Matt Lauer has a net worth currently estimated at $70 million. He made his wealth from a variety of sources, including his journalism career, acting career, real estate investments, and much more.
Lauer started his journalism career as far back as 1979 when he worked in several media houses in the United States. He experienced the peak of his career with NBC, but allegations of sexual assault saw him leave the media house in 2017.
How Much is Matt Lauer Currently Worth?
The last estimation of Matt Lauer’s net worth pegged it at $70 million. The celebrated American journalist, TV host, actor, and motivational speaker earned his fortune from multiple sources.
His latest bank balance accrued from an annual salary of $28 million per year, which was what the journalist was getting during the peak of his career as a host on NBC’s The Today Show. However, his earning power took a nosedive in 2017 after he was accused of sexual harassment by his female colleague at NBC. Below is a bullet list of his income sources;
- Journalism
- Acting
- Real estate
Matt Started Making Good Money from His Journalism Career since 1979
1979 was when Matt Lauer started working as a journalist. His first job was scored with WOWK-TV in Huntington, West Virginia, as a producer. He worked with PM Magazine as a co-host. His debut national TV exposure happened when he joined ABC as the co-host of Fame, Fortune, and Romance alongside Robin Leach. Along the line, he was contributing to HBO and ESPN.
Matt then went on to work for WWOR-TV in September 1989. In 1990, he joined the Kushner-Locke Company as a host. Apart from the aforementioned, he has worked for organizations like the World Wrestling Federation and Travel Channel. Lauer achieved all these before scoring his life-changing job at NBC.
He Earned a Fortune while Working with NBC
Matt Lauer landed his best job opportunity at NBC in 1992, and before long, he started co-anchoring Today in New York on WNBC (NBC’s New York flagship station). The details of the first contract he inked with NBC were not made public, but after working with the popular network for two decades, he signed a new contract on the 5th of April 2012. This happened after he had worked in many of their shows and programs, including Live at Five, The Today Show, Weekend Today, NBC News at Sunrise, NBC Nightly News, and a whole lot more. The contract ran through 2017 and was worth a whopping $25 million per year.
On the 30th of November 2016, a few months before the expiration of his 2012 contract with NBC, Matt Lauer inked another lucrative contract worth $20 million a year. The deal would have completed its run by the end of 2018 but was prematurely terminated as a result of his sexual assault allegations.
The Influence of Matt’s Sexual Assault Allegations on His Net Worth
News rent the air on the 29th of November 2017 that Matt Lauer’s employment at NBC had been terminated following sexual assault allegations against him by an unidentified female employee at NBC. According to the lady, Matt targeted her while they were in Sochi, Russia, for the 2014 Winter Olympics and harassed her sexually. She said he continued harassing her after their return to New York.
In the memorandum that NBC chairman Andrew Lack sent out about the unidentified lady’s allegation against Matt, he said they had cause to believe that it may not be an isolated case even though it was the first.
Before long, sexual assault allegations against Matt Lauer started coming from different directions. Publications like Variety and The New York Times previously conducted investigations into Matt’s behavior unknown to NBC News management.
Women who came forward to accuse Matt include former NBC News correspondent Linda Vester, who said that Lauer’s sexual misconduct was common knowledge. Journalist Brooke Nevils said she was anally rapped by Lauer in his hotel room in Sochi covering the 2014 Winter Olympics. Matt allegedly had additional sexual intercourse with Nevils, but it was tagged transactional, and she only agreed out of fear that he could harm her career.
Two weeks later, additional sexual assault allegations against Matt Lauer came from former Today production assistant Addie Zinone, who also said she consented to it out of the fear that her refusal would harm her career at NBC. Journalist Melissa Lonner also came out with her own accusations.
The Termination of Matt’s Employment Affected his Last Contract with the Media House
Before long, the financial aspect of his last contract with NBC was reviewed. According to the network’s executive, Matt was not eligible to get any monetary settlement from the media house since he got fired. His last day on NBC was witnessed on the 28th of November 2017, but his last contract was initially scheduled to run till the last month in 2018.
Acting Roles Contributed To His Bottom Line
Apart from his work in journalism, Matt Lauer owes a few digits of his fortune to movie roles. He was part of the cast of Land of the Lost in 2009, appeared in The Beaver in 2011, and played a voice role in Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!
His other movie appearances include Drew Peterson: Untouchable, Tower Heist, Sharknado 2: The Second One, Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!, and more. We were not told exactly how much he got from his movie roles, but they were quite substantial.
Matt’s Real Estate Investments are Quite Huge
In 2004, Matt Lauer acquired an apartment in New York City for $5.9 million, and 14 years later, he put it back on the real estate market, and it went for $7.4 million. Needless to say, the journalist made a profit margin of $2.5 million.
He had a Southampton-based modest bay front home that he sold in 2016 at the sum of 3.6 million. Before the year ran out, he bought actor Richard Gere’s Sag Harbor-based two-home compound for $36.5 million. Gere acquired the property in 2005 for $6.9 million. In June 2019, Matt listed the home for $44 million, but it is yet to be sold.
Another of his properties that is currently listed on the stock market is a Sag Harbor-based 25-acre property that was initially placed at $18 million, but the current price is $12.75 million.
Matt owns a house in the Hamptons, and there is a 16,000-acre ranch he bought in New Zealand in 2017 for the price of $9 million. His sexual assault allegation nearly put the property in jeopardy, but it is still in his possession to date.