Jerry Seinfeld may be entering the billionaire's club — in a super unconventional way
- Jerry Seinfeld is now worth over $1 billion, Bloomberg estimated.
- His portfolio's unconventional, with roughly half coming from TV syndication deals.
Jerry Seinfeld has amassed an impressive fortune, but very little in his portfolio resembles that of the super-wealthy.
Forget stock options and acquisitions; the 69-year-old comedian has gotten mega-rich mostly by being funny.
Bloomberg pegs Seinfeld's net worth at upwards of $1 billion — with roughly half that sum, $465 million, coming from syndication deals for his eponymous sitcom.
"Seinfeld," co-created by Larry David, premiered in 1989 and ended in 1998 after 180 episodes.
Turner Broadcasting paid more than $1 million per episode to air "Seinfeld" reruns, The New York Times reported in 1998. And when Netflix bought streaming rights to all nine seasons in 2019, it paid more than $500 million in a deal that netted Seinfeld an additional $94 million, Bloomberg reports.
The comedian has also pocketed $100 million since he began touring in the 80s, according to the outlet.
That's not all. There's a $40 million real estate portfolio, including homes in New York City, the Hamptons, and California, according to Bloomberg. But Seinfeld's vintage car collection — featured prominently in "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" — didn't factor into its calculations, Bloomberg said.
While Bloomberg reported Seinfeld was now a billionaire, a rep for the comedian told Bloomberg its estimates were "inaccurate."
Bloomberg's estimates assume that Seinfeld invested his earnings, received a 15% cut of the TV syndication deals, and a 35% cut of gross box office sales on the road, which was sourced from Pollstar data, according to the outlet.
Seinfeld's representative didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.