In 2013, according to Forbes, her net worth had exceeded US$2 billion making her Africa's first billionaire woman.
Forbes described how dos Santos acquired her wealth by taking stakes in companies doing business in Angola, suggesting that her wealth comes almost entirely from her family's power and connections.
In November 2015, the BBC named dos Santos as one of the 100 most influential women in the world.
The Angolan Government has, since 2018, been trying to prosecute Isabel dos Santos for past corruption crimes that may have led to Angola's ongoing recession crisis.