Yo Gotti Reveals JAY-Z Inspired Him To Go Back To College To Grow His $100M Empire

Yo Gotti‘s $100 million empire has been, in part, inspired by JAY-Z — who did a lot more than offer the devil’s bargain of “$500K or dinner with JAY-Z?”

In an interview with Forbes, which dropped on Friday (February 23), the rapper revealed that watching how the Hip Hop billionaire has handled himself over the years inspired Gotti to further his education, even though he’d never graduated from college.

Yo Gotti revealed that he’d been taking classes at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management since December of 2023, and focused on such business concepts as corporate valuation.

“I may want to buy a company or acquire another com­pany,” he said. “So I’m making sure I’m supertight—and understand the language and the verbiage myself other than listening to financial experts.”

JAY-Z himself gave a quote to Forbes about his mentee’s progress, praising his business acumen and adding that it’s “evident in every move [Gotti]  makes, breaking the mold of the old-guard definition of an executive.”

Yo Gotti has quietly built quite the financial empire and is now sitting nicely at an estimated net worth of $100 million.

In addition to his CMG Music Group which is home to artists including Moneybagg Yo, GloRilla and Blac Youngsta, Gotti also has a minority stake in the MLS team D.C. United and owns the restaurant Prive in Memphis.

“If I never wrote another rap again, I’m financially straight,” he told the publication. “My whole career, I was setting up for that.”

A portion of how he’s built such an empire is by not spending frivolously. In an interview last summer, Gotti explained his refusal to fly private, as he believes there are smarter ways to spend his hard-earned cash.

“I don’t even fly private,” he said on Los Angeles-based radio show Big Boy’s Neighborhood. “I can’t afford it. I fly first class and I’m keeping my paper. I can’t afford it up here [in my head].”

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He went on to out 42 Dugg as one of his artists that strictly flies private while moving around the country.

“Some of em only fly private,” Gotti says. “I was trying to get one of my artists to do some promo. He’s like, ‘It’s cool, I’m gonna fly private though.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t even fly private.’ … Dugg young and turnt. He only fly private.”

While he doesn’t approve of the private jet lifestyle, Gotti has no issues making sure his artists enjoy only the best when it comes to other methods of transportation, as he gifted GloRilla a new Maybach SUV for her 24th birthday last July.