Highlights

• Both Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld have amassed significant wealth from Seinfeld, with Seinfeld on the verge of becoming a billionaire with a net worth of $950 million.
• Larry David negotiated to own 15% of Seinfeld backend points, which has earned him at least $800 million.
• Jerry Seinfeld, who starred in the show and operated in a similar role to David, also owns 15% of Seinfeld backend points. He has made at least $800 million from the show and has a net worth of $950 million, making him incredibly wealthy.

When Seinfeld debuted on television in 1989, there was absolutely no way for anyone to know that the show would go on to become as popular as it would. After all, the show’s co-creators, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, were still pretty unknown to the vast majority of people at that time.

Of course, during Seinfeld’s nine-season run, it became one of the most respected and popular sitcoms in television history. As a result, the show’s legions of fans love to learn behind-the-scenes facts about Seinfeld. For example, when the world learned that there once was talk of a Seinfeld and Friends crossover, a lot of them were blown away by that idea.

Aside from the creative aspects of Seinfeld and the relationships that the show’s cast and crew crafted, there is another part of the show’s legacy that people are fascinated by. After all, money makes the world go around, so it makes sense that people are curious about how much the people behind Seinfeld cashed in on the beloved sitcom.

Given that Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld co-created the show, that begs an obvious question, which one of them made more money from Seinfeld?

Updated January 2024: Since Seinfeld ended, both Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld continue to grow their net worths. Seinfeld is extremely close to becoming a billionaire, with his $950 million fortune, and David is creeping up on half a billion with a net worth of $450 million. While there might be a rather large discrepancy between the two net worths, it needs to be remembered that while David was a showrunner on Seinfeld, Seinfeld was a showrunner and the star of the sitcom. A sitcom that Seinfeld would eventually be paid $1 million per episode to do. But with tens of millions continuing to come in yearly for the syndication rights and the contract that was drawn up with Netflix, neither man is going to need to worry about their fortune during their lifetime.

Larry David Looked For The Long-Term Investment With Seinfeld

Larry David negotiated to own 15% of Seinfeld backend points

Several years after Larry David decided to leave Seinfeld behind, he would go on to create and star in another massively popular comedy series, Curb Your Enthusiasm. Once Seinfeld fans got to see Curb Your Enthusiasm, it quickly became incredibly clear that Larry’s sense of humor played a huge role in Seinfeld’s massive success. With that in mind, Seinfeld fans will likely be happy to learn that Larry managed to make a fortune from his contributions to Seinfeld.

During most interviews, Larry is more interested in discussing his various gripes than anything else. Despite that, the comedy genius has been known to take certain topics seriously during interviews.

For example, when Larry once was asked how Seinfeld’s success changed his life, Larry answered sincerely before he cracked a joke.

"It gave me money. It gave me something that I didn't have, but not in the way that people think, it's a total transformation," Larry explained. "I still, to this day, couldn't walk up to a woman at a bar and say hello."

During the early days of Seinfeld, nobody involved expected the show to be a hit. For proof of that fact, all you have to do is look at the fact that the show’s first season was made up of only five episodes. Likely because NBC didn’t expect Seinfeld to go the distance, Larry managed to negotiate a deal that allowed him to own 7.5% of the show’s backend equity points. On top of that, once Seinfeld became a huge hit, Larry was able to get a bigger piece of the pie by buying out another equity owner and getting NBC to cough up a larger percentage.

Over the years, it has never become clear how much money Larry made while working as Seinfeld’s showrunner alongside his longtime pal Jerry Seinfeld. However, it is known that Larry eventually owned 15% of Seinfeld’s backend equity points. This equates to an awful lot since the show has made a fortune from DVD sales, merchandise, syndication, and streaming rights. In fact, according to Celebrity Net Worth, Larry had made at least $800 million from his 15% Seinfeld ownership stake by 2019.

Since then, it has been announced that Netflix struck a deal to stream Seinfeld which means Larry's bank account, which has a net worth of $450 million, has recently swelled in a big way.

Jerry Seinfeld Also Looked Toward The Future With Seinfeld

Jerry Seinfeld negotiated to own 15% of Seinfeld backend points

Even though it is very clear that Seinfeld wouldn’t have been able to take off without Larry’s contributions, Jerry played a more obvious role in the show’s success. After all, not only did Jerry operate in the same role that Larry did behind the scenes and during the show’s creation, but he starred in the show as well.

On top of that, when Larry decided to leave Seinfeld, Jerry stayed behind and kept the show going strong for four more seasons.

Despite Jerry's longer Seinfeld tenure, he owns 15% of the show’s backend equity points just like his longtime friend Larry. As a result, Jerry too, has made at least $800 million from Seinfeld since the show ended.

Did Larry David Or Jerry Seinfeld Make More From Seinfeld?

Jerry Seinfeld's salary and backend points earned him more from Seinfeld than Larry David

There is one reason why Jerry has made more money from Seinfeld than Larry did. It was because Jerry’s actor’s salary was a staggering figure by the show’s end.

During the first season of Seinfeld, Jerry reportedly made $20,000 per episode. That figure drastically changed as the show became a hit.

The amount of money that Jerry made from the beginning to the end of Seinfeld, according to Celebrity Net Worth, is as follows:

In a fascinating aside, it has been reported that Jerry turned down a deal worth $5 million per episode for a tenth Seinfeld season that never happened.

Given all the money he has made from Seinfeld, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Jerry is incredibly wealthy, sitting pretty with a net worth of $950 million to his name.