Tucker Carlson's Net Worth (Updated 2022) | Wealthy Gorilla

Net Worth:	$30 Million
Age:	54
Born:	May 16, 1969
Gender:	Male
Height:	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Country of Origin:	United States of America
Source of Wealth:	Professional Politician
Last Updated:	February 9, 2024

Table of Contents

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• Introduction
• Early Career
• PBS & MSNBC
• Fox News
• Controversy
• Leaving Fox
• Fox Salary

Introduction

Tucker Carlson is an American conservative political commentator with an estimated net worth of $30 Million.

Early Career

Tucker Carlson began his career working for the national conservative journal, Policy Review, as a fact-checker before becoming a writer for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

In 1995, he joined The Weekly Standard, and in 1999, he interviewed George W. Bush for Talk magazine, which negatively impacted Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign. Soon after, he had a short stint co-hosting The Spin Room on CNN and, in 2001, was made the co-host of Crossfire.

Carlson interviewed Britney Spears in 2003, and the interview was featured in the 2004 film Fahrenheit 9/11, which earned the singer a Golden Raspberry. Also, in 2004, Jon Stewart criticized Carlson for the show Crossfire and its harm to American political discourse. Following that, Carlson’s career hit a turning point, and he left the show after deciding not to renew his contract.

PBS & MSNBC

After leaving Crossfire, Tucker Carlson was hired to host Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered on PBS, which launched in June 2014. However, roughly a year after the show premiered, Carlson announced he was leaving, wanting to focus on his new MSNBC show, Tucker.

On MSNBC, Carlson’s show featured Rachel Maddow and Jay Severin as rotating guests. He also hosted a late-afternoon weekly wrap-up for the 2006 Winter Olympics. Tucker was eventually canceled due to low ratings in 2008, but he remained with the network as a senior campaign correspondent for the 2008 election.

While covering Barack Obama’s and John McCain’s 2008 campaigns, Carlson was ultimately fired after what he called a “professional meltdown.” Following his removal from MSNBC, Tucker Carlson appeared on Dancing with the Stars and was the first contestant eliminated.

Fox News

In 2009, Tucker Carlson was hired by Fox News as a contributor on Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld and Special Report with Bret Baier.

He also started filling in as the substitute host of Hannity in Sean Hannity’s absence and hosted Fighting for Our Children’s Minds in 2010. In the same year, Carlson launched the political news website The Daily Caller and served as its editor-in-chief, writing opinion pieces.

Carlson replaced Dave Briggs as host of Fox & Friends Weekend in 2013, joining Clayton Morris and Alisyn Camerota. He remained in this position until he was given his show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, in 2016, which quickly became popular. After taking over Megyn Kelly’s time slot, Tucker Carlson Tonight became the no. 2 cable news program behind The O’Reilly Factor.

Controversy

By 2018, Tucker Carlson Tonight had remained the second-highest-rated cable news show, with 3.2 million nightly viewers. However, by the end of the year, 20 advertisers had pulled away from the show after he said that immigration made the country “poorer and dirtier.”

In 2019, his show dropped to third place after losing 26 advertisers, and some called for his resignation. This was due to comments he had made on Bubba the Love Sponge, in which he called women “like dogs” and “extremely primitive.” Things got worse when Playboy model Karen McDougal sued him in 2019 after he accused her of extorting Donald Trump in a 2018 episode.

While things looked bleak for a bit, in 2020, Tucker Carlson’s ratings had climbed to make his show the highest-rated cable show in the US. By October of that year, Tucker Carlson Tonight had 5.3 million viewers, the highest of any cable news program in history. After Joe Biden‘s inauguration, it remained the only show not to see a drop in viewership with the election season over.

In 2021, he signed a multi-year deal with Fox and started hosting a weekly podcast called Tucker Carlson Originals on Fox Nation. He also began hosting a new show called Tucker Carlson Today, but unfortunately, his tenure met an unexpected end in 2023.

Leaving Fox

In April 2023, Tucker Carlson and his executive producer were both dismissed from Fox News without any advanced notice. Soon after, the Los Angeles Times reported that Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch was responsible for the firing.

Later, it was discovered that Carlson had criticized Fox’s management and used offensive and racist language in private messages. After being let go, Tucker Carlson relaunched his show on Twitter, Tucker on Twitter, and he dropped the first episode in June 2023.

In August, he hosted Donald Trump on the show and interviewed Larry Sinclair in September, a move that even Elon Musk criticized. Carlson then launched the Tucker Carlson Network in December 2023, which has both ad-supported and subscription-based content.

Fox Salary

When Carlson began hosting Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox in 2016, he was reportedly paid $2 million/year. A year later, when the show replaced The O’Reilly Factor on the 8 p.m. prime time slot, his salary was increased to $6 million. For comparison, O’Reilly previously earned $25 million from his show.

In 2021, Carlson signed a new multi-year contract with Fox, which included additional shows, Tucker Carlson Originals and Tucker Carlson Today, and a podcast. According to Forbes, Carlson earned between $15 million and $20 million annually from the deal.

When Tucker was fired from Fox in 2023, his contract had roughly two and a half years remaining. He started hosting a new show on Twitter, Tucker on Twitter, now Tucker on X. Fox sent Carlson a cease-and-desist letter stating that they still retained exclusive rights to his content until December 31, 2024. According to reports, they intend to pay the contract’s remaining value.

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