There's simply no other radio personality as successful as Howard Stern. No matter how influential a radio host has been throughout history, no matter how wealthy they've become, Howard holds the record for being THE most accomplished. THE most influential. THE richest.
...by a mile...
Because of this, and the fact that Howard is notoriously cagey about how much he's earned, many fans have wondered if he's actually worth far more than what's been previously reported. In short, they wonder if Howard Stern is secretly a billionaire?
Here's the truth of the matter...
Why Howard Is So Secretive About His Finances
To understand why fans are curious about whether or not Howard Stern is actually a billionaire, one has to understand why he's so quiet about money in the first place.
Howard has built his entire career on being brutally honest about nearly every aspect of his life. Listeners of his prolific, funny, and sometimes controversial radio show (which has been on Sirius Satellite radio since 2006 and existed for 40 years in total) know an incredible amount about the self-proclaimed "King of All Media". They know about his greatest insecurities, they know everything about his marriage to Beth, his relationship with his mother and father, and they even know about Howard's sexual preferences... Hint, they're not nearly as perverse as some of his uninformed critics would claim.
But they don't know a lot about his net worth or how he spends his money...
This is because Howard absolutely loathes when people brag about how much money they have. Sure, he almost always asks his celebrity guests about how much they have in their bank accounts, as well as berates his own staffers when they spend frivolously, but he doesn't expose the same details about himself.
While speaking about the Real Housewives recently, Howard mentioned how he finds it hilarious but offensive that the stars of the show hold no regard for those who don't make the money that they do. He also claims that if one is going to make that kind of coinage, they better have a discernable talent. Regardless, bragging about paychecks just isn't how Howard was raised.
More importantly, talking about his finances separate him from a huge chunk of his audience. Creating a financial divide isn't a good trait for a radio show host who wants to create a 'hang out' atmosphere between him, his guests, his staffers, and his millions of listeners.
Whenever his salary, net worth, or assets have been mentioned on the show, Howard quickly changes the topic.
So, Is Howard Stern A Billionaire?
The answer is quite simply... no.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Howard is worth $650 million. While that is just an insane amount of money, it simply isn't a billion.
Most of Howard's money has come from his career in radio. While he started off earning below minimum wage working at a radio station, over the years he's made himself worth a ludicrous amount of money. Due to the revenue, he has brought into terrestrial radio and now satellite radio, his annual salary is between $65 million and $95 million.
Additionally, Howard also has stocks in SiriusXM, is a three-time best-selling author, and the producer and star of a blockbuster film, Private Parts. On top of this, Howard was also one of the highest-paid America's Got Talent Judges. According to The Daily Mail, he earned $15 million per season.
All of this has afforded him a life of luxury. According to The Huffington Post, Howard and Beth own a $16 million mansion in The Hamptons (where he's been living exclusively for the past year and a half) and a whopping $52 million mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. On top of this, he bought multiple apartments on the top two floors of The Millenium Tower in New York City and adjoined them all. The property, where he usually lived before the global pandemic, is reportedly worth $21 million.
Aside from his mega-houses, Howard doesn't seem to be much of a spender. While fans of his show know that he personally employees several people (including his driver and stylist), as well as financially supports many of his family members, they don't know about any other extravagances. Even though Howard occasionally goes out for a nice meal, he doesn't own a private jet or yacht. He certainly doesn't go on any extravagant vacations, and flashy cars just aren't his deal.
Then again, he could be hiding some other expenses and finances since he's made a point of not addressing it to his massive audience. While that's certainly possible, it really seems unlikely.