‘Get out!’: Jerry Seinfeld is a billionaire

For a show famously about nothing, “Seinfeld” created a whole lot of something for its star.

The enduring sitcom has helped propel comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s net worth to more than $1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which is valuing his wealth for the first time.

His eponymous show, co-created with Larry David, has proved particularly durable since its debut in 1989, serving as a springboard for other kinds of income even as the landscape of American TV shifted.

A key portion of Seinfeld’s fortune comes from a series of syndication deals for the sitcom, which netted him about $465 million, according to Bloomberg estimates, while a Netflix Inc. deal for the streaming rights brought an additional $94 million. He also earned more than $100 million since the 1980s from touring, according to the estimate.

The analysis assumes Seinfeld, 69, invested his earnings beginning in 1990. The cash is appreciated in line with the historic performance of the MSCI World Index.

The estimate includes $40 million of real estate, including an apartment on New York’s Central Park West, a home in the Hamptons and a warehouse in California. His vintage car collection — some of which were featured in his “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” series on Netflix — wasn’t included in the analysis.

Amy Jacobs, a representative for Seinfeld, called the wealth calculation “inaccurate” but declined to provide further details.

Everyday life

Born in Brooklyn and raised in the Long Island town of Massapequa, Seinfeld attended Queens College, where he practiced stand-up, honing a quintessential brand of observational comedy.

Mining the humdrum details of everyday life for material, Seinfeld spun jokes from topics as simple as waiting on hold with the bank, being left-handed or listening to an airplane pilot update passengers over a PA system. Appearances on the “Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” and “Late Night with David Letterman” vaulted him on to the national stage.

But Seinfeld took his celebrity to a new level.

With its distinctive slap bass and riotous laugh track, Seinfeld both captures a singular moment in 1990s Manhattan and transcends its era.

“It addresses the absurdity of everyday, modern life, which allows for this frequent feeling that one is in Seinfeld,” said Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, author of the book “Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything.”

“If you watch the show, you will inevitably find yourself frequently saying that something is ‘like a “Seinfeld” episode,’” she said.

Centered around a group of New Yorkers — picky Jerry, neurotic George, judgmental Elaine and gonzo Kramer — who needle, scheme, gossip and opine from an iconic coffee shop and Jerry’s apartment, “Seinfeld” inspired an entrenched fandom that remains potent more than two decades after its series finale.

Over years of syndication, “Seinfeld” scrupulously codified pet peeves — the close talker, low talker, re-gifter, double dipper — that slipped easily into the vernacular. True “Seinfeld” lovers have a language all their own. A “sponge-worthy” paramour, “bizarro” doppelganger or occasional conversational gloss of “yada-yada” are references that demand no further explanation among devotees.

“These four main characters capture very universal feelings and behaviors that many of us can relate to,” said Anthony Tobia, a professor of psychiatry at Rutgers University who uses “Seinfeld” as a tool to teach medical students about personality disorders. “They behave in ways we all have the capacity for.”

When Netflix won the global streaming rights to all 180 episodes of “Seinfeld” in 2019, the Los Angeles Times reported that the company paid “far more” than the $500 million NBCUniversal shelled out for streaming rights to “The Office,” or the $425 million WarnerMedia paid for “Friends,” citing people familiar with the matter that it didn’t identify.

Even in 1998, the year the “Seinfeld” finale aired, TV executives seemed to recognize it could be the last of a dwindling species.

The show “may be the last big hit sitcom to come off the networks ever,” Bill Burke, the former president of TBS Superstation, said in a 1998 article in the New York Times. Turner Broadcasting paid more than $1 million per episode for the cable rerun rights to “Seinfeld,” the newspaper reported.

During its run, “Seinfeld” sat at the top of the Nielsen ratings. Seasons 3 through 8 all ranked among Netflix’s 500 most-watched shows, according to data cataloging viewers from January through June 2023.

Lasting influence

Signs of its lasting influence are everywhere. “Seinfeld” merchandise is among the most sought-after for any TV show. Fans can purchase a 20-ounce ramen bowl and chopstick set printed with NO SOUP FOR YOU; an embossed phony license plate with the letters ASSMAN; a lavender scented soy candle emblazoned with George’s father’s famous entreaty for “Serenity Now!”

Devotees can commune at in-person events. The Brooklyn Cyclones minor league baseball team hosts a “Seinfeld” night where fans have competed in an “Elaine Dancing Contest,” mimicking the spasmodic kicks and ungainly thumb jerks that Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ character breaks out at a party, horrifying co-workers.

Seinfeld, whose methodical writing process is well documented, has new projects underway.

An upcoming film, “Unfrosted: the Pop-Tart Story,” which Seinfeld directed, is scheduled for release in May.

“I like money,” Seinfeld told the New York Times in 2012. “But it’s never been about the money.”

Methodology

Bloomberg News spoke to more than a half-dozen experts in entertainment and finance, including in television rights investment and valuation, to inform the analysis.

Earnings from sitcom licensing were calculated assuming Seinfeld received a 15% stake in syndication deals, based on analyst and banker estimates. They’re also based on a Financial Times report that the series earned $3.1 billion in income from 1998 through its fifth syndication deal in 2013.

Streaming income is estimated incorporating a 2019 Los Angeles Times report that Netflix paid more than $500 million for global streaming rights.

Touring revenue is estimated based on Pollstar data, and assumes Seinfeld received a 35% cut of gross box office on tours through 2023.

To calculate present value of cash from earnings, a return based on the MSCI World Index was applied for each year since 1990.

With assistance from Tom Metcalf.