Getty Megyn Kelly's net worth is in the millions.
Megyn Kelly may be out at NBC, but she’s a very wealthy woman as a result of it all.
According to CNN, she’s no longer an NBC employee, but she’s leaving with big bucks. Kelly was about halfway through a three-year contract worth $69 million when she left NBC, and, CNN reports, she reached an agreement with NBC to pay her the remainder, which is about $30 million.
Kelly was already one of television’s most sought after and highest paid broadcast personalities before she joined NBC, a star that grew hotter after her feuds with President-Elect Donald Trump elevated her profile. However, she was embroiled in a series of controversies at NBC, including over a comment she made about blackface.
What’s Megyn Kelly’s net worth?
Megyn Kelly Net Worth 2019
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Megyn Kelly’s net worth was estimated to be about $30 million. However, her net worth could grow with the NBC agreement giving her about that much more, although Celebrity Net Worth says the $30 million figure factored in a full NBC payout.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Kelly Was Given a Fortune by NBC News & Was Making Millions at Fox News Before That
Megyn Kelly attends the TIME 100 Gala celebrating its annual list of the 100 Most Influential People In The World at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 24, 2018 in New York City.
Although Kelly managed to negotiate quite a deal at NBC – at a time she was being compared to the new Barbara Walters – she was also paid millions of dollars by Fox News, where she hosted her own show for years before famously going after Donald Trump during a 2016 presidential debate, which turned her into a figure of much greater controversy.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, “When Megyn was at Fox News, her peak annual salary was $8 million. In 2017 she moved to NBC with a three-year contract worth $69 million. That meant her NBC salary was $23 million per year.”
Kelly’s salary was supposed to rise to $15 million for the final year of her contract deal at Fox. The Los Angeles Times reported that her contract was up that July.
That figure placed her second only to Bill O’Reilly, whose ratings were the highest at the network when he was still there.
Megyn Kelly’s husband, Douglas Brunt, is a novelist who also contributes to the family’s net worth. His net worth is estimated at about $3 million. He wrote Ghosts of Manhattan: A Novel and The Means: A Novel. He’s a former management consultant and entrepreneur, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
2. Kelly Sparked a Bidding War When She Went to NBC & Says She Will Return to TV
Megyn Kelly attends the 6th Annual BGC Charity Day at BGC Partners, INC on September 13, 2010 in New York City.
Megyn Kelly’s earning potential is likely not over. According to the Hill, she wants to return to television. “You’ll definitely see me back on,” she told TMZ in January 2019 while walking with her husband.
Kelly had changed publicity teams and agents and made it clear she was up for grabs before she went to NBC. The Wall Street Journal reported that her Fox show pulled in 2.7 million viewers. She was able to ignite a bidding war that led to her hiring at NBC. However, her placement as a morning show personality never seemed to quite fit her style.
She had sparked a “bidding war” among networks. However, the degree to which that was fact instead of perception was disputed; Vanity Fair reported that some networks weren’t seriously pursuing Kelly because they considered her salary costs prohibitive.
Some network executives were also concerned about fallout from her feud with Donald Trump.
3. The Murdochs Reportedly Offered Kelly Millions More to Stay
Donald Trump and Megyn Kelly.
The Murdoch family, which owns Fox News, was willing to up Kelly’s salary by $5 million to $20 million a year.
However, she was lured by NBC’s promise of triple duties and perhaps better hours for her young family (Kelly is married with three children.)
New York Magazine reported that the final offer may have gone up to $25 million, although there is disagreement from sources as to whether Kelly requested it or the Murdochs offered it.
In a press release announcing Kelly’s hire, NBC said: “Kelly will become anchor of a new one hour daytime program that she will develop closely with NBC News colleagues. The show will air Monday through Friday at a time to be announced in the coming months. As part of the multi-year agreement, Kelly will also anchor a new Sunday evening news magazine show and will become an important contributor to NBC’s breaking news coverage as well as the network’s political and special events coverage.”
4. Kelly Has Enriched Herself By Authoring a Book
Kelly’s fortune has grown as her celebrity has risen. In addition to her hosting duties, she is the author of a book. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kelly “received a reported $6 million advance from publisher HarperCollins (a 21st Century Fox subsidiary.)”
The book was called Settle For More, and it chronicled Kelly’s career as well as her sexual harassment accusations against former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes.
Most sites placed Kelly’s net worth at about $15 million before she went to NBC. However, that was also when she was only earning $6 million a year at Fox, and it was before her book started bringing in royalties.
Kelly has a B.A. with honors in Political Science from Syracuse University and a J.D. with honors from Albany Law School, where she served as editor of the Albany Law Review, NBC News said in its statement announcing her hire.
The NBC statement says, “Before joining FNC, Kelly served as a general assignment reporter for WJLA-TV (ABC 7) in Washington, D.C. where she covered national and local stories of interest, including the 2004 presidential race and the D.C. sniper case. Prior to her career in television news, Kelly practiced law as a corporate litigator at Jones Day for seven years and was an associate in the Chicago office of Bickel & Brewer LLP for two years.”
5. Kelly Was Among the Highest Paid News Anchors
Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie attend the NBCUniversal 2016 Upfront Presentation on May 16, 2016 in New York, New York.
The average salary for a news anchor in the United States was $83,300 in 2015. However, that price tag jumps with the market.
At the national level, prominent news anchors make millions, although reports on their salaries sometimes contradict.
Matt Lauer had a salary of at least $25 million before he left. Forbes says Bill O’Reilly earned $24 million when he was still on the air. Page Six, though, put O’Reilly’s salary at between $15 and $17 million a year.
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper reportedly earns at least $11 million with bonuses, but is worth $100 million.
Katie Couric made $10 million a year for Yahoo and $15 million a year at CBS News.
However, Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie likely make about $7 million a year each, according to Daily Variety.