Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian — How the sports-tech power couple make and spend their millions (2024)

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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.

Source:Business Insider

Williams has also earned millions from endorsem*nt deals with companies like Nike, Beats by Dre, Gatorade, JPMorgan Chase, Tempur-Pedic, Aston Martin, Audemars Piguet, Intel, and Wilson.

Source: Business Insider

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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.

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.

Read more: Serena Williams tried to deposit her first million-dollar check in the bank drive-thru

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She also has a partnership with WheelsUp.

She has her own clothing line with HSN, the Serena Williams Signature Statement collection.

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Additionally, she's served on the board of SurveyMonkey since May 2017.

Read more: Serena Williams could cash in on an upcoming tech IPO

Nike recently honored their long-time partnership with Serena by naming a building after her.

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She was also an executive producer on the recent movie, "King Richard," starring Will Smith as her father.

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.

Source: Vogue

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In the summer of 2015, Williams began dating tech guru Alexis Ohanian.

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.

Read more: Reddit's cofounders sold the company at age 23 for a fraction of the $1.8 billion it's worth today — here's how the duo got back on top

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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.

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.

Source: CNBC

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He's since resigned his post on the Reddit board and urged the company to fill his seat with a Black candidate instead.

Since Reddit, he founded Initialized Capital, an early-stage venture-capital firm that boasts over $700 million in assets under management.

Source: LinkedIn

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But he left in June 2020, and a year later, he announced a new VC firm called "776."

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."

Source: LinkedIn

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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.

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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.

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.

Source: Vanity Fair

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Ohanian and Williams went on their first date in Paris the following month.

Source:Vanity Fair

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Ohanian then went to watch her play in the French Open later in the week.

Source:Vanity Fair

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Ohanian proposed at the Cavalieri — where they first met —on December 10, 2016.

Her engagement ring is reportedly worth more than $2 million.

Source: Hollywood Life

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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.

Source:Insider

Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr was born in September.

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Following in the footsteps of her mother, Olympia is a burgeoning fashion icon, mixing Burberry dresses with Nike kicks like it's nothing.

She goes yachting in sailor's outfits.

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She even had her own tennis gear from one of Serena's most important partners, Wilson.

Olympia became the youngest person to grace the cover of Vogue, at 3 months old.

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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.

Read more: Alexis Ohanian and Serena Williams' daughter, Olympia, just became the youngest team owner in pro sports

Williams and Ohanian have a mutual love of American football. Williams and her sister, Venus, became partial owners of the Miami Dolphins in 2009.

Source: ESPN

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And Ohanian's first purchase after selling Reddit was field-level season tickets to Washington's football franchise for himself and his father.

Source: CNBC

Alexis is a bit of a collector, including comics.

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And video games.

Nearly a month after Olympia's birth in 2017, Ohanian and Williams tied the knot in an opulent wedding in Louisiana.

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Williams wore an estimated $3.5 million worth of jewelry at the ceremony. She also changed dresses three times.

Source: Business Insider

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Serena wore sparkly Nike shoes during the reception which also had a carousel in the center of the room.

Source: Business Insider

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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.

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.

Read more: Tennis superstar Serena Williams just bought a $6.7 million Beverly Hills mansion — here's what it's like inside

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They spend most of their time in Florida, where they own a stunning property in Palm Beach Gardens. The house includes an art gallery.

Here is a look at Serena's trophy room.

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They also have homes in Paris and Bel Air.

One of her houses has an entire closet dedicated to her shoe collection.

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Serena also has a taste for luxury cars. As Aston Martin's Chief Sporting Officer, she appears to have chosen the $300,000 Vanquish.

And despite their busy lives, they still find time for family and adventures, including a recent trip to Greece.

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And snorkeling with the Alexis and Olympia.

They also have a dog named Adora.

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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.

Source: Charity Buzz

She's a United Nations goodwill ambassador.

Source: Business Insider

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And she has supported Colin Kaepernick in his activism and protesting during his time in the NFL.

Read more: LeBron James and Serena Williams have shown their support for Nike's polarizing Colin Kaepernick ad campaign

Ohanian, too, supports Kap. He made a $1 million pledge to Kaepernick's Know Your Rights Camp using his Reddit stock gains.

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Ohanian is also an outspoken advocate for digital rights and has donated money to tech training initiatives.

Source: TechCrunch

Despite their fabulous lifestyles and incredible careers, Williams and Ohanian seemingly always put their family first.

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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.

Serena Williams announces she is retiring from tennis, saying that as a woman, she must choose between 'tennis and a family'

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.

Source: Vogue

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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 told Forbes her goals beyond just being an endorsem*nt athlete, saying: "I want to be in the infrastructure. I want to be the brand, instead of just being the face."

Read more: While Serena Williams Plays Her Final Matches At U.S. Open, Here's How She's Building Her Off-Court Investing

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In the meantime, she also announced at the recent 2023 Met Gala that she is expecting baby No. 2. Superwoman indeed.

Read more: Serena Williams and Karlie Kloss both revealed they're pregnant on the Met Gala red carpet

Now check out the best photos of Williams throughout her incredible tennis career:

68 incredible photos of Serena Williams playing tennis throughout her career