Madonna is not a Billionaire

Madonna is not a billionaire. Forbes magazine quickly came out and refuted claims of her billionairia that were all over the place recently. Though she is doing just fine at a net worth of more than $300 million, she's still short of being in the B-boys and girls club.

Here's what Forbes.com had to say.

We estimated the singer’s net worth at $325 million six years ago. Since then, our wealth team has chronicled the scads of cash she’s earned via our Celeb 100 list, and while she’s earned a ton of money, the numbers don’t add up to anything near $1 billion. She earned $72 million in 2007, $40 million in 2008, $110 million in 2009 and $58 million in 2010. With no touring or new albums in 2011, she didn’t earn enough to make our list that year, then pulled in another $30 million through the first half of 2012.

Add it all up (plus whatever she earned in 2011–let’s call it $10 million) and you get $320 million. Lop off 35% for federal income taxes ($112 million), another 10% for state and local taxes ($32 million) and 20% for management, legal and agency fees ($64 million). That leaves $112 million before figuring in any expenses for housing, staff, travel or luxury goods.

The bottom line is still looking pretty good.

Who is responsible for this reporting goof? The New York Post credited Women's Wear Daily with the information.  But then Women's Wear Daily told ABC News Radio that it didn't report the story.  The New York Post subsequently shifted its attribution to a celebrity gossip site, but Forbes has now put those claims to rest.