Oprah Winfrey Net Worth: How Did Oprah Become Wealthy?

By Sirjan Chetri Last updated Jun 23, 2022

Read the whole article to find out the most up-to-date information about Oprah Winfrey Net Worth, relationships. Kosciusko-born Oprah Gail Winfrey is an American talk show host, producer, actress, and media mogul.

Winfrey is primarily recognized for her popular talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show. The show has the highest ratings in the history of television.

Oprah Winfrey is also known as the “Queen of Media,” and she has collaborated with some of the most successful stars in the world, including Ellen DeGeneres, who is also a well-known host in the industry.

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, Voice Actor
Nationality:	United States of America

Table of Contents

Oprah Winfrey Early Life

On January 29, 1954, Oprah Gail Winfrey was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Winfrey endured a very difficult childhood.

A number of men who were friends of her mother Vernita abused her sexually. Later, Winfrey relocated to Nashville to reside with her father, Vernon.

In 1971, Winfrey attended Tennessee State University, where she began her career in television and radio broadcasting in Nashville. In 1976, she landed her first job as the host of the television program “People Are Talking.”

How Did Oprah Become Wealthy?

In order to negotiate a new contract, Oprah fired her agent and sent Jeffrey Jacobs back to King World/ABC. King World declined to resume talks. This rejection would prove to be incredibly fortunate.

King World allowed Jeffrey Jacobs and Oprah to unintentionally start an empire rather than just handing over a small portion of the show’s syndication points.

While negotiations stalled, Oprah and Jeffrey started HARPO Productions on their own. King World was in an awkward circumstance.

At the time, Oprah was setting records for viewers in Chicago, and national syndication appeared to be a foregone conclusion.

They ought to have bowed down and given Oprah Winfrey a piece of the profits. They would have had to pay a few million dollars annually.

When King World eventually returned, Oprah had changed her request for a percentage of the backend. The fact that she intended to produce the show HERSELF shocked the King World executives.

She and Jeffrey would cover all the show’s production costs through HARPO Productions at HARPO Studios, and they would then pay King World a predetermined fee to syndicate the program nationally.

The paid worker was now King of the World. 90% of HARPO belonged to Oprah. 10% belonged to Jeffrey. After that, Oprah and Jeffrey reached an agreement with ABC that was much more comprehensive and covered film productions, a magazine, books, and—most significantly—the ability to launch additional TV shows under her production banner.

Her 3.5-acre HARPO campus would serve as the location for all show production. Not only that. Even as far as negotiating a share of ownership in King World Productions itself, Oprah and Jeffrey went.

Oprah would profit from every King World production, including Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, as a result of this agreement. King World was purchased by CBS in 1999 for $2.5 billion in stock.

Oprah owned 1% of CBS after the acquisition was completed. Through a deal she struck with ABC in the mid-1990s, she also ended up owning a sizeable portion of Disney stock.

Oprah would go on to earn multiple BILLIONS of dollars while her 1980s talk show contemporaries Sally Jesse Raphael, Phil Donahue, and Jerry Springer would go on to earn tens of millions of dollars through traditional contracts.

Oprah became the first black woman to reach the billionaire threshold in America in 1999 or 2000. She was making $300 million a year at this point while also producing Dr. Phil’s and Rachael Ray’s shows in addition to her own.

Oprah is the fourth-richest celebrity on the planet as of this writing. She is only outperformed by three other billionaire celebrities: George Lucas ($10 billion), Steven Spielberg ($7.5 billion), and Kanye West ($6.6 billion). The richest American woman who made her own fortune is Oprah Winfrey.

What Is Oprah Winfrey’s Net Worth?

Oprah Winfrey is a media mogul, TV host, and author from the United States. Oprah Winfrey net worth is $3.5 billion dollars. She makes about $315 million a year now, thanks to her very profitable and diverse media empire.

Oprah Career as Media

Oprah was the first black woman to be a news anchor at Nashville’s WLAC-TV. She was also the station’s youngest anchor ever.

She was hired by WJZ, a station in Baltimore, to co-anchor the six o’clock news when she was 22 years old. This was a coveted job. She started co-hosting a talk show called People Are Talking in August 1978.

By 1980, she was more popular in Baltimore than Phil Donahue, whose show was broadcast all over the country. By the end of her time in Baltimore, she was making $220,000 a year, which is about $560,000 today when you take inflation into account.

In 1984, ABC gave Oprah her own 30-minute morning talk show in Chicago. The show was made by a company called King World Productions, which saw her potential.

Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune were both made by the same company, King World. The job came with a $1 million contract for four years. Taking inflation into account, $250k a year back then is the same as around $600k a year now.

The Show and Syndication Empire of Oprah Winfrey

Within a few months of AM Chicago’s first air date on January 2, 1984, Oprah turned it from Chicago’s worst-rated talk show to the one with the most viewers, beating Phil Donahue in the process.

The show was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 8, 1986, and it became a full hour long. At first, the show was only about women’s issues, but it has since grown to include health, spirituality, social issues, and charity, among other things.

A few months after the first airing, Oprah also started to doubt that $1 million contract. Roger Ebert, a Chicago TV personality, told Oprah to meet with Jeffrey Jacobs, who is his agent. Jeffrey also worked for Gene Siskel, who was Ebert’s co-host on the show, and for Bill Cosby.

Projects and Endorsements

Since 2015, Oprah has served on the Weight Watchers board of directors. She received equity in the amount of $43.5 million when she joined the company. The value of that stake has increased to more than $400 million.

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She agreed to a multi-year contract with the tech giant Apple in 2019 to produce shows for it. Oprah has acted in a number of important movies, including “The Color Purple,” “Beloved,” “The Butler,” and “Selma,” all of which were released between 1985 and 2014.

Numerous television programs, documentaries, and miniseries have been produced by her. Oprah is up for two Academy Awards as of this writing: Best Supporting Actress for “The Color Purple” and Best Picture for “Selma” as a producer.

She won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Academy Award in 2011. Out of her 26 nominations, Oprah received 18 Daytime Emmy Awards, one Golden Globe, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award.

Portfolio of Oprah’s Properties

Oprah owns at least 200 million dollars’ worth of property in the United States, possibly over 1,000 acres.

Chicago:Oprah lived in a 9,625 square foot Chicago home as her primary residence from 1985 to 2015; she sold it in 2015 for $4.625 million. Additionally, she had a penthouse in Atlanta that she had previously owned and sold for $1.8 million in 2008.

Montecito:A 23,000 square foot mansion in Montecito, California (close to Santa Barbara), which she paid $50 million for in 2001, is arguably her most impressive piece of real estate.

This house is currently worth at least $90 million. She paid $29 million for a 23-acre farm estate in Montecito in 2016. She increased her Montecito property by four acres in 2019 when she paid $6.85 million for the house next door. Oprah owns 67 acres in Montecito altogether.

Washington:Oprah owned a 43-acre estate on Washington State’s Orcas Island from 2018 to 2021. She paid $8.275 million for the property in 2018 and sold it for $14 million in July 2021.

Colorado:She invested $14 million in a house in Telluride, Colorado, in 2014.

Maui:In 2002, Oprah made her first property purchase in Maui. She has invested up to $60 million over the years to piece together 160+ acres in Maui. She purchased the building next door for $32 million in a single deal.

Philanthropy:Oprah has donated more than $400 million to charity as of this writing, primarily supporting causes related to education. More than 400 scholarships to Morehouse College in Atlanta have been funded by her.

She founded Oprah’s Angel Network, a nonprofit organization that aids nonprofits all over the world, in 1998. To date, Oprah’s Angel Network has helped numerous organizations by raising more than $80 million.

To ensure that all funds raised go entirely to nonprofit organizations, Oprah personally covers all the Network’s administrative costs.

The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls was founded by Oprah in South Africa in 2007. She has personally donated $40 million to the school so far. The school currently has 322 students enrolled, with plans to grow to 450.

With Oprah contributing an additional $10 million, Oprah’s Angel Network was able to raise $11 million for Hurricane Katrina relief.

She gave the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture $12 million in 2013. Oprah received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in the same year.

Highlights

Here are some of Oprah Winfrey’s finest career achievements:

People Are Talking (TV-Show, 1976)
The Color Purple (Movie, 1985)
The Oprah Winfrey Show (TV-Show, 1986-)
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (1992)
Oxygen Media (1999)
The Oprah Magazine (2000)
Spingarn Medal (2000)
Oprah Winfrey: The Real Story (Autobiography, 2001)
Kennedy Centers Honors (2010)
Presidental Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama (2013)
Selma (Produced, 2014)
Daytime Emmy Award (Outstanding Special Class Series, 2014)
Love is (Executive Producer, 2018)

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Oprah Winfrey’s Real Age?

Oprah Winfrey is 67 years old right now (29 January 1954).

How Much Money Does Oprah Winfrey Make Per Year?

It is thought that Oprah Winfrey makes about $190 Million Per Year.

What Is Oprah Winfrey’s Husband Name?

The name of Oprah Winfrey’s husband since 1986 is stedman graham.

What Is Oprah Winfrey’s Height?

Oprah Winfrey is 1.69 m (5 feet 7 inches) tall.