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There are 607 billionaires in the United States, and only 5 of them are black

There are 607 billionaires in the United States, and only 5 of them are black

5. Jay-Z grew the proceeds from his music career into a billion-dollar fortune with smart investments.

4. Michael Jordan used his success as a basketball player to build a best-selling footwear brand.

Source of wealth: sports, endorsements

Jordan, 56, is the highest-paid athlete of all time, but not because of his salary from the Chicago Bulls. Jordan earned $1.4 billion before taxes from corporate sponsorships during his professional basketball career. His film debut, "Space Jam," also earned $250 million at the worldwide box office, according to IMDB.

He went on to purchase an NBA team, The Charlotte Hornets, in 2010. The Hornets may be the third least-valuable NBA franchise according to Forbes, but the team's valuation at $1.05 billion is still a major part of Jordan's wealth. Jordan has also made a lot of money from Nike's Air Jordan line, which made him a billionaire in 2015, according to CNN Business.

3. Oprah Winfrey made a multimillion-dollar fortune from her media empire.

Net worth: $2.7 billion

Source of wealth: media

Born to a single mother in rural Mississippi, Winfrey started out as a news anchor before spending 25 years hosting "The Oprah Winfrey Show." The investments Winfrey made with her share of the show's profits are now worth about $2 billion, Forbes estimates. She became a billionaire in 2003, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Winfrey, now 66, also leveraged her show's success to build a media empire and amassed a fortune of $2.6 billion in the process, according to Forbes. She owns 25.5% of her television network OWN, an 8% stake in WW International, and has a content creation deal with Apple TV+.

Oprah has also voiced characters in "Charlotte's Web," "The Bee Movie," and "The Princess and the Frog," in addition to starring in "Lee Daniels' The Butler" and "Selma," among others, according to The Oprah Magazine.

2. David Steward built his fortune running an IT service provider that counts Citi, Verizon, and the federal government as clients.

Net worth: $3.5 billion

Source of wealth: information technology services

Steward founded World Wide Technology, an IT services company that has generated over $11 billion in sales, according to Forbes. Steward, 68, serves as the company's chairman. The Missouri-based billionaire still has a majority stake in the company.

1. Investor Robert F. Smith is the richest black man in the country.

Net worth: $5 billion

Source of wealth: private equity

A Cornell graduate and former Goldman Sachs executive, Smith built his multibillion-dollar fortune running private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, Business Insider previously reported. Vista is one of the most successful private equity firms in the nation, with more than $46 billion in assets and posting annualized returns of 22%.

Smith became the first African American to sign The Giving Pledge in 2017, an invitation-only alliance of billionaires who have pledged to give away the majority of their fortunes. Smith is perhaps best known for his philanthropy. In May, he announced a $34 million gift to pay off the student loans of Morehouse College's class of 2019 while speaking during the historically black college's graduation ceremony. Smith later expanded the gift to cover the graduates' parents' educational debt.