Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian How the sports-tech power couple make and spend their millions
Alexis Ohanian (center), Olympia Ohanian (left), and Serena Williams.Charles Krupa/AP
- Serena Williams, arguably the most dominant tennis player of all time, recently retired as one of the greatest athletes ever.
- Her husband, Alexis Ohanian, founded Reddit — the third-most-visited website in the US.
- Their astronomical wealth allows them to make fascinating investments and lead a fabulous lifestyle together.
Serena Williams, one of the greatest athletes of all time, has a net worth of more than $260 million, thanks in large part to earning more than $94 million in career prize money — considerably more than any other professional women's tennis player.
Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Source: Business Insider
Williams has also earned millions from endorsement deals with companies like Nike, Beats by Dre, Gatorade, JPMorgan Chase, Tempur-Pedic, Aston Martin, Audemars Piguet, Intel, and Wilson.
Nike
Source: Business Insider
Serena is still the second-highest-paid woman in sports, making $45.9 million last year. All but $1 million came in off-court earnings.
Williams celebrates winning a point. Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
She says she has never been motivated by money and never thought about checks. She even tried to deposit her first million-dollar check through a bank drive-through — and failed.
Clive Brunskill/Allsport
She also has a partnership with WheelsUp.
IG/Serena Williams
She has her own clothing line with HSN, the Serena Williams Signature Statement collection.
Serena Williams attends the Balmain Ready To Wear Fall/Winter 2022-2023 fashion collection. Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP
Additionally, she's served on the board of SurveyMonkey since May 2017.
Williams in 2015. Getty Images/Brad Barket
Nike recently honored their long-time partnership with Serena by naming a building after her.
Nike
She was also an executive producer on the recent movie, "King Richard," starring Will Smith as her father.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
And her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, raised $111 million in its inaugural fund, along with her partner Alison Stilman. They have already invested in 60 companies.
YouTube/CNBC
Source: Vogue
In the summer of 2015, Williams began dating tech guru Alexis Ohanian.
Getty Images
Ohanian founded the popular social media platform Reddit in 2005 and sold it to Condé Nast for at least $10 million a year later. He was 23 years old.
Reddit
The Reddit deal gave Ohanian "more money for me than my entire family — my mother and father — had made in their entire lives," he said.
Jin S. Lee
Source: NPR
Ohanian rejoined Reddit as an executive chairman in 2014. The website, the third-most-visited in the US, is worth more than $10 billion.
Getty Images
Source: CNBC
He's since resigned his post on the Reddit board and urged the company to fill his seat with a Black candidate instead.
Alexis Ohanian Elsa/Getty Images
Since Reddit, he founded Initialized Capital, an early-stage venture-capital firm that boasts over $700 million in assets under management.
Lara O'Reilly/Business Insider
Source: LinkedIn
But he left in June 2020, and a year later, he announced a new VC firm called "776."
Simon Bruty /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images
Source: Forbes
He also helped start Breadpig, a company that offers supportive services for creators and their companies. His official title was "founder and chief swine defender."
Alexis Ohanian
Source: LinkedIn
And he served as the "head marketing dude & Hipmunk doodler" for Hipmunk, a travel search website.
Source: LinkedIn
Ohanian has an estimated $70 million net worth himself, giving the power couple a combined value of $330 million.
Theo Wargo/Getty Images
The duo met late in the spring of 2015 at the Rome Cavalieri, a luxury hotel that boasts the only restaurant in the Italian capital with three Michelin stars.
Rome Cavalieri
Source: Vanity Fair, Rome Cavalieri
Ohanian sat down next to Williams outside by the pool, and after trying to trick him into thinking there was a rat at his table, she and her friends invited him to join them. Ohanian had never watched Williams play — and wasn't much of a tennis fan — but he agreed to come to her match later that day.
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Source: Vanity Fair
Ohanian and Williams went on their first date in Paris the following month.
Flickr/Taylor Miles
Source: Vanity Fair
Ohanian then went to watch her play in the French Open later in the week.
IG/Alexis Ohanian
Source: Vanity Fair
Ohanian proposed at the Cavalieri — where they first met — on December 10, 2016.
IG/Serena Williams
In early 2017, the couple found out Serena was pregnant. Then, at eight weeks pregnant, she dominated the Australian Open to win her 23rd Grand Slam and earn $2.7 million.
Scott Barbour/Getty
Source: Insider
Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr was born in September.
AP Photo/Chuck Burton
Following in the footsteps of her mother, Olympia is a burgeoning fashion icon, mixing Burberry dresses with Nike kicks like it's nothing.
IG/Olympia Ohanian
She goes yachting in sailor's outfits.
IG/Olympia Ohanian
She even had her own tennis gear from one of Serena's most important partners, Wilson.
IG/Olympia Ohanian
Olympia became the youngest person to grace the cover of Vogue, at 3 months old.
IG/Olympia Ohanian
Serena and Alexis purchased a piece of the Angel City soccer team in LA and put some of it in Olympia's name, making her the youngest owner of a professional sports team.
Twitter/Olympia Ohanian
Williams and Ohanian have a mutual love of American football. Williams and her sister, Venus, became partial owners of the Miami Dolphins in 2009.
Charles Trainor Jr./Miami Herald/MCT via Getty Images
Source: ESPN
And Ohanian's first purchase after selling Reddit was field-level season tickets to Washington's football franchise for himself and his father.
IG/Alexis Ohanian
Source: CNBC
Alexis is a bit of a collector, including comics.
IG/Alexis Ohanian
And video games.
IG/Alexis Ohanian
Nearly a month after Olympia's birth in 2017, Ohanian and Williams tied the knot in an opulent wedding in Louisiana.
IG/Alexis Ohanian
Williams wore an estimated $3.5 million worth of jewelry at the ceremony. She also changed dresses three times.
IG/Serena Williams
Source: Business Insider
Serena wore sparkly Nike shoes during the reception which also had a carousel in the center of the room.
IG/Alexis Ohanian
Source: Business Insider
Less than a year later, Williams and Ohanian attended one of the only ceremonies more extravagant than their own: the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle in England.
Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian attend the wedding of Prince Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England. Shaun Botterill/Getty
At one point, Ohanian, Williams, and their daughter lived in a $6.7 million home in Beverly Hills, California — but they've since listed that property for sale.
Courtesy of Sam Real, Nest Seekers International
They spend most of their time in Florida, where they own a stunning property in Palm Beach Gardens. The house includes an art gallery.
YouTube/Architectural Digest
Here is a look at Serena's trophy room.
Architectural Digest/YouTube
They also have homes in Paris and Bel Air.
IG/Serena Williams
One of her houses has an entire closet dedicated to her shoe collection.
IG/Serena Williams
And despite their busy lives, they still find time for family and adventures, including a recent trip to Greece.
IG/Serena Williams
And snorkeling with the Alexis and Olympia.
IG/Serena Williams
They also have a dog named Adora.
IG/Alexis Ohanian
Though they lead a lavish lifestyle, Ohanian and Williams are also very philanthropic. Williams established the Serena Williams Fund to promote equity for all people.
Getty Images
Source: Charity Buzz
And she has supported Colin Kaepernick in his activism and protesting during his time in the NFL.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
Ohanian, too, supports Kap. He made a $1 million pledge to Kaepernick's Know Your Rights Camp using his Reddit stock gains.
REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
Ohanian is also an outspoken advocate for digital rights and has donated money to tech training initiatives.
Wikimedia Commons
Source: TechCrunch
Despite their fabulous lifestyles and incredible careers, Williams and Ohanian seemingly always put their family first.
IG/Alexis Ohanian
And as the couple has felt the itch to grow their family, Williams has found it difficult to make time for her tennis career. In August, she announced her intention to retire after the US Open.
AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali
But there is plenty to come from Serena, who has called investing in start-ups a passion of hers. Serena Ventures has funded 16 unicorns — companies valued at $1 billion or more — including MasterClass, Tonal, Impossible Foods, Noom, and Esusu.
MasterClass
Source: Vogue
In an essay for Vogue, Williams said she became interested in investing when she was shocked to learn that less than two percent of all venture capital money was invested in women.
Serena Williams will retire from tennis after the US Open. Getty/Ian Johnson
Serena told Forbes her goals beyond just being an endorsement athlete, saying: "I want to be in the infrastructure. I want to be the brand, instead of just being the face."
Michael Buckner/Getty Images for Burberry
Now check out the best photos of Williams throughout her incredible tennis career:
Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
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