This post was part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst of 2007 feature. Voting has now closed and readers have chosen Oprah Winfrey as the most overpaid celebrity of the year. Be sure to let us know in the comments if you are pleased with this result.
Oprah Winfrey returns to our Most Overpaid Celebrity category after having lost the title to Paris Hilton last year. For 2007 she is joined by overpaid celebrities Madonna, George Lopez, and Russell Crowe.
Winfrey, Madonna, and Lopez all made the Forbes Celebrity 100, a ranking of Hollywood players by pay, influence, and popularity. Winfrey, of course, comes in at number one, both in terms of pay and power. Madonna's earnings placed her at number nine on the list, while Lopez came in at number fifty-one.
Forbes estimates Winfrey's earnings at $260 million last year, and her net worth in the area of $1.5 billion, making her the nation's wealthiest African American. She'll be adding two new reality shows to her media empire, which already includes a blockbuster daytime talk show, satellite radio show, magazine, and Broadway musical, as well as stakes in hit shows by Dr. Phil McGraw and Rachael Ray. The school for girls she founded in South Africa has drawn much media attention this year, and she's recently endorsed Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Winfrey has been called the world's most powerful woman, the most influential woman in the world, one of the most influential persons of the 20th century, the world's first black woman billionaire, and the greatest pop culture icon of all time. Can any mortal person live up to all that hype?
Forbes estimates Madonna's earnings at $72 million. According to both the 2007 Guinness Book of Records and Billboard, she is the richest female singer in the world, as well as one of the richest self-made women in the world, with an estimated net worth of more than $850 million. In October, Madonna announced she would not renew her recording contract with Warner Music Group, where she's been for her entire career, and had entered a $120 million, ten-year deal with concert promoter Live Nation Inc. A brave move by a visionary who recognizes the waning influence of recording companies, or a move borne of desperation by a performer past her prime? Time will tell.
Forbes estimates George Lopez's earnings last year at $26 million. When his eponymous sitcom, which he also wrote, produced, and co-created along with movie star Sandra Bullock, was canceled in May, the actor and comedian suggested that race might have been a factor in ABC's decision. Still, he scored an estimated $15 million from a syndication deal for the show. Lopez remains popular on the stand-up circuit, selling $9 million in tickets last year, and he has several big screen projects in the works, alongside the likes of Kevin Costner, Andy Garcia, and Luke Wilson. Lopez also hosts the PGA's Bob Hope Chrysler Classic golf tournament.
Though movie star and bad boy Russell Crowe didn't make the Celebrity 100 this year, he did end up on a different Forbes list. The Ultimate Star Payback list ranks movie stars by how much bang for the buck they deliver. At the very bottom of the list was Russell Crowe. His recent films have earned on average only about $5 in gross income for every dollar spent on Crowe's salary (compared to $29 for Matt Damon, who topped the list). Crowe's film A Good Year was made for $35 million, about a third of which went to Crowe, but it earned only $40 million in worldwide box office. His most recent films, 3:10 from Yuma and American Gangster, have fared better at the box office; maybe Crowe won't come in at the bottom of the Ultimate Star Payback list next year.
So for 2007, did Russell Crowe deliver the least bang for the buck, or were Oprah Winfrey, Madonna, or George Lopez the most overpaid celebrity of the year? What do you think?
Share the reasons for your pick of the most overpaid celebrity in the comments, or let us know about any contenders we overlooked. Also be sure to see the rest of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst of 2007.
Entrepreneur's Journal: Putting together a solid sales contract
The week in preview: Earnings from Walmart, Macy's, and other retailers
Six top trades for the rest of 2009
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
12-01-2007 @ 10:00PM
Silvana said...
What are these people doing for that kind of money? Any change, research, discovered any cure for anything? How ridiculous, while teachers are so underpaid!!!! It is us who pay them by buying the tickets, CDs and watching their BS on TV.
12-05-2007 @ 11:54AM
Denise said...
Overpaid means someone else is footing the bill... however Oprah is paying herself and does not depend on anyone else for her earnings......
12-28-2007 @ 6:47AM
Cathy said...
Oprah certianly does depend on someone else to pay her... and that would be anyone listening too her radio show, watching her tv show or buying the magazine, none of which do I do. I do think she does good things, but its just to bad the school had to go in a foreign country and not in her own back yard.
12-28-2007 @ 7:42AM
VoxRationis said...
Amen to your comment, Denise. Why the negative comments about someone who earned her way out of the depths of poverty and the trauma of early abuse? Criticize someone for reaping the fruits of their labor, integrity, integrity and good sense?
She did not inherit her millions, she worked her way up from cub newsperson to widely acknowledged most influential woman in the world.
She did not inherit her money and profit from notoriety by outrageous behavior like numerous celebrities we could name.
She can EARNED her oodles of money and can do with it what she pleases, as everyone of the critics would claim the right to do if they had such resources. PLUS she DOES help others.. through her Angel Network and various charitable activities. GOD HAS BLESSED HER WITH SUCCESS.
She did not inherit her money ... but did it the old-fashioned way: She EARNED it. And earned the right to do with it as she pleases.
GOOD WORK, OPRAH. IGNORE THE ENVIOUS CRITICS.
12-28-2007 @ 10:35AM
Lanette said...
YOU ARE SO ON TARGET! PEOPLE WHO RESENT OPRAH FOR TAKING RESPONSIBILITY (KEY WORD) FOR HER OWN LIFE AS WELL AS SHARING HER WEALTH IN MEANINGFUL WAYS ARE PITIFUL!
12-05-2007 @ 1:47PM
MAC said...
Why some people ae overpaid by doing nothing big like discovering a cure for cancer,which is killing the majority of the people,that is a shame,while others are getting paid pennies. Those billionairs should help those homeless people,and God with repay them somehow.
12-28-2007 @ 12:10PM
anthony said...
Mac, we haven't found a cure for Cancer yet but I can tell you that the drug companies will make a fortune when they do!
12-28-2007 @ 1:57PM
Harry said...
All of these complainers that are specifying where Oprah should be donating or giving money to are self serving and greedy individuals. If they want to give away thier monies to whom ever let them,
just leave mine alone I will do with mine as I wish and not yours.
Why is it that those who have nothing are always trying to tell those that have something what they should do with what they have.....earn your oun and do what you tell others to do with it.....Ha Ha
12-28-2007 @ 6:13AM
Jolene Maier said...
Oprah has earned every penny shes worked for, She got a Big heart and what she gives out she gets back 10 fold, Shes accomplished alot of respect from alot of influential people. She deserves whatever life brings her.... Shes the Bomb!!
12-28-2007 @ 6:29AM
WaylonLightfoot said...
She's a phony. Whenever she's parading and bragging about her school in Africa, I want to puke. All I can say is Charity should begin at home, right here in one of the poor sections of the good old USA. Go away OPRAH, get out of my face.
12-28-2007 @ 12:13PM
anthony said...
You have a right to not like Oprah but be honest about it. charity began at home here in the USA. She does do great things for other people, what do you do? Why are you hating on someone that actually gives back?
Again, ask yourself who are you?
1-06-2008 @ 1:38PM
carmen said...
I DON'T BELIEVE HALF THE THINGS OPRAH OR MADONNA SAYS. BUT RUSSELL CROWE IS THE BEST ACTOR TODAY & EARNS EVERY PENNY.
12-28-2007 @ 4:19PM
Jerry said...
Oprah Winfrey makes $125 million a year just from her show. What is her talent? She doesn't sing, doesn't dance, doesn't do comedy, acts very occassionally - she's a talk show host! A talk show host... even rock stars and athletes have some sort of talent - a talk show host?? Don't get me wrong, i like Oprah - but $125 million a year to sit and interview people??? Now thats being over paid... then again, who of us wouldn't want her job.
12-28-2007 @ 9:46AM
Ruth Henderson said...
You are wrong Jerry,she deserves every penny she makes.You are envious because she is a woman.She has helped more people world wide,than any other human in the USA.If other's had the compasion she has,this world be a better world that we live in.
12-28-2007 @ 10:23AM
joe said...
ability to sing, to act, and do show business is one thing, but I am surprised you don't appreciate the depth of smarts you really need to do what Oprah does. Oprah is a very smart entrepreneur and should be making a lot more than she now does.
12-28-2007 @ 11:02AM
Aunt Bea said...
Oh, yeah? Could YOU do what Oprah does?
12-28-2007 @ 7:19AM
Nina said...
Oprah makes money from the advertisements connected to each of her media outlets and speeches. And it is possible that many of her TV show giveaways are donated or subsidized. It's great that she built the school in Africa for black girls BUT why not a school in the USA for black, white, red, or brown girls and women to help them out of poverty and off welfare by teaching them skills and finding jobs that will earn them substantial salaries? It seems she is now showing her true racism as her recent public forums are toward helping the black race; nothing has been mentioned of her helping other races.
1-01-2008 @ 12:28PM
cheryl said...
not bad for a little black girlfrom a small town in tennesse-----.you go girl
12-28-2007 @ 8:03AM
Gail said...
It never ceases to amaze me when people with no idea of the time and effort going into earning large amounts of money are so critical and envious of people who do it. These same people would be outraged should their neighbor criticize them for buying a new car instead of donating the money to a homeless shelter but don’t hesitate to point a finger at others.
12-28-2007 @ 8:02AM
Sharon said...
Oprah has been helping people of all races in the US for years. Americans have been helping people of other countires mostly caucasian for years. When caucasians are being killed beacuse of their hertiage or religion is considered genocide and a horrible thing. But when it's Africans I don't hear white America screaming how horrible it is. (look at Darfor) Remember that Oprah is African American and why shouldn't she want to help people of Africian decent. I don't hear you screaming at Madonna or Angelina Jolie. It looks to me like some of you are sounding a little racist.... I say go Oprah keep on doing what your doing. I believe that God has blessed you and you are fulling the mission he has set out for you to do.