This annual list from Forbes is half "wow, I didn't know they made that much" and half "oh my God, Oprah made more money in the last minute than I've made in the past five years." But it's a fun way to see who's making what. Some of the people you pretty much assume will be on the list, but there are a few surprises too.
Oprah is indeed on top again. From June 2006 to June 2007 she made $260 million. I could pay off my Visa with that money. Number two isn't even on TV anymore: Jerry Seinfeld. He made $60 million during that year. I won't spoil the rest of the list for you, but let's just say that the top twenty includes two people from American Idol, someone from a reality show featuring models, and a whole bunch of talk show hosts, both daytime and nighttime.
The list is also a TV show. The Forbes TV 20 will premiere on E! tomorrow night at 5pm.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-28-2007 @ 2:43PM
Marnie said...
I know I'm going to get some nasty comments about how naive or whatever I am, but where does all that money come from? Who pays Ophrah? Is it all advertising?
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9-28-2007 @ 3:06PM
Derek said...
She owns Harpo (Oprah backwards) productions which makes/owns the show, and it's sold to more countries than you could shake a stick at. So if you think about how much Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld made from the Seinfeld show (several hundred million each) and they were only the writers/actors. For Oprah's show she runs the whole thing, so all the money coming from everywhere heads her way.
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9-28-2007 @ 3:09PM
Bob Sassone said...
Actually, Seinfeld and David were also creators/producers.
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9-28-2007 @ 3:34PM
h8rain said...
I would of never guessed that George Lopez made more money than Kiefer Sutherland.
What is also interesting that there is are only 3 "actors" on that list. Everyone else is a "host". People whine about sports stars making a bunch of money. It would be interesting to see a list of top 100 money makers (can be from any "business", but also able to filter by "business" (sports, TV, normal business).
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9-30-2007 @ 7:19PM
Joey Geraci said...
What is Seinfeld doing that he would be making more money than people actually currently on successful shows? I'm sure he makes a fair amount from syndication, and standup/guest appearances, I guess, but what else?
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