Jon Stewart's Daily Show career is coming to a close, accompanied by a torrent of praise for his work over the years. Here at FORBES, we've noted his forward-thinking use of new media, not to mention his far-reaching value to television and the broader American consciousness.
Stewart will clearly go down in history as one of the top late-night personalities of all time in terms of length of tenure, sharpness of wit and general influence on society. But there's one area where he doesn't rank among the greats: earnings.
Though Stewart has pulled in double-digit millions fairly regularly, we've never clocked him at higher than $16 million in a given year. He has only appeared on our Celebrity 100 list four times, with earnings of $14 million in 2008 and 2009, followed by $16 million in 2013 and 2014.
Some reports have suggested Stewart has been earning at least $25 million annually since extending his Daily Show contract two years ago, though sources have expressed skepticism over that claim. By our math, Stewart didn't crack the $28 million earnings cutoff for this year's Celebrity 100.
David Letterman, also in his last year, ranked No. 67 with earnings of $35 million--and has pulled in more than $500 million since 2000, never earning less than $20 million during any year in that span.
Jay Leno's late-night haul isn't quite as large as Letterman's, but he still totaled north of $300 million from 2000-2011. His worst years during that range were 2000 and 2001, when he took in $17 million; he earned no less than $30 million annually from 2005-2011.
So why the earnings disparity between Stewart and his peers? It seems that the situation, and not necessarily the compensation, is what drove Stewart's decisions.
Stewart recently admitted he turned down an opportunity to host Meet The Press--even though NBC was said to be "ready to back the Brinks truck up." And although the chairs occupied by David Letterman and Jay Leno have been vacated over the past couple of years, Stewart has said he wasn't interested in the format.
"I had done a show like that 20 years ago… I don't think I'm particularly suited for it," he said, referencing his 1990s run on MTV with the Jon Stewart Show.
Stewart hasn't revealed much about his future plans, but his 2014 directorial debut, Rosewater, offers some clues. The film was based on the true story of journalist Maziar Bahari, who was detained and brutally interrogated in Iran after giving an interview to a Daily Show reporter; authorities used this as evidence that Bahari was an American spy.
Rosewater grossed just $3.1 million at the box office. But for Stewart, that seems to be beside the point. "I'm taken by the bravery of anybody who puts themselves in harm's way to bear witness," he told the Hollywood Reporter.
In the same interview, Stewart addressed Iranian allegations that his film was a piece of propaganda with a telling aside: "The suggestion is that the CIA and Zionist lobby funded this … I guess I'm still waiting for the money."
That sentiment is reflective of his career on the whole, at least when compared with the financial success of the likes of Leno and Letterman. Stewart might not be their equal on that front, but in all other respects he leaves behind an unbeatable late-night legacy.
For more about the business of entertainment, check out my Jay Z biography and my latest one, Michael Jackson, Inc. You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook.
