8.30.2012

FORBES TOP 21 WEALTHIEST CELEBRITIES


Oprah Winfrey

$165 million

The media mogul's earnings fell by a staggering $125 million from last year. However, even with the drop, she remains the highest earner on the list, just inching out director Michael Bay. It's been a challenging year for Winfrey, who signed off from her 25-year syndicated show and immediately turned her attention to struggling cable network OWN.

The bulk of the earnings dive comes from lost income on The Oprah Winfrey Show, but her diversified portfolio includes O: The Oprah Magazine, spin-off shows like The Dr. Oz Show and a radio deal with Sirius. She does not earn a salary at OWN, which has faced ratings disappointments and financial issues since it premiered in Jan. 2011. As chairman and CEO of the joint venture with Discovery Communications, she hopes a recent restructuring, new programming and a distribution deal with Comcast will turn the network around.


Ryan Seacrest

$59 million

After signing on to host American Idol for at least two more years, Seacrest also recently inked a new deal with Comcast that extends his presence within the company from E! to NBC, where he'll cover news, sports and entertainment. Seacrest also produces TV shows like the Keeping up with the Kardashians franchise and his latest, Shahs of Sunset, about Iranian-Americans in Beverly Hills. Seacrest also endorses brands like Bing and Coca-Cola.

Dr. Dre

$110 million

The ageless super-producer's latest hit isn't a song, but rather a line of headphones. In August handset maker HTC paid $300 million for a 51% stake in Beats by Dr. Dre, the headphone company he co-founded with Interscope chief Jimmy Iovine in 2006. Each owned about a third of the company, pocketing about $100 million apiece, before taxes, from last summer's deal.

While we normally think of musicians as rolling in the dough, their salaries generally don't compare to some other high-profile celebrities. The proof: On Forbes' magazine's new list of the 21 highest-paid celebrities, only three musicians are included, and one of them is Elton John.

To determine who really has the most cash in the showbiz world, Forbes says it added upfront pay, back-end profits, residuals, endorsements and commercial work. After the math's done, John ranks #12 on the list, right between TV personality Glenn Beck and Tom Cruise.

Forbes estimates that The Rocket Man took in $80 million over the last year, thanks to some 100 concerts he's performed, as well as the money he made from the animated film Gnomeo & Juliet, which his company produced.

The only other musicians on the list are Britney Spears at #20, with earnings of $58 million from her concert tour, album sales and endorsement deals, and rap-music mogul Dr. Dre at #5. The hip-hop star hasn't released an album since 2001, but he made $110 million thanks to his line of Beats by Dr. Dre headphones.

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