Get a 360-Degree View of Anderson Cooper's Net Worth
His bank account is full of good news.
Anderson Cooper's net worth is staggering. True, the CNN personality was born into money thanks to his wealthy socialite parents (mom was fashion icon Gloria Vanderbilt; dad was writer and actor Wyatt Cooper), but his fortune grew significantly once he was out on his own making his mark on the media world. Beginning his career behind the scenes in broadcast journalism, "AC" has since become the face of cable news, as well as a beloved host and panelist for other programming.
Despite his significant wealth, Cooper doesn't consider himself a big spender—in fact, he's a bit of a cheapskate by his own admission! In May 2020, he joked about his baby boy rocking some not-so-new outfits.
"My son is entirely wearing hand-me-downs from Andy Cohen's son," Cooper revealed on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. "I'm inherently cheap, I like a good value."
He added, "It's a pandemic—I was planning on kind of going shopping, which I hate to do. And so, yeah, he just gave me all the clothes. I wanted my son to be a Depression-era child who grows up wearing hand-me-down clothes."
But exactly how did the silver fox transform from the boy born with a silver spoon to TV's golden boy? Here's what we know about Anderson Cooper's net worth and how he made it.
How did Anderson Cooper become famous?
Cooper was born into massive wealth and connections, which undoubtedly played a role in his success. However, he's insisted there was little privilege for him in his family fortune. As he said on The Morning Meeting podcast in September 2021, "I don't believe in passing on huge amounts of money. I'm not that interested in money, but I don't intend to have some sort of pot of gold for my son. I'll go with what my parents said… 'College will be paid for, and then you got to get on it.'"
After graduating from Yale in 1989, Anderson became a fact-checker for Channel One News, eventually producing original reporting on the unrest in Myanmar (then commonly known as Burma). His work impressed viewers and higher-ups, and he soon became a correspondent for the network.
In 1994, Cooper moved to ABC News, co-anchoring World News Now for several years before leaving to host the short-lived reality show The Mole in 2000. By 2001, he moved to CNN as a reporter, and two years later landed his flagship show, Anderson Cooper 360°.
Related: Anderson Cooper Is Now a Father of Two! Get to Know His Kids and His Co-Parent, BFF Benjamin Maisani
What is Anderson Cooper's net worth in 2023?
Cooper has an estimated net worth of $50 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth—but according to other outlets, such as USA Today, it's actually more like $200 million. Either way, Cooper's fortune is derived primarily from his television career, which started in the late 1980s. The bulk of Cooper's net worth comes from his work with CNN, which began in 2001.
What is Anderson Cooper's net worth after his inheritance?
Cooper's mother Gloria Vanderbilt died in June 2019 at 95 years old. She reportedly left him $1.5 million, and he claimed in his book Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty that the entire Vanderbilt fortune had dwindled to almost nothing. Indeed, his $1.5 million sum is but a small portion of his overall net worth, and he told Howard Stern in a 2014 interview that he wasn't expecting much of a windfall from his mom.
"My mom's made clear to me that there's no trust fund. There's none of that, [and] I don't believe in inheriting money," he said. "Who's inherited a lot of money that has gone on to do things in their own life? From the time I was growing up, if I felt that there was some pot of gold waiting for me, I don't know that I would've been so motivated."
He added of his potential inheritance, "I don't know what the amount is going to be but it's not some huge estate. I think the New York Post put out a thing early on [that] it was $200 million. I was like, 'Wow!' My mom lived a big life and made a lot of money, spent a lot of money, had people embezzle money," he explained. "She wasn't interested in money. I know people would imagine that's what she was interested in, [but] she had no sense of it. She cared about being generous to her friends and having a nice physical environment and creating art."
What is Anderson Cooper's salary?
Cooper makes a cool $12 million per year for his work with CNN, Yahoo! Finance reports. Cooper is one of the highest-paid news anchors and broadcast reporters in the United States.
Related: Watch! Anderson Cooper Was Not Happy When Jeopardy! Contestants Didn’t Recognize the ‘Hot Priest’
What is Gloria Vanderbilt's net worth?
At the time of her death, Vanderbilt's net worth was estimated at $10 million—thanks more to her clothing design empire than to her inherited millions. Cooper revealed in Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty that his mother was a big spender and that she'd also been allegedly ripped off for millions by a psychiatrist and a lawyer to whom she'd granted power of attorney. They denied the allegations; Vanderbilt eventually won a lawsuit against them.
She once said of her fortune, "Remember whenever money is involved, it brings out horrific things in people. It has the power not only to split families apart, but to destroy the foundations of one's life. Never lose sight of this. Take time and be certain you place your trust in those whose interests and goals mirror your own."
Who inherited the Vanderbilt fortune?
Gloria Vanderbilt inherited the Vanderbilt railroad fortune in 1925. At the time, her inheritance was $5 million, and her mother and her paternal aunt famously fought over custody of the then-10-year-old Gloria—custody that came with the control of her hefty trust fund. Her aunt ultimately won custody, and she visited her mother during summers.
Vanderbilt's inheritance is even more massive when adjusted for inflation: In 2022, Vanderbilt's $5 million fortune would have been worth more than $80 million. Cooper has said that his mother spent most of her fortune while she was alive, leaving him a relatively small $1.5 million inheritance. (Again, it's significant to most of us, but in relation to where her fortune started and where his currently is, it isn't much!)
Related: 10 Facts You Might Not Know About CNN Host Anderson Cooper
What happened to Anderson Cooper's dad?
Wyatt Emory Cooper was Gloria Vanderbilt's fourth husband. He died in January 1978 while undergoing heart surgery, according to The New York Times. At the time of Wyatt's death, Anderson was just 10 years old.
In an interview on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Anderson revealed that he never acknowledged Father's Day until he became a dad to son Wyatt (named after his father) because the pain of losing his father was too great.
"I just didn't acknowledge [Father's Day]. Holidays and especially Father's Day when you don't have a dad is not even just bittersweet, it's inexplicable," he said. "The pain was so great for most of my life... The interesting thing about having a child is it's made me sort of connect with my dad and my mom's past and my brother's past in a way that I never really anticipated ... I feel like I'm in communion with them in some strange way. I remember things about my dad that I never remembered before because I'm experiencing them with Wyatt as a dad."
Related: Anderson Cooper Is Co-Parenting His Newborn Son Wyatt With His Ex
How is Anderson Cooper so rich?
Though he was born into generational wealth, the bulk of Cooper's fortune comes from his television work with CNN. He is also a best-selling author of several books, including Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty; The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss and Dispatches From the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival. Cooper has also hosted specials for CNN (his CNN New Year's Eve with pal Andy Cohen produced many memes in 2021) and co-starred in an HBO special documentary with his mother, Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt and Anderson Cooper. His popularity extends to game shows as well, previously serving as host of The Mole and a memorable guest host on Jeopardy! in 2021.
In addition to all of that, he also serves as a frequent correspondent for CBS News' 60 Minutes.
Did Anderson Cooper leave CNN in 2021?
Cooper did not resign from CNN in 2021 and is happily still employed by the cable news giant. He is also paid handsomely for it, pocketing a cool $12 million annually for his work at the network. In addition to Anderson Cooper 360°, he also hosts Anderson Cooper Full Circle, available for streaming on CNN's digital properties and his new podcast All There Is with Anderson Cooper, which premiered in September 2022.
Who is the highest paid on CNN?
Cooper is reportedly the highest-paid anchor on CNN, boasting a $12 million annual salary. His fellow CNN anchor Erin Burnett, for comparison, makes an estimated $3 million per year. The now-disgraced former Cuomo Primetime host Chris Cuomo made $6 million per year before his ouster for alleged ethical lapses surrounding brother Andrew Cuomo's sexual misconduct allegations.
Next, find out Oprah Winfrey's massive net worth and exactly how she earned it—entirely on her own merits.
