Do you remember that all-time favorite talk show on the ABC channel? How many hours have you enjoyed listening to different stories on “The Oprah Show” with your family?
This American show was developed and hosted by the talented Oprah Winfrey and consisted of 24 seasons. Moreover, at the time of the show’s airing, it was quite influential as many topics were relatable to many ordinary people.
The best thing is that Oprah used the show to educate people, using book clubs and interviews to her advantage. Ultimately, “The Oprah Show” became one of the longest-lasting talk shows with 47 Emmy awards won throughout the first four seasons.
We can all agree the show was quite popular and it brought Winfrey an amazing and rich career.
But first, to everyone who was oblivious up to this point, let’s give a little insight into Oprah Winfrey and her life.
Contents
Who Is Oprah Winfrey?
Oprah Winfrey is an all-time American idol and a businesswoman with a net worth of 2.6 billion U.S. dollars. On top of being a self-made billionaire, she is an amazing actress, experienced writer, and philanthropist with a long-running show host career.
Even more, she received multiple awards including The People’s Choice Award and many Academy Awards. On top of that, she was the first African American woman to get billionaire status.
Early Days
Oprah Gail Winfrey was born in Mississippi on January 29th, 1954. Her parents divorced shortly after she was born, leaving Oprah in the care of her grandmother.
From a young age, she was ahead of her time, as she learned to read when she had three years.
As she grew older, she was accustomed to moving between her parent’s homes. Because of that, she spent many months under her strict father’s roof. On top of that, Oprah once stated that her father’s strict regime and focus on education, helped her become the person she is today.
Education
As we wrote earlier, from a young age her focus was on education and knowledge. She was a top-notch student, and that ultimately brought her a fully paid scholarship at Tennessee State University.
Her student career was on the rise as she was offered a position at a local radio station as a newscast reader. On top of that, she also won both Miss Tennessee and Nashville titles.
Realizing her potential, she was very self-aware and willing to prove herself to anyone.
How Did Oprah Winfrey Become Rich?
Early Business Years
From the age of 19, she acquired a reporter job at WLAC-TV, which was a part of a CBS station. However, she was unable to bring the best of her talents as a news anchor. Hence, when the talk show called “People Are Talking” begin, she switched to it as a host.
That was more in line with her natural abilities, as people enjoyed the show so much, it became a top-rated talk show at the time.
A few years later, Oprah joined the “AM Chicago” talk show. As soon as it aired in the year 1984, she helped it to rise from the last place to be one of the finest talk shows.
When she got a license for a national broadcast network, she renamed “AM Chicago” into “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and claimed around 24% of its revenue.
Rising Days for the Oprah Winfrey Business
Not long after, at the age of 32, Oprah was the first African American TV host that was nationally syndicated. During that year, her net worth jumped to 30 million U.S. dollars per year.
This is where the Oprah Winfrey business began. Using the newly founded fortune, she built her own TV production and named it Harpo, Inc. Hence, making it the first Afro-American person to control a big production studio.
Oprah Winfrey Business Skyrockets
Over the following years, the “Oprah Show” gained more and more popularity. As she often used a variety of topics, from social to spiritual ones, she gained more recurring viewers each year.
Inviting popular guests at the time, such as Billy Crystal and Will Smith, she made her audience laugh. Furthermore, many guest stars often opened up to her, which made her viewers feel connected to them.
When Oprah reached a net worth of 350 million U.S. dollars, she was acknowledged as the richest woman in the entertainment industry. In the upcoming years, using her fame she launched a well-recognized book club as well as many charity groups.
Oprah Winfrey Influenced the 21st Century
Oprah Winfrey business continued to expand as social media platforms were on a rise.
During this century she would gain billionaire status. She created a website that even today gets millions of monthly traffic.
The “Oprah Show” was discontinued in 2011, which gave her a new chance for investment. Oprah took the chance and created the OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) as a copartner with Discovery Communications. As the CEO of this network, she has a share of 25.5% in the company.
A big part of her wealth came from her five books and two amazing magazines. Her books are based on spiritual content such as battling depression and suicidal thoughts, while magazines bring new and fresh content into our daily lives.
Although success was rather time-consuming, she always finds a way to help people in need. Through her charity called Angel Network, she donates millions of dollars yearly. On top of that, she founded the Leadership Academy for Girls to help young prominent girls in South Africa get a better economic footing.
Conclusion
It goes without saying that Oprah Winfrey achieved so much given the life she had. Now, she is one of the wealthiest women in the world and was the first billionaire African American woman in history.
Using multiple incoming streams, her net worth plummeted to 2.5 billion U.S. dollars that is today.
She showed and inspired many young entrepreneurs to take the first steps to create their own businesses.
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