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On the Celebrity Net Worth website, this claim is made:

Michael Moore net worth: Michael Moore is a documentary filmmaker and author who has a net worth of $50 million.

Is this true? This seems incredible to me because of his movies.

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    Note: Michael Moore's net worth has been a political football since, at least, the Occupy protests. Please focus answers on referenced, empirical facts, not ideology. – Oddthinking Jul 23 '14 at 17:02

1 Answers1

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The following is most likely to be true:

It is mentionned and well-sourced on wikipedia:

Moore married movie producer Kathleen Glynn on October 19, 1991. He filed for divorce on June 17, 2013. At the time of his divorce, he was estimated to have a net worth of $50 million.

However, all sources point out to http://www.celebritynetworth.com/. But you should know that it is estimated. According to that website, he:

  • sold a documentary to Warner Brothers for $3,000,000(1).
  • released ten documentaries, several books and a television show.(2)
  • reportedly generated an additional $17,000,0000 from Sicko.(3)
  • received an advance of $1 million for “Dude Where’s My Country” and also a huge percentage from book sales.(4)
  • earned $21,600,000 from Fahrenheit. (5)
  • gained $2,190,000 from DVD sales. (4)

Do the math, it is close to $50,000,000.

Google provided this link also,

hakuna matata

(1) "Roger & Me," commentary by Michael Moore in special features added in 2003 to the DVD. December 2003, see also.

(2) Moore's wikipedia page.

(3) See this report form LA times.

(4) See this report. Not sure if reliable though.

(5) "Film-maker Michael Moore sues Weinstein brothers". BBC. 9 February 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2011.

George Chalhoub
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    The study appears to show that Michael Moore has been paid a total of $50 million over the past couple of decades. That isn't the same as having a net worth of $50 million. – DJClayworth Jul 23 '14 at 19:08
  • @DJClayworth Right. If you're going to do the math and add up the revenues, you also need to subtract out the expenditures. A $15 million dollar home in Beverly Hills, for example, significantly changes things. –  Jul 23 '14 at 19:37
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    @fredsbend How so? Did the house become worthless during the housing crash? –  Jul 23 '14 at 19:57
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    @Cincinnatus You have to subtract expenditures. If he bought a car ten years ago, it's worth less now (if anything). If he spent $10,000 on a vacation that's $10,000 he doesn't have. A home is the thing least likely to depreciate. – DJClayworth Jul 23 '14 at 20:04
  • @georgechalhoub Bad example, but the principle still stands. A better example would be how much money he has spent producing his movies (I think he does produce them in part himself). –  Jul 23 '14 at 20:08
  • If you're looking at income over an extended period you also have to look know where he put what wasn't immediately spent. Bank accounts earn interest, stocks/bonds/etc go up and down in value, etc... – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight Jul 23 '14 at 20:57
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    @fredsbend You can save confusion in the future by using the term "expenses" instead of "expenditures". A capital expenditure retains net-worth, minus net depreciation. An expense is money pissed into the wind. – corsiKa Jul 23 '14 at 22:47
  • @georgechalhoub Right now, all you have verified is that he has earned revenue of about $50 million over the years. That doesn't mean his net worth is that. –  Jul 23 '14 at 22:55
  • Probably the important point here is the "media celebrity net worth" is a concept only very vaguely related to actual net worth. So there's plenty of scope of skepticism, but no more for Moore then for anyone else whose net worth was computed by the same technique :-) This metric should be called "career earnings" or something, since for example Nic Cage who was near-bankrupt at a time this technique would have estimated his so-called "net worth" above $150 million. – Steve Jessop Jul 24 '14 at 10:27