How rich is CNN’s Anderson Cooper? A look at his net worth
Anderson Cooper is one of the more well-known television journalists. He’s been a staple news anchor on CNN since 2003 and is a trusted source of information for many people.
However, Cooper’s career is one that comes with a rather big spotlight – which means some people are curious to know much he’s earned working for CNN all these years and what his overall net worth is.
Here’s what we know about Anderson Cooper’s net worth.
CNN salary
Cooper’s work as a news anchor seems to be the biggest contributor to his net worth – unsurprisingly. His salary is said to be, by most outlets, about $12 million per year for his show Anderson Cooper 360°.
However, the show titled after Cooper isn’t the only CNN program he makes appearances on. Anderson Cooper also makes appearances on CNN Newsroom, which airs twice a day on weekdays and throughout the weekend. It’s unknown if he is compensated separately for his appearances on this show, or if his CNN salary is all one and the same.
Vanderbilt fortune
The Vanderbilt name might ring a familiar bell, perhaps from a history class you once took. During most of the 1800s a man named Cornelius Vanderbuilt created a railroad and shipping empire, which made him one of the richest men in U.S. history.
Vanderbuilt’s initial fortune would have been equivalent to $185 billion dollars in today’s money, approximately the same amount Elon Musk is said to possess as of today when he was announced the world’s richest man.
Anderson Cooper is a descendant of Cornelius Vanderbilt – his mother was Gloria Vanderbilt. Despite this little tidbit, a relatively small amount of his net worth comes from the Vanderbilt fortune.
Gloria Vanderbilt passed away in early 2020, but Cooper is believed to have received less than $1.5 million in the inheritance. Apparently this surprised him because he expected not to receive anything – instead he got most of his mother’s estate.
Total net worth
The estimates of Anderson Cooper’s net worth vary somewhat and nobody seems to have a very clear reason for why they have the number they do. Many sources report Cooper’s net worth to be around $110 million while others are more generous and suggest it could be as high as $200 million.
Theoretically speaking, if Cooper was being paid $12 million per year from CNN since 2003 without any changes and never paid taxes or spent a dime of it he’d have $156 million in his bank account. And obviously Cooper spends money, so $110 million may be the more accurate number – it’s the number Yahoo! Finance put forth in 2018.
The problem is that there are expenses & incomes the public likely has no idea about. Nobody can know if Cooper has investments, and if so what they are. It’s entirely possible he’s made good investments and really does have a net worth of $200 million. He may also have sponsorship deals or other secret money makers.
On the other hand he could be a spending fiend and have less money than some expect.
Conclusion
Regardless of which net worth estimate is more accurate, once you hit nine digits it’s safe to say the person in question (this time Anderson Cooper) is living a pretty nice life. (Anyone care to nominate us for understatement of the year?)
The CNN news anchor is paid pretty handsomely for his time on the network and even if that were his only source of income he’d be doing well enough – so not a soul could blame you if you were a tad envious.
