The media mogul's earnings fell by a staggering $125 million from last year. However, even with the drop, she remains the highest earner on the list, just inching out director Michael Bay. It's been a challenging year for Winfrey, who signed off from her 25-year syndicated show and immediately turned her attention to struggling cable network OWN. The bulk of the earnings dive comes from lost income on The Oprah Winfrey Show, but her diversified portfolio includes O: The Oprah Magazine, spin-off shows like The Dr. Oz Show and a radio deal with Sirius. She does not earn a salary at OWN, which has faced ratings disappointments and financial issues since it premiered in Jan. 2011. As chairman and CEO of the joint venture with Discovery Communications, she hopes a recent restructuring, new programming and a distribution deal with Comcast will turn the network around.
Close behind was movie director Michael Bay, whose action-packed adventure flick "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" released last year, helped him earn $160 million based on participation in ticket and toy sales and other revenue. Another film director, Steven Spielberg, earned $130 million in the 12-month period covered by Forbes from his participation with TV shows like "Smash" and the release of the movies "The Adventures of Tintin" and "War Horse."
Jerry Bruckheimer placed fourth with $115 million from TV shows and films including "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" and behind him at No. 5 was music producer Dr. Dre, who earned $110 million based mostly on the sale of part of his stake in the Beats by Dr. Dre headphone company.
Rounding out the top 10, in order, were:
Actor and producer Tyler Perry, $105 million
Radio and TV personality Howard Stern, $95 million
Author James Patterson, $94 million
Movie producer George Lucas, $90 million
Music producer and TV personality, Simon Cowell, $90 million
[Forbes/Reuters]
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