Zack O'Malley Greenburg's Blog, page 99

Justin Bieber’s Manager: The Facebook Billionaire That Almost Was

Scooter Braun: Who needs Facebook when you've got this guy?

Take a look at what Scooter Braun has accomplished in the past few years, and you’d think it would be just about impossible for the 30-year-old to have any major regrets in his young business career.

In 2008 he discovered Justin Bieber, became his manager, and quickly helped the Canadian crooner explode into being arguably the most famous entertainer in the world. Bieber has pulled in $108 million over the past two years—earning him a...

Why Birdman Wants To Have Lunch With Oprah

Is a Cash Money luncheon in Oprah's future?

Bryan “Birdman” Williams has had plenty of success in his career. After co-founding Cash Money Records two decades ago, he’s grown his roster to include superstars from Lil Wayne to Drake to Nicki Minaj. Today he’s one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in the music business, racking up a personal fortune of $125 million by FORBES’ last count.

But that’s not nearly enough, as far as Birdman is concerned–he has his sights set on becoming hip-hop’s first b...

Justin Bieber, Venture Capitalist: The Forbes Cover Story

see photosMichael Prince

Click for full photo gallery: Justin Bieber: Photos From The Forbes Cover Shoot

This story appears on the June 4, 2012 cover of Forbes.

­­Leaning on a soundboard in a Hollywood recording studio, Justin Bieber is about to make me an offer that would prompt instant hysteria among millions of American teenage girls: Do I want to be the first person outside of his inner circle to hear some rough cuts he’s considering for his upcoming album, Believe?

“You’ve gotta hear this, i...

Bieber’s Business Brain: Scooter Braun

Scooter Braun and Justin Bieber: Raising capital.

This article appears in the June 4, 2012 issue of Forbes, alongside our cover story on Justin Bieber.

Past the koi pondand through the 12-foot front door of Scooter Braun’s Hollywood home, Warner Music executives sip beers on a recent Wednesday night with former Google bigwigs and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs; in the backyard British boy band The Wanted lounges on a poolside divan overlooking Sunset Strip.

This is the kind of mix that Braun assid...

Justin Bieber: Inside The Forbes Cover Shoot

Justin Bieber on the cover of Forbes. Swaggy.

One hundred feet above the palm tree-lined streets of Beverly Hills, Justin Bieber is in the midst of a very complicated imaginary business meeting. He’s sitting behind a glass table in the penthouse presidential suite at the Beverly Hilton, pretending to have a serious conversation with manager Scooter Braun.

While a photographer snaps away, a tailor tweaks Bieber’s navy Prada suit and a hairdresser fusses with his famous coif. A half-dozen handler...

Forbes Celebrity 100: The World’s Most Powerful Musicians

see photosJemal Countess/Getty Images

Click for full photo gallery: Celebrity Musicians

Every spring FORBES ranks the world’s most influential entertainers in the Celebrity 100 special issue, and this year musicians have made a strong showing as usual.

Though we’re counting our No. 1, Jennifer Lopez, as a television personality first and foremost, she made her name as singer. She’s got plenty of company–nearly a quarter of the names on this year’s Celeb 100 are classified as musicians, including...

Justin Bieber On Becoming A Venture Capitalist And Giving Back

Justin Bieber, hard at work.

Justin Bieber boasts 21 million Twitter followers, 43 million Facebook fans and a whopping 2.4 billion impressions on his VEVO channel–assuming three minutes per song, that’s about enough to provide one minute of video to every person on the planet.

So perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that, when he started looking for places to invest the $108 million he’s earned in the past two years, his first target was Silicon Valley. His portfolio of tech startups–the su...

Diddy’s Voice Coach Teaches Forbes To Sing

I'll Be Coaching You: Ilana Martin, who has instructed Diddy and others, hard at work.

Sean “Diddy” Combs has been known for a lot of things over the years—launching Notorious B.I.G.’s career, starting the Sean John clothing line, making Ciroc a household name, becoming hip-hop’s richest mogul—but singing isn’t usually first on the list.

So last year, before he launched into the 20-show, month-long Diddy-Dirty Money Coming Home Tour, he decided to seek some professional help—from voice coach Il...

Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch And The Beastie Boys: Hip-Hop Pioneers

The Beastie Boys - Adam Horovitz, Adam Yauch and Michael Diamond (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Beastie Boys were never ones to disappoint a crowd. When Adam “MCA” Yauch was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2009, though, they had no choice but to cancel their headlining gig at the All Points West music festival. Little did they know it would have been the last show they’d play together—Yauch died today at the age of 47.

As for All Points West, the show went on in fitting fashion. The festival’s o...

Train’s Delicious Diversification Strategy

Sweet Music: Train is set to release an eponymous chocolate bar to go along with its Drops of Jupiter Petite Sirah.

Train’s new album, California 37, debuted on April 17th and the group recently announced 42 new tour dates in support of the release. But even as the “Hey Soul Sister” purveyors continue their unlikely resurgence, they’re diversifying.

Last year the band launched its Drops of Jupiter Petite Sirah, produced by its ownwine company–Save Me, San Francisco Wine Co–and a few weeks ago t...