What is Bill Simmons' Net Worth and Salary?
Bill Simmons is an American sports columnist, analyst and author who has a net worth of $100 million. Bill Simmons is the former Editor-in-Chief of Grantland.com, which was an ESPN-affiliated blog that ceased publishing in 2015. He is also a former contributor to columns and podcasts for ESPN. He is a former writer for ESPN The Magazine and Jimmy Kimmel Live! Today, Bill operates the sports and pop culture website The Ringer.
Simmons is known for his style of writing, characterized by mixing sports knowledge and analysis, pop culture references, his non-sports-related personal life and for being written from the viewpoint of a passionate sports fan. Simmons has also created numerous internet memes, most notably the Ewing Theory (though he claims he did not come up with the idea) and the Manning Face. In 2007, he was named the 12th-most influential person in online sports by the Sports Business Journal, the highest position on the list for a non-executive. In 2012, Simmons became a member of the NBA Countdown pregame show on ESPN/ABC, replacing Chris Broussard. Simmons left ESPN in 2015 and was quickly hired by HBO to host his own show, Any Given Wednesday. The show was canceled in November 2016.
Bill Simmons Salary
What was Bill Simmons' salary at ESPN? $3 million per year. His podcast reportedly generates $7 million per year in revenue.
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Early Life
Bill Simmons was born September 25, 1969 in Marlborough, Massachusetts. He attended College of the Holy Cross, where he wrote sports articles for the school paper. He then earned a master's degree in print journalism from Boston University.
Boston Sports Guy
After grad school, Bill spent 8 years working random jobs before finally landing a gig with ESPN. During those 8 years, he worked for the Boston Herald and as a high school sports reporter. In 1997, he started a website called BostonSportsGuy.com. He worked as a waiter and bartender to make ends meet. By 2001, his site averaged 10,000 readers and 45,000 pageviews per day. Around this time, ESPN invited him to write periodic sports columns for their website and magazine.
ESPN
In 2003, Bill moved to Los Angeles after being hired as a writer on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. He continued writing for ESPN on the side. In 2004, he left the show to concentrate on sports writing.
In addition to writing for ESPN.com, he hosted his podcast on ESPN.com entitled The B.S. Report, appeared as a special contributor on the television series E:60, and served as an executive producer of ESPN's documentary project 30 for 30. On June 8, 2011, Simmons launched Grantland.com, an online magazine. Around this same time, he began publishing his Sports Guy columns and B.S. Report podcasts on Grantland.
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The Ringer
In February 2016, Simmons launched a website called The Ringer through his newly launched venture, Bill Simmons Media Group. The Ringer officially went live on June 1, 2016. Over the next few years, the company expanded into a highly successful podcast network with over 30 podcasts, including his own "The Bill Simmons Podcast" and "The Rewatchables."
In January 2020, The Ringer was acquired by Spotify in what has been speculated – but not confirmed – to be a $200-$300 million purchase price. At the time of the acquisition, The Ringer had 90 employees, most of whom wrote daily content for the company's website. According to the Wall Street Journal, Spotify spent $400 million when it bought podcast network Gimlet Media in 2019. In 2018, Gimlet generated $15 million in revenue. The Ringer is believed to have generated $15 million in revenue in 2019.
Real Estate
In April 2020, Bill paid $16 million for a home in LA's Hancock Park neighborhood. According to an article from the LA Times in 2018, Bill owns five other houses in Los Angeles in addition to the one he bought for $16 million in April 2020.
