One of the smallest faiths in the U.S., known for its conservative values and talking about the end of days, could gain a massive fortune after the death of one of its most prominent members.
Prince, the gender-bending singer famous for his sensual music and theatrics, was a devout member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. While it is unclear whether he arranged a will, Prince has few living family members, leaving many to speculate that he may have left some of his estate to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The singer was worth at least $300 million, according to the online site Celebrity Net Worth, and his estate will continue getting money from royalties after his death.
There are only about 8.2 million active Jehovah’s Witnesses, in a little more than 118,000 congregations around the world, and the church spent $236 million in 2015, according to the 2016 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which annually chronicles the organization’s activities. The church has no paid clergy, and its website touts a modest lifestyle — most of the money was spent on caring for leaders, missionaries and traveling overseers around the world.
No matter what happens with Prince’s estate, the Jehovah’s Witnesses are poised to acquire a significant fortune sooner rather than later. The church plans to sell its property in the Brooklyn borough of New York for as much as $1 billion as part of its plan to move its world headquarters to Warwick, New York, the New York Times reported this year. Church representatives declined to be interviewed for this article, but if the group were to become a beneficiary of Prince’s estate, the money would be added to the amount to be gained through the property sale and potentially change the organization’s annual budget in a drastic way.
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