Oprah Tops Forbes List of Highest Paid Celebs – See the top 20.
The Big O comes through again. Make that 4 in a row for Oprah topping Forbes list of the highest paid celebs for 2012. She raked in an estimated $165 million from May 2011 to May 2012. These earnings are not just from her OWN network, which is surviving for now. She also produces a bunch of other daytime hits such as Dr. Phil, The Dr. Oz Show, and The Rachel Ray Show. Along with producing she gets a cut of products generated by those shows which include housewares, books and cookware to name a few. She also has her website and her own Serius radio channel.
Most of Oprah’s time now is spent saving her cable television station. With her new show, Oprah’s Next Chapter, she has been bringing in ratings with big name guests like the Kardashians and Rihanna. If Oprah manages to turn OWN around, it could mean much more money and a continued dominance of the Forbes list for years to come.
MICHAEL BAY IS No. 2 – $160 Million
Michael Bay is coming in right behind Oprah at number 2. His earnings are largely due to last year’s Transformer’s release and his rights to related merchandising. The 3-D film brought in $1.1 Billion dollars in World Wide box office sales.
STEVEN SPIELBERG IS No. 3 – $130 Million
With last year’s films Tin Tin and War horse, and transitioning into TV with NBC’s Smash, Spielberg has a lot of firepower and that $130 Million number could easily be repeated next year. Oh yeah, he also produced last year’s Transformer movie cashing in with Michael Bay.
Here is the Forbes top 20 list without the annoying forbes.com scroll:
20. Britney Spears – $58 million
19. Ryan Seacrest – $59 million
18. Donald Trump – $63 million
17. Dr. Phil – $64 million
16. Manny Pacquiao – $67 million
15. Rush Limbaugh – $69 million.
14. Dick Wolf – $70 million
13. Tom Cruise – $75 million
12. Elton John – $80 million
11. Glenn Bleck – $80 million
10. Simon Cowell – $90 million.
9. George Lucas – $90 million
8. James Patterson – $94 million
7. Howard Stern – $95 million
6. Tyler Perry – $105 million
5. Dr. Dre – $110 million
4. Jerry Bruckheimer – $115 million
Are you surprised by any of these names?
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