USC Launches MBA Course On Beyonce’s Billion-Dollar Business Empire

From Destiny’s Child to Cécred, USC grad students will study the business strategy that made the global music icon a billionaire.

The business of Beyoncé is officially hitting the books. The University of Southern California (USC) is putting the Grammy-winning superstar’s entrepreneurial journey at the center of a new MBA course designed to teach students how celebrity, branding, and strategic business decisions can translate into an entertainment empire.

USC’s Marshall School of Business will launch “The Business of Beyoncé” in January 2027, the Los Angeles Times reports. The 16-week course, developed by professor Shaun Harper, will examine Beyoncé’s evolution from a childhood performer and Destiny’s Child member into a global entertainer with business interests spanning music, beauty, fashion, and spirits.

“My class is not going to be just a set of conversations about Beyoncé,” Harper told the LA Times.

Instead, students will examine the business decisions behind the superstar’s brand, including her approach to social media, marketing, ownership, and audience engagement. The curriculum will also explore other influential performers and industry movements, including The Supremes, Janet Jackson, BTS, and Motown’s role in shaping Black music.

The course arrives as Beyoncé continues expanding her business portfolio. She founded Parkwood Entertainment in 2010, giving her a platform to manage and produce projects across entertainment. Her ventures have since included the athleisure brand Ivy Park, Cécred, her haircare company, and SirDavis, her whiskey brand launched in partnership with Moët Hennessy. She later bought out the spirits company’s stake, according to the Los Angeles Times. Her business ventures, paired with multiple sold-out international concert tours in recent years, have catapulted Queen Bey’s net worth into the billions, Forbes reports.

The music icon’s approach to building businesses also offers lessons in ownership and capital. Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, previously told Fortune that the singer financed Cécred herself after potential investors pushed for reduced research and development spending in favor of marketing.

Beyond analyzing her business decisions, students will be challenged to think like consultants. One assignment requires them to prepare a 700- to 1,000-word business strategy document addressed directly to Beyoncé.

For Kendall Ferguson, a second-year MBA student enrolled in the course, studying a Black businesswoman alongside a Black professor carries additional significance.

“I’m definitely not the traditional stereotype of MBA,” Ferguson said, adding that she sees the course as an opportunity to understand how Beyoncé maintains consumer engagement while expanding into new markets.

Another student, Maddie Gissler, is interested in entertainment marketing, branding, and strategy. She sees Beyoncé’s ability to evolve across industries as an opportunity to study how a recognizable brand can remain relevant while entering new business categories. Meanwhile, Professor Harper believes Beyoncé’s carefully managed public presence is part of the business lesson.

“Beyoncé shows up when she needs to show up,” he said.