Forbes Daily Briefing

In a dystopian world ravaged by alien war, a boy who has been bullied at school discovers an ancient book left by the parents he never knew. It turns him into a vampire. And that’s only the first 10 minutes of My Vampire System, the most popular audio drama on Pocket FM, with more than 1.5 billion plays since it debuted four years ago. The story continues for another 4,192 plot-packed and cliffhanger-filled episodes. But if you want to listen to all of them, you’d better to get out your wallet.

An India-based audio entertainment company, Pocket makes its money almost entirely through microtransactions, charging users on a per-episode basis after an initial 30 minutes free each day. Theoretically, a user could listen to My Vampire System entirely for free, if they used their full allotment every single day for four years straight—or they could purchase Pocket “coins” and unlock episodes costing anywhere from just a few pennies to more than $3 each, depending on packages, promotions and episode demand. With no subscription or all-access options, some users pay several hundred, perhaps even more than a thousand dollars for the complete story. And they have—Forbes estimates the series has grossed nearly $90 million in total.

Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2026/09/21/states-settle-paramount-warner-bros-lawsuit-report-says-paving-way-for-merger-to-go-through/
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Africa’s richest person Aliko Dangote, is opening up his privately controlled oil refinery to public shareholders on Monday, September 14 for the first time in what is expected to be the biggest IPO in the continent’s history. The cement magnate is offering individual investors up to 4.1 billion shares (or 3.3% of the company) at 40 cents each (525 Nigerian Naira), with the order book closing on October 13 at a 10-share buy minimum, an exceptionally low entry requirement of roughly $4. The stock is expected to start trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in November.

“We have D-Day on Monday,” Dangote recently told Forbes, explaining how he didn’t know until very late when exactly the IPO would get underway so will now be late to an investment summit in Canada that he promised Prime Minister Mark Carney he’d attend.

He wouldn’t miss this historic day in Nigeria for anything. As Dangote tells it, this milestone is as much about boosting the wealth of local Africans as it is about raising money. (According to the 2026 UBS Global Wealth Report, Africa has the smallest share of global wealth.) “Selling these shares now is us making sure that we create wealth for other people,” says Dangote, “Just like what Amazon and Microsoft have done. That kind of thing but for an African company.”

Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/gigizamora/2026/09/14/d-day-for-dangote-africas-richest-man-is-20-billion-richer-as-refinery-ipo-gets-underway/
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Wealth begets wealth. Just ask Alice Walton, who again ranks as the nation’s richest woman on the annual Forbes 400 list—her fourth straight year at the top, and 11th out of the past 12.

The only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton (d. 1992), she is $12 billion richer than a year ago on the back of a 10% hike in the retailer’s stock, amid e-commerce and membership growth and the expansion of ultra-fast delivery service. And Walton is only widening the gap between her and America’s second richest woman, Koch, Inc. heiress Julia Koch, whose fortune grew by $3.4 billion over the past year—but who is now $33.4 billion poorer than Walton, up from a $24.8 billion gap a year ago.

Overall, Walton, 76, ranks as the 13th-richest person in America, right behind her brothers Rob Walton (estimated fortune: $132 billion) and Jim Walton ($128 billion). Together the siblings, along with two heirs of their brother John Walton (d. 2005) and charitable trusts in his name, share a 44% stake in Walmart. Rob Walton retired from Walmart’s board in 2024 after more than four decades as a director, including more than 20 years as chairman. Jim Walton still chairs the family’s $26 billion (assets) Arvest Bank Group.

Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/andreamurphy/2026/09/16/inside-the-118-billion-fortune-of-americas-richest-woman/
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Money is the only thing that can buy you a spot on The Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans—but it takes a lot of it. With markets trading near all-time highs, the minimum net worth to rank among the top 400 people in the U.S. has skyrocketed to $4.4 billion, $600 million more than a year ago. That lofty cutoff has left a record 590 American billionaires too poor to make the list, up from 500 in 2025.

Several famous faces just aren’t rich enough, including celebrities Oprah Winfrey (estimated net worth, $3.4 billion—a full billion short of making the list), pop star Taylor Swift ($2 billion) and hip hop mogul Dr. Dre ($1 billion). Plenty of high-profile business names can’t cut it either, including former eBay and Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman ($4.2 billion), OpenAI CEO Sam Altman ($3.3 billion) and former Apple CEO Tim Cook ($3 billion)

Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kirkogunrinde/2026/09/17/a-record-590-us-billionaires-arent-rich-enough-to-make-the-forbes-400-list/
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Faith is a remarkable asset. A year ago, Donald Trump’s followers had so much of it that the president could spin billions out of thin air.

First came Trump Media, which investors valued it at $5 billion even as net losses neared $700 million. Then came World Liberty Financial, which sold more than $1 billion of tokens in 2025 on vague promises to “democratize finance.” Finally, there was the memecoin, which explicitly warned buyers that it was not intended to be an investment but nonetheless generated enough hype to leave Trump with a pile of tokens conservatively worth $710 million.

The bonanza pushed the president’s fortune to $7.3 billion by September 2025, the highest figure to ever appear next to Trump’s name since he joined the inaugural Forbes 400 list 44 years ago.
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