Berner Net Worth: $40M or $600M? The Cookies Valuation War, Honestly
Berner — Gilbert Anthony Milam Jr., San Francisco’s Sunset District — is the rapper whose music was never the money. As co-founder and CEO of Cookies, he turned a dispensary job and a strain name into cannabis’s biggest brand — and into the single most chaotic net-worth question in hip-hop.
The number, honestly — $40M? $300M? $410M? $600M?
The estimates genuinely span fifteen-fold: a conservative $40M outlier; the Rolling Stone-linked 2022 hip-hop wealth list at $410M (ranking him #4, on a reported ~30% Cookies stake) Reported; CEO Today’s 2026 analysis at roughly $300M Cookies-linked wealth — notable for actually publishing its method: a discounted private-brand valuation stressed for legal risk, illiquidity and federal prohibition Reported; and fan-site claims of $600M. Meanwhile the company itself: Forbes conservatively valued Cookies around $150M on ~$50M revenue in 2022 Reported, while Berner has said the brand is worth $1B+ and that he once declined a reported $800M offer Reported. Founder-claimed value, Forbes-discounted value, and tracker folklore — all wearing the same dollar sign.
The career-money timeline
| Phase | What happened to the money |
|---|---|
| Budtender, Bay Area dispensary | Product knowledge before product — the origin story that’s actually true Reported |
| Cookies co-founded (2010, with cultivator Jai) | Genetics-first: Girl Scout Cookies and Sunset Sherbet become the rare strains that became a brand Reported |
| First store + apparel (2015) | Streetwear treatment of cannabis — the moat competitors still can’t copy (the same subculture-loyalty economics powering Opium’s merch machine) Reported |
| Global expansion → Forbes cover (2022) | 49 US stores, then ~70 worldwide; first cannabis executive on a Forbes cover Reported |
How the money actually works
Every Berner estimate is really a bet on one question: what is a famous brand worth in a federally illegal industry? Cannabis companies can’t bank normally, can’t deduct normally (280E), can’t list on major US exchanges — so identical revenue is worth a fraction of its mainstream equivalent, which is exactly the discount CEO Today applies and fan trackers don’t. Add that Cookies is private, that the brand has faced reported legal and financial disputes Reported, and that a ~30% stake in a contested valuation is not spendable money — and the honest statement writes itself: Berner is plausibly hip-hop’s third-or-fourth wealthiest figure on paper, with a paper-to-cash gap wider than anyone else on the list. The ownership lesson, though, is real and rhymes with Peter Buck’s: he built equity where peers took endorsement checks.
Where these numbers come from
- Forbes (2022): Cookies ~$50M revenue, ~$150M conservative valuation; first cannabis-executive Forbes cover
- Rolling Stone-linked 2022 hip-hop wealth report: $410M, #4 ranking, ~30% reported Cookies stake; Berner’s reported declined $800M offer and $1B+ brand claim
- CEO Today (2026): ~$300M Cookies-linked estimate with published stressed-valuation methodology; notes reported legal and financial disputes
- Company record: co-founded 2010 with cultivator Jai; first SF store + apparel 2015; ~70 stores worldwide by 2024
FAQ
What is Berner’s net worth? Estimates span $40M to $600M. The most-cited anchors: the 2022 Rolling Stone-linked figure of $410M and CEO Today’s 2026 stressed estimate near $300M — while Forbes valued the whole company conservatively at $150M in 2022. Private company, contested valuation, honest answer is the range.
Who owns Cookies? Co-founders Berner (CEO, the brand and business side) and cultivator Jai (the genetics side), founded in 2010 — with Berner’s stake reported around 30%.
Why do Berner’s net worth estimates vary so wildly? Because they’re all valuing the same private, federally-restricted company differently — founder claims $1B+, Forbes said $150M conservatively, and trackers pick numbers in between.
Did Berner really turn down $800 million for Cookies? He has said he declined an offer reported at $800M in the company’s earlier years — widely repeated, never independently documented.
