Even among a rarefied group like the Forbes 400, Oprah Winfrey
is in a class of her own. She’s one of only seven self-made female
billionaires on this year’s rich list — that is, women who made their
fortune without an inheritance.Of those seven, four partnered with their (late) husbands. Winfrey is one of just three who built her fortune without the help of a man. The media queen is also the only African-American among the 400 wealthiest people in the country.
As if all that wasn’t enough, Winfrey has gotten even richer in the last 12 months. Her net worth is up $200 million from this time last year, to $2.9 billion. In the process, she’s proved her naysayers wrong by reversing the fortunes of her once-struggling cable network OWN.
In July, Discovery Communications DISCA +1.17% — Winfrey’s 50/50 partners in OWN — made a long-awaited announcement during their second-quarter earnings call: the channel is out of the red, 2.5 years after its much-hyped launch.
“I am proud to report that, when combined with the long-term affiliate fees that the channel has previously secured [and advertising revenue], OWN is now cash-flow-positive and starting to pay down the investment Discovery has made in the venture,” said David Zaslav, CEO of the Discovery Channel parent company. “I want to congratulate Oprah and the entire team at OWN for this significant milestone — and we remain very bullish on its long-term trajectory and our ability to drive continued asset appreciation in the future.”
OWN’s recent success has been due in part to a string of exclusive TV interviews with headline-grabbers like disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, R&B party girl Rihanna and out gay NBA player Jason Collins.
The network’s original series have also proved popular, scoring OWN its highest ratings in its short history this August. Overall viewership was up 64% year-on-year according to Nielsen, with the number of African-American women viewers aged 25 to 54 up a staggering 167% since the third quarter of 2012.
Winfrey’s team cannily partnered with director (and Forbes future billionaire) Tyler Perry to produce the network’s popular scripted shows “The Haves and The Have Nots” and “Love Thy Neighbor”. Other programming highlights for OWN in the past year have included its primetime hits “Iyanla: Fix My Life”, starring Winfrey’s spiritual guru friend Iyanla Vanzant, and reality documentary series “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s”, a behind-the-scenes look at a family chain of soul food restaurants.
Of course, while OWN is now generating some cash, it is far from the main source of Winfrey’s net worth. The bulk of her wealth still stems from 25 years of her profitable daytime talk show, plus earnings from her Harpo production company, which has a hand in the Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray and Dr. Oz shows (and takes a healthy cut from each). Winfrey earns millions annually from her O Magazine and a network on Sirius XM Satellite Radio, both of which helped propel her to the top of Forbes’ 2013 list of the Most Powerful Celebrities.
She’s also a significant real estate investor, with a mixed bag of properties from parcels of land in Maui to high-end apartments in Chicago and New York to her main residence, a 45-acre estate in Montecito, Calif., known as The Promised Land and worth upwards of $87 million.
As her fortune increases, Winfrey continues to give her money away, mostly supporting educational causes like the $100 million Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.
If early Oscar buzz is any indication, 2014 could be an even better year for Winfrey. Her role in Lee Daniels’ The Butler has received rave reviews. While she was an investor in Daniels’ acclaimed film Precious, she had no financial involvement this time around, as she told me when we met for a Forbes 400 cover story last summer. “For once, I’m not a producer,” she said. “I just get to act. How about that!”
Follow @Clare_OC
No comments:
Post a Comment