Oprah Winfrey Net Worth – From Abused Little Girl to a Powerful Woman

Oprah Winfrey Net Worth is $2.6 Billion (as of 2019)

Who knew that Oprah Winfrey, born into poverty to a teenage single mother, will become the richest self-made woman and the richest African American of 20th century! Not only Oprah grew up in poverty, she has also witnessed rape and abuse as early as at age of nine, becoming pregnant at 14 and losing her son during infancy.

Oprah Winfrey's Salary: $300 Million Per Year

Quick facts

These obvious disadvantages and emotional challenges haven’t stopped Oprah from dreaming and becoming what she wanted to be. Oprah kept reading, educating herself, persisting. Despite all naysayers and racists, she has become world’s most famous talk show host, media proprietor, actress and author.

Oprah’s very first job was at a local grocery store. In her teenage years she was always a good student and a popular girl. In addition to her early academic achievements, Oprah won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant when she was 17 and oratory contest. This attracted the attention of the local black radio station and Oprah was hired to do the news part-time. Her carrier in media has begun.

In 1984 Oprah took over the lowest rated talk show, AM Chicago, and within the month the show went from its last place to the highest rated talk show in Chicago. Obviously, Oprah knew her stuff and the world could not help but notice!

After her success with AM Chicago, Oprah was persuaded to take over another show, At the Movies, which was later renamed to The Oprah Winfrey Show and, while extremely popular, it was still classified as tabloid show. Oprah has rebranded it in middle 1990s and began to talk about wider topics.

In 1993 36.5 million people watched as Oprah interviewed Michael Jackson, which became world’s most watched interview ever. She has appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2005 and now that Oprah was undoubtedly a celebrity herself, series of celebrity interviews have followed.

Oprah’s work extended beyond talk shows and interviews. She is also an actress and an author. She has co-authored five books and publishes two magazines O, the Oprah Magazine and O at Home. Her O, the Oprah Magazine was named the most successful start-up in the publishing industry.

In addition, Oprah has her own radio channel, Oprah Radio, and a popular website Oprah.com with over six million users per month. Her YouTube Channel OWN, which stands for Oprah Winfrey Network was founded in 2006 and as for today it had well over 100 million views.

The Oprah Effect

Many now rich and famous celebrities credit their success to Oprah. Such celebrity as Dr. Phil McGraw, for instance, was virtually unknown before being invited to her show. Oprah met him during her court trial in Amarillo where his job was to read, interpret and psychologically analyze the jury – something that he later referred in his own book Life Strategies. Today, Dr. Phil McGraw is a famous TV personality and author with net worth of $240 million and annual salary of $70 million. Oprah changes lives.

From abused little girl to a powerful woman with $2.6 billion net worth, Oprah is more than just inspiring.

Is Oprah Winfrey Dead or Alive?

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