Successful Blacks Who are School Droup outs - JOIN, CREATE,ENJOY AND CONNECT WITH FRIENDS

Sean Combs dropped out of Howard University where he was studying business. Diddy’s ventures, along with his career as a rapper, have made him one of the the richest rap artists to date.

His ventures include the clothing line Sean John, record label Bad Boy, Ciroc vodka and most recently his own cable network Revolt TV. Acting gigs, television shows and guest appearances added to his riches. In 2013, Diddy topped Forbes hip hop’s wealthiest list with a reported fortune of $580 million.

Tyler Perry dropped out of high school but reportedly later earned a GED at an undisclosed date. Perry is an actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, producer, author, and songwriter who found his initial success in stage shows. In 2005, Forbes reported that Perry had sold “more than $100 million in tickets, $30 million in videos of his shows, and an estimated $20 million in merchandise,” and “the 300 live shows he produces each year are attended by an average of 35,000 people a week.”

Perry has also created several television shows, his most successful of which is Tyler Perry’s “House of Payne,” a show that ran for eight seasons on TBS from June 21, 2006, to Aug. 10, 2012.

On Oct. 2, 2012, Perry struck an exclusive multiyear partnership with Oprah Winfrey and her Oprah Winfrey Network. Perry has helped pull Winfrey’s struggling network out of the red.

He opened his own studio in 2008. Perry landed in the top spot on Forbes’ 2011 highest paid men in entertainment list with $130 million, surpassing industry veterans Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer.

Berry Gordy dropped out of high school in 11th grade in hopes of becoming rich as a professional boxer – a career he followed until 1950 when he was drafted by the United States Army for the Korean War.

Gordy would later borrow $800 from his parents to build his own record label. He created Motown Records in Detroit and went on to write hit songs like “Lonely Teardrops” and “I’ll be Satisfied,” and manage talents such as The Jackson 5, The Supremes, Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder and more.

Gordy is known for running Motown’s record production like an assembly line, emulating Detroit’s Big Three car companies. He sold Motown Records in 1988 for $61 million, and later sold Jobete Music Corp. in installments to EMI Music Publishing for more than $300 million combined.

Russell Simmons briefly attended classes at City College of New York before dropping out. Simmons went on to become the co-founder of Def Jam records, founder of Russell Simmons Music Group, Phat Farm fashions and a bestselling author.

Simmons sold Phat Farm in 2004 for a rumored $140 million. Under his parent company Rush Communications, Simmons also owns a television and movie production company, an advertising agency and an athletics line called Run Athletics. He reportedly has a net worth estimated at $340 million.

Ladi Delano was studying political science before dropping out of college in his second year.

The jet-setting Nigerian serial entrepreneur made his first million as a liquor entrepreneur while living in China. In 2004, at age 22, he founded Solidarnosc Asia, a Chinese alcohol beverage company that made Solid XS, a premium brand vodka. Solid XS went on to capture more than 50 percent market share in China and was distributed across more than 30 cities there, pulling in $20 million in annual revenue.

Delano later sold the company to a rival liquor company for more than $15 million and invested his funds into his next venture-The Delano Reid Group, a real estate investment holding company focused on mainland China. Today, Delano is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bakrie Delano Africa (BDA) – a $1 billion joint venture with the $15 billion (market cap) Bakrie Group of Indonesia.

Don Peebles dropped out of Rutgers University as a premed student after his freshman year to pursue a career in real estate. He started in the business by appraising properties and arguing property tax appeals through his firm RDP Corporation. At 27 years old, Peebles landed his first major investment deal in the form of a 100,000-square-foot office building in Washington, D.C. This investment led Peebles to others, enabling him to launch the Peebles Corporation.

Peebles now owns one of the country’s largest African-American real estate development companies with a $4 billion development portfolio of luxury hotels, residential and commercial properties from California, Miami and D.C. He has also authored two books, “The Peebles Principles” and “The Peebles Path to Real Estate Wealth.”

Jay Z and Beyonce Knowles-Carter

Jay Z and his wife Beyonce topped the Forbes list of highest earning couples last year. The Knowles-Carter family has a reported combined net worth of over $600 million.

Jay Z has successfully transitioned from being just a rapper to a bonafide business mogul. He signed a 10-year, $150-million Live Nation deal in 2008, and his “Watch the Throne” world tour brought in $1.4 million per night in the U.S., while Beyonce’s ” The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour” grossed an average $2 million per night, according to Forbes.

Then there are their other interests. Jay Z briefly owned a minority stake in the Brooklyn Nets, but dumped his share because he started his own sports agency: Roc Nation Sports, which represents star athletes like Kevin Durant and Victor Cruz. Beyonce has several fragrance collections and a clothing line, House of Dereon. The couple also manage a handful of lucrative endorsement deals for major companies including L’Oreal, Dell, and Budweiser.

Jay Z attended several schools in Brooklyn and reportedly last attended Trenton Central High School in Trenton, N. J., where he did not graduate. Reports vary on whether Beyonce obtained a high school diploma. Some claim she received a diploma via homeschooling while working with the successful girl group Destiny’s Child.

Two years ago, rumors swirled that Beyonce was getting a GED when she was photographed entering an Alternative Education Complex in New York. Neither has attended college.

Magic Johnson

After two years in college at Michigan State University, Magic Johnson was drafted into the NBA. Johnson never returned to complete his degree, but managed to build a multimillion-dollar company following his departure from professional basketball.

With partnerships with companies like Starbucks, 24 Hour Fitness, T.G.I. Fridays and AMC Theatres, Johnson invested in urban real estate and companies catering to America’s underserved markets via his Canyon-Johnson and Yucaipa-Johnson funds.

He now runs Magic Johnson Enterprises, a company that has a net worth of $700 million.