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Media mogul, TV host, and author Oprah Winfrey hails from the United States of America. A total of $3.5 billion is Oprah’s net worth. As of today, she earns an estimated $315 million per year from her multi-faceted media empire.
KEY FACTS
- First became a millionaire in 1989
- By 1995 her net worth crossed $500 million
- Became a billionaire in 2000
- Makes $300 million per year
- Owns $200 million worth of real estate
- He donated at least $400 million to charity to date
- Is the richest self-made woman in America
Wendy Williams Net Worth, Early Life, Career & More Details!
Table of Contents
Oprah Winfrey
| Net Worth: | $3.5 Billion |
| Salary: | $300 Million Per Year |
| Date of Birth: | Jan 29, 1954 (68 years old) |
| Gender: | Female |
| Height: | 5 ft 6 in (1.69 m) |
| Profession: | Media proprietor, Actor, Presenter, Businessperson, Television producer, Film Producer, Journalist, Philanthropist, Voice Actor |
| Nationality: | United States of America |
Early Life
From a life of poverty, abuse, and prejudice, Oprah Winfrey has gone on to become one of the most powerful people in the world. On January 29, 1954, she was born Orpah Gail Winfrey. No, that wasn’t a typo. Her given name, “Orpah,” was a play on the biblical character Ruth from the Book of Ruth. As a child, many people referred to me as “Oprah,” a nickname I grew to love. Originally from Mississippi, she was raised in Kosciusko. Vernita Lee, Vernita’s mother, was a teenage housemaid who had never married. When Oprah was born, her biological father, Vernon Winfrey, was serving in the military. He became a barber, a coal miner, and a city councilman in his later years. Another Noah Robinson has been mentioned as a possible biological father of hers.
In the early years of Oprah’s life, her mother and grandmother took in Oprah and her siblings. Oprah was forced to wear potato sacks as school attire because her family was so poor. So she went from rags to riches in the span of a few years.
I can finally share the BEST pub day news: @oprah has selected “Nightcrawling” as her latest pick! Join the conversation and #ReadWithUs on @oprahsbookclub as Oprah leads us in discussion for the next few weeks. I am so incredibly honored & grateful to have been chosen. 🤍🤍🤍 pic.twitter.com/MYGUf42gYC
— Leila Mottley (@leilamottley) June 7, 2022
Oprah’s mother worked as a maid in Milwaukee when she was six years old, and the two moved there. Patricia, Oprah’s mother’s second child, was born during this time. Patricia, a 43-year-old cocaine addict, died in 2003. Vernon’s son Jeffrey, a half-brother, died of AIDS in 1989 at the age of 24.
Vernon, Oprah’s father, relocated the 12-year-old Oprah to his Nashville home when she was 12. The abuse she was subjected to as a child prompted her to run away from home at the age of 13. When she was 14, she became pregnant with her first child, a son, who was born too early and died shortly after.
She began her high school career at Lincoln High School in Milwaukee, but after a stellar performance in a special program, she was transferred to Nicolet High School, an affluent suburban school. After getting into some trouble, she returned to Nashville and is now a full-time resident there. She began to blossom during her time at East Nashville High School in Nashville. A part-time job as a news anchor at WVOL, a black radio station in Nashville, Tennessee, came Oprah’s way after she won the Miss Black Beauty Tennessee pageant when she was 17.
To attend Tennessee State University, she was awarded a scholarship. Oprah dropped out of high school at the age of 19 to pursue a career in the media.
Media Career
At WLAC-TV in Nashville, Oprah became the station’s first black female news anchor. At the time, she was the station’s youngest-ever anchor. The six o’clock news co-anchor position at WJZ in Baltimore was hers when she was 22 years old, making her a sought-after candidate.
A talk show called People Are Talking was launched in August 1978, with her as a co-host. Even in her hometown of Baltimore, she was beating out Phil Donahue, who was nationally syndicated, in 1980. After adjusting for inflation, she was making $220,000 a year at the end of her Baltimore run, which works out to around $560,000 today.
In 1984, ABC saw Oprah’s potential and gave her a 30-minute morning talk show in Chicago, which was produced by King World Productions, a company based in Chicago. Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune were also produced by King World. There was a four-year, $1 million contract attached to the position. Inflation-adjusted, that year’s salary of $250k is equivalent to about $600k today.
The Oprah Winfrey Show And Syndication Empire
Oprah brought AM Chicago’s ratings from the bottom to the top within a few months of the show’s debut on January 2, 1984, displacing Phil Donahue. Since 1986, the program has been known as The Oprah Winfrey Show and has been syndicated across America. Originally, the show only focused on women’s issues, but it has since expanded to include health, spirituality, social issues, and charitable endeavors.
Oprah’s suspicions about the $1 million contract began to grow within a few months of the show’s premiere. When Oprah asked Roger Ebert about his agent, Jeffrey Jacobs, he recommended that she meet with him. Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were two of Jeffrey’s clients, but he also represented Bill Cosby.
When the show went national, Jacobs was quick to point out that Oprah was unlikely to make a single extra dollar. Oprah, he was even more blunt, telling her:
He explained how Siskel and Ebert owned a portion of their syndicated shows, and how Bill Cosby owned a portion of his syndicated shows as well.
How Oprah Became A Billionaire
Oprah sacked her agent and sent Jeffrey Jacobs back to King World/ABC to negotiate a new contract with the talk show host. The King of the World refused to budge. As it turned out, this was a very fortunate rejection. By handing over some of his syndicated points, King World opened the door for Jeffrey Jacobs and Oprah to accidentally launch an empire.
Because of the lack of progress in negotiations, Jeffrey and Oprah formed their own production company, HARPO Productions.
The situation facing King World was precarious. National syndication seemed inevitable at the time, as Oprah’s Chicago ratings were at an all-time high. They should have bowed to public pressure and given Oprah a piece of the pie, too. Each year, they’d have had to fork over several million dollars.
Finally, King World returned to the negotiating table, but Oprah had changed her position and no longer wanted a share of the profits. Her decision to produce the show herself shocked King World executives. She and Jeffrey would cover all of the show’s production costs through HARPO Productions at HARPO Studios, and they would then pay a set fee to King World to syndicate the show across the country. King World now had a job with a salary.
As a next step, Oprah and Jeffrey worked out an even more comprehensive contract with ABC, one that covered film productions as well as a magazine and books, as well as the right to launch new TV shows under her production banner. Her 3.5-acre HARPO campus would be used for all of the show’s production.
There’s more.
As part of the deal, Oprah and Jeffrey agreed to own a portion of King World Productions. All shows produced by King World, including Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, would earn Oprah money as a result.
In 1999, CBS paid $2.5 billion in stock to acquire King World. Oprah ended up owning 1% of CBS after the deal was completed. In the mid-1990s, she struck a deal with ABC that resulted in her own a sizable portion of Disney stock.
Oprah, unlike her 1980s talk show contemporaries like Sally Jesse Raphael, Phil Donahue, and Jerry Springer, would go on to make multiple BILLIONS of dollars through traditional contracts.
| Oprah Net Worth Milestones | |
| Year | Net Worth |
| 1985 | $500,000 |
| 1989 | $1,000,000 |
| 1995 | $500,000,000 |
| 2000 | $1,000,000,000 |
| 2007 | $2,000,000,000 |
| 2014 | $3,000,000,000 |
| 2019 | $3,100,000,000 |
| 2020 | $3,500,000,000 |
In 1999/2000, Oprah became the first black female billionaire in the United States. Her show and Dr. Phil’s and Rachael Ray’s shows made her $300 million a year at this time.
Oprah Winfrey is currently the fourth-richest celebrity in the world, according to Forbes. Only Kanye West ($6.6 billion), Steven Spielberg ($7.5 billion), and George Lucas ($10 billion) are worth more than she does.
America’s wealthiest self-made woman is Oprah Winfrey, according to Forbes.
https://youtu.be/PB8UFDqQhBI
Endorsements and Other Projects
Since 2015, Oprah has served on the board of Weight Watchers. When she joined the company, she was given $43.5 million in stock options. As of this writing, the value of that stake is more than $400 million. A multi-year deal was signed in 2019 for her to produce shows for Apple.
Among Oprah’s acting credits are The Color Purple (1985), Beloved (1998), The Butler (2013), and Selma (2014).
The number of shows, documentaries, and miniseries she has produced is in the hundreds.
“The Color Purple” and “Selma” have both received two Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Best Picture, respectively, from Oprah as a producer. The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Academy Award was given to her in 2011.
One Golden Globe, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award have all been won by Oprah.
Oprah Real Estate Portfolio
In the United States, Oprah owns hundreds (possibly more than 1,000) of acres of land worth at least $200 million.
Chicago: She lived in the 9,625-square-foot Chicago home for more than 30 years, from 1985 to 2015. Also, in the past, she had a $1.8 million Atlanta penthouse that she sold in 2008.
Montecito: For $50 million, she bought a Montecito, California (near Santa Barbara) mansion with 23,000 square feet of living space in 2001. At least $90 million is what this house is worth today. For $29 million, she bought a 23-acre farm in Montecito in 2016. After spending $6.85 million on the house next door, she now has an additional four acres of Montecito to play with. Oprah owns a total of 67 acres in the Montecito area.
Washington: Oprah owned a 43-acre property on Orcas Island in Washington State from 2018 to 2021. She bought the property in 2018 for $8.275 million and sold it in July 2021 for $14 million.
Colorado: She shelled out $14 million in 2014 to buy a mansion in Telluride, Colo.
Maui: In 2002, Oprah made her first Maui property purchase. To put together 160+ acres in Maui, she has spent as much as $60 million over the years. The property next door cost her $32 million all at once.
Philanthropy
Over $400 million of Oprah’s charitable donations have gone toward educational causes as of this writing. Morehouse College in Atlanta has received more than 400 scholarships from her.
To help nonprofits all over the world, Oprah started the Oprah’s Angel Network charity in 1998. Throughout its existence, Oprah’s Angel Network has helped raise more than $80 million for a wide range of charities. The Oprah Winfrey Network’s administrative costs are paid for entirely by Oprah herself, so all of the money raised goes directly to the nonprofits.
The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls was established in South Africa in 2007. She has so far contributed $40 million to the school’s budget. Students currently number 322, and the school expects to eventually reach a total enrollment of 450.
An additional $10 million was donated by Oprah to the Oprah’s Angel Network for Hurricane Katrina relief.
In 2013, she gave the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture $12 million in donations. In the same year, President Barack Obama awarded Oprah the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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