Name: Jerome Allen Seinfeld
Stage name: Jerry Seinfeld
Date of birth: April 29, 1954
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York
Net worth: $950 million
What is Jerry Seinfeld’s Net Worth and Salary?
Jerry Seinfeld is an American comedian, television producer, actor, and car collector. Jerry Seinfeld’s net worth is $950 million. Jerry earned the vast majority of his fortune thanks to the sitcom “Seinfeld,” which has proven to be one of the most-profitable shows in television history, in terms of syndication royalties. Jerry owns 15% of the show’s backend equity points. So not only did he earn a fortune from base salary while the show was on, he has earned exponentially more in the years thereafter from global syndication sales. To date, Seinfeld has generated several billion dollars in syndication revenue, including $500 million Netflix paid in September 2019 to acquire digital rights for five years. Jerry personally earns $20-50 million in a given year, largely depending on if he is touring or not. He earns $20 million from a national tour. In 2020 Netflix paid him $20 million for exclusive rights to his special “23 Hours to Kill”. Between June 2019 and June 2020, he earned $50 million thanks largely to Netflix deals and touring.
Early Life
Jerry Seinfeld was born on April 29, 1954, in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in Massapequa, New York. He attended State University of New York at Oswego for two years. After his second year, he transferred to Queens College, where he earned a degree in communications and theater. He developed a passion for stand-up comedy while at Queens College and would periodically appear at open-mic nights. After college, Jerry spent nearly 15 years grinding out a career as a stand-up comedian before hitting the television jackpot. He was a successful touring comic when in May 1981 he had an extremely successful appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. This appearance led to many more appearances on The Tonight Show and other late-night programs like Late Night with David Letterman.
Creating “Seinfeld”
In 1989, Jerry teamed up with Larry David, a one-time writer on SNL, to create a television pilot for NBC, which they originally titled “The Seinfeld Chronicles.” The re-named “Seinfeld” would eventually air 180 episodes over 9 seasons and today is considered one of the best shows of all time. It is also one of the successful shows in television syndication history, generating over $4 billion in revenue to date.
Jerry’s Seinfeld Salary
Jerry earned $20,000 per episode during the show’s 5-episode first season, for a total of $100,000. His per episode pay was doubled to $40,000 for the second and third seasons, for a total of $1.4 million.
For seasons 4, 5, and 6, a total of 70 episodes, Jerry earned $100,000 per episode. That equates to $7 million.
For seasons 7 and 8, a total of 46 episodes, Jerry’s per episode salary was boosted to $500 thousand. That equates to $23 million.
For season 9, Jerry earned $1 million per episode, totaling $24 million for the season (which is the same as roughly $38 million after adjusting for inflation). He was the very first television actor to earn $1 million per episode. A record that was quickly broken when Tim Allen was paid $1.25 million the following year for his work on Home Improvement.
When you add it all up, Jerry earned roughly **$60 million
