ENTERTAINMENT
What is Oprah Winfrey’s net worth? Is she a billionaire?
The talk show host, actress and author has amassed a huge net worth over the years.
Everybody knows Oprah, who has well established herself in the realm of ultra-famous people where a surname is not needed. Granted, her first name is hardly inconspicuous, but Winfrey nevertheless has become one of the most recognisable faces in the United States.
The talk show bearing her name ran from 1986 to 2011 and was a staple food in the media diet of many Americans across the country. Now, it’s the host’s turn to be the guest, as Oprah stars on Academy Awards host Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week.
What is Oprah Winfrey’s net worth?
Oprah Winfrey, as Forbes describes, has “transitioned her hit talk show” into a media and business empire. The 70-year-old reinvested the profits from her show and films, all which add up to give Oprah an estimated net worth of around $2.8 billion.
In 2011, Winfrey launched cable channel OWN, after which she sold most of her stake to Warner Bros. Discovery in 2020 in exchange for shares in the company. She has also invested money into WeightWatchers (she recently stepped down from the board) and she has homes in California, as well as over a dozen properties in Hawaii.
Forbes shows Oprah’s wealth to have declined over the years, with the media personality reportedly being worth $3 billion between the years 2015 and 2017. However, that number has since dropped to a mere $2.8bn.
Winfrey is a people’s favourite and has won multiple awards for both her TV work and philanthropic acts. She was given a People’s Choice Award for her talk show and the National Civil Rights Museum’s Freedom Award in 2005.
The Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation website states that “over the years, Ms. Winfrey has donated millions to education in the United States to organizations including the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), The Ron Clarke Academy in Atlanta, and many others.” She also made a $13 million commitment “to COVID-19 relief efforts, focusing on food insecurity and those most impacted by the pandemic in her “home cities,” including Chicago, Milwaukee, Nashville, Baltimore and Kosciusko, Mississippi.”