in the Hindi film industry and reinvented himself from being an actor to running a major production house and owning a cricket team.
“Khan’s billionaire status is driven mainly by his stakes in Red Chillies Entertainment [his production company] and Knight Rider Sports [his IPL cricket club],” Anas Rahman Junaid, founder and chief researcher at Hurun India, told the BBC.
His other sources of income include film earnings, advertisements as well as reported investments in real estate across the world.
Khan’s entry in the billionaire list is a reflection of the changing nature of India’s economic growth drivers, according to Mr Junaid.
“As the Indian economy matures and moves to its next stage of wealth creation, we are seeing new centres of value emerge beyond traditional sectors like manufacturing, IT and banking,” Mr Junaid said.
Sports, entertainment and IP-driven businesses are now “serious engines of wealth creation in India”, he added.
According to Mr Junaid, this is similar to the evolution that took place in the US, where rich lists that were once dominated by industrialists and bankers now feature sports-team owners, media moguls and celebrity-led brands – from Michael Jordan and LeBron James to Oprah Winfrey and Beyoncé.
But according to Forbes, while many celebrities are incredibly wealthy, “it’s rare for their net worths to stretch all the way to ten figures”, with less than two dozen people on the planet having accomplished that feat.
While four other Bollywood celebrities and their families made it to Hurun’s list this year, Khan’s wealth is estimated to be significantly higher.
Juhi Chawla – Khan’s co-star in several films – and her family feature at number two, with a net worth of $880m.
The list also includes Hrithik Roshan, who ranks third with a net worth of $260m, followed by director Karan Johar at around $200m and actor Amitabh Bachchan and his family at around $183m.
In 2024, Johar made headlines when he sold a 50% stake in his production company Dharma Productions,to billionaire Adar Poonawala – India’s top vaccine maker – for $119m.
India’s overall billionaire count has crossed 350 people this year, with billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani retaining the top two spots according to Hurun India.
BBC NEWS