TALK show host legend Oprah Winfrey got her start in broadcast television before expanding her brand into an empire.
Oprah’s empire includes a cable network, a magazine, and a production company.
What is Oprah Winfrey’s net worth?
Oprah, 70, has a net worth of $2.8 billion, according to Forbes.
She “reinvested, the profits from her show, plus profits from films like The Color Purple, Beloved and Selma (which her Harpo Productions coproduced) add up to an estimated more than $2 billion,” per the outlet.
Forbes also states that in 2020, Oprah sold the majority of her stake in her cable channel, own, to owner Warner Bros. Discovery “in exchange for shares in the company.”
In 2015, the talk show pioneer bought a 10% stake in Weight Watchers, “though she owns less now,” and became a brand ambassador for the weight loss company.
In 2018, CNN reported that her investment was worth over $400 million.
In February 2024, Variety reported that Oprah would be leaving the Weight Watchers board “following the entertainment mogul’s revelation that she is using a weight-loss drug.”
“Winfrey informed the company this week that she decided to not stand for reelection at the annual meeting of shareholders to be held in May 2024,” the outlet continued.
“I look forward to continuing to advise and collaborate with WeightWatchers and CEO Sima Sistani in elevating the conversation around recognizing obesity as a chronic condition, working to reduce stigma, and advocating for health equity,” Oprah said in a statement, according to Variety.
In December 2023, the star revealed to People that she is taking a weight loss medication.
“The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for,” she said, in part.
“I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself.”
Oprah also signed a multi-year content partnership with Apple in 2018, according to Variety.
The ultra-wealthy star grew up poor in rural Mississippi.
She started her career in Nashville before moving to Baltimore and co-anchoring the talk show, People Are Talking.
After Baltimore, she moved to Chicago, where her job was to revamp a struggling morning show, according to Business Insider. That show was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show.
During her career, Oprah launched her own production company, Harpo, her own cable network, and her own magazine.
She even starred in blockbuster films and was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in The Color Purple.
According to Forbes, Oprah has homes in California and more than a dozen properties in Hawaii.
Why did The Oprah Winfrey Show end?
The Oprah Winfrey Show aired its final episode on May 25, 2011, after having debuted on September 8, 1986.
In an August 2017 interview with Vogue, Oprah opened up about her decision to end the long-running TV program.
“I started thinking about the times: where we were, would I be able to take it digital. People were moving into ‘I want to be able to watch it when I want to watch it,’ and the four o’clock hour was no longer must-see television,” she said, per TV Series Finale.
“I could feel that happening with the audience. Their behaviors were shifting, and the media world was changing,” she continued.
“I had written something in my journals years before: ‘I never want to stay too long in the ring so I end up punch-drunk.’ I didn’t want people saying, ‘She shoulda quit that show three years ago!’
“I started reading this incredible article about Michael Jackson, and one of Jackson’s friends was quoted as saying, ‘His number-one problem is that he never realized that Thriller was a phenomenon. And he spent the rest of his life trying to chase it.’
“And so, when Bad only sold—only sold—20 million albums early on, he was disappointed because it wasn’t Thriller. He thought he was going to top Thriller.
“I went, Whoa. Pay attention to that. I didn’t want to be the person chasing a phenomenon. And that is what the Oprah show was. All the right elements came together at the right time. That won’t happen again.
“People would ask me, ‘Who will be the next Oprah?’ And the answer is: ‘There won’t be.'”
When did Oprah launch the OWN network?
Oprah founded the OWN network on January 1, 2011.
Before its launch, Oprah discussed the California-based cable network with O editor-in-chief Susan Casey.
When asked why she chose to start OWN, the TV legend responded, “My goal in life is to live out the truest expression of myself as a human being.”
“We live in a culture that really only responds to that which is familiar, famous, wealthy—people pay attention to people who are known. I’ve always believed that that was what the fame was for, so that people would pay attention,” she continued.
“For me, though, it’s been equally important that once they’re paying attention, you have something meaningful, worthwhile, and of substance to say to them—you’re not just yakety-yakking.
“In the early ’90s when I was doing the show, I wrote in my journal about creating a network for mindful television.
“Stedman and I were talking about the state of trash TV and what I was going to do, and he said, ‘Why don’t you own your own network?’ And I was like, ‘Well, how is that possible?’ Because it seemed impossible at the time.
“But as I sat with the idea—own your own network—I thought of the letters OWN, standing for the Oprah Winfrey Network. And I’m always looking for signs, signals, and so I wrote that down in my journal that night, May 14, 1992.”
Over a decade later, OWN remains a successful network that airs many shows and podcasts.