The World's Most Powerful Celebrities
Angelina Jolie dethrones Oprah Winfrey to top this year's Celebrity 100.
She's rich. She's talented. She's beautiful. And now Angelina Jolie is the most powerful celebrity in the world. Thanks to the release of several blockbuster movies and an endless sea of media buzz, Jolie Blank I Oprah Winfrey to top this year's Celebrity 100 list, Forbes' annual ranking of the world's ultra famous.
Jolie raked in $27 million in the past 12 months thanks to a movie schedule that included Kung Fu Panda, Wanted and the notyetreleased spy thriller Salt. Even more impressive: The publicity she garnered following the birth of her twins, as well as the consistent headlines she grabs for her philanthropic efforts and her relationship with actor Brad Pitt, who ranks No. 9 on the list.
Winfrey drops to No. 2 on the list. The media maven has pocketed $275 million in the last year, making her the list's top earner. Though viewership for her daily chat fest, The Oprah Winfrey Show, continues to erode, her earnings remain unchanged from a year ago. In addition to Winfrey's monthly magazine, she has a threeyear, $55 million deal with XM Satellite Radio. Early next year, the selfmade billionaire will roll out the lifestylethemed Oprah Winfrey Network in partnership with Discovery Communications.
In a year filled with humbling bank failures and violent stock market swings, the earning power of the 2009 Celebrity 100 remained remarkably resilient. The cumulative earnings of the 2009 list totaled $4.1 billion, up slightly from last year's $4 billion haul.
The primary reason celebrities are still making big money: Many stars are locked into longterm performance and endorsement contracts. If the economy does not improve, expect the downturn to catch up to the Alist next year (see "The Future of Fame").
The Celebrity 100, which includes film and television actors, models, chefs, athletes, authors and musicians, is a measure of entertainmentrelated earnings and media visibility (exposure in print, television, radio and online). The earnings estimates consist of pretax income between June 2008 and June 2009. Management, agent and attorney fees are not deducted.
(Newsweek, 06/06/2009)
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