How much is Rush Limbaugh worth?
About $38 million a year, if you ask Clear Channel Communications and its syndication subsidiary Premiere Radio Networks.
The conservative talk-radio host has renewed his contract, striking a deal estimated to be worth $400 million through 2016.
The agreement was announced yesterday by the companies, and the financial details were provided by Limbaugh in an interview with The New York Times Magazine for an article to be published Sunday. In the interview, Limbaugh said the new contract would pay him about $38 million a year for eight years. He also said he would receive a $100 million signing bonus.
The deal, which comes a month shy of the 20th anniversary of “The Rush Limbaugh Show,” reiterates Limbaugh's position as the nation's leading purveyor of political talk radio.
“First and foremost, I'm a businessman,” Limbaugh told Zev Chafets, the writer of the magazine profile. “My first goal is to attract the largest possible audience so I can charge confiscatory ad rates. I happen to have great entertainment skills, but that enables me to sell airtime.”
Limbaugh reaches an audience of nearly 20 million listeners. His program is syndicated on about 600 radio stations nationwide, including KOGO/AM 600 in San Diego.
Limbaugh's new contract is believed to be the most expensive in radio since 2004, when Sirius Satellite Radio paid Howard Stern $100 million a year for five years. That deal, however, also covered the staff, production and studio costs for Stern's show.
