What is Jeff Zucker's Net Worth and Salary?
Jeff Zucker is an American media executive who has a net worth of $60 million. Jeff Zucker is known for serving as the president of NBC Entertainment and then as the president and CEO of the merged NBCUniversal. After leaving NBC amid the "Tonight Show" scheduling debacle in 2010, he went on to become the president of CNN Worldwide and the chairman of WarnerMedia News & Sports. Zucker ultimately resigned from his positions at CNN and WarnerMedia in early 2022 after his undisclosed relationship with a fellow CNN employee went public. When Jeff stepped down from NBC he received a $30 – $40 million payout from new parent company Comcast.
Salary
At CNN his annual base salary was $6 million. With bonuses and other awards his compensation in a given year easily topped $10 million.
Early Life
Jeff Zucker was born on April 9, 1965 in Homestead, Florida to schoolteacher Arline and cardiologist Matthew, both Jewish. As a teenager, he went to North Miami Senior High School, where he captained his tennis team and served as editor of the school paper. Also during that time, Zucker did freelance reporting for the Miami Herald and attended Northwestern University's National High School Institute program for journalism. For his higher education, he went to Harvard University; during his senior year there, he was the president of the school paper, the Harvard Crimson. Zucker graduated in 1986 with his Bachelor of Arts degree in American history.
Career Beginnings
Failing to get into Harvard Law School, Zucker instead began his career at NBC with an internship covering the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. After that, he became a field producer for the NBC daytime news and talk show "Today," and in 1992 became the program's executive producer. Notably, Zucker introduced the show's signature outdoor rock concert series, one of the reasons he was credited with turning the show into a ratings smash.
NBC
Having worked his way up the corporate ranks, Zucker was named the president of NBC Entertainment in 2000. Under his leadership, NBC achieved major success with such reality television shows as "Fear Factor" and "The Apprentice," as well as with the continuation of the sitcom "Friends." Additionally, Zucker introduced the hit series "Scrubs," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," and "Las Vegas," and launched the idea of airing episodes of NBC comedies that surpassed the standard 30 minutes. Due to his success, Zucker became president of NBC's News and Cable Group in late 2003. The next year, following the merger of NBC with Vivendi Universal, he was named the president of the newly formed NBCUniversal Television Group.
In late 2005, Zucker was promoted to CEO of NBCUniversal Television Group, making him responsible for all the programming across the company's television properties. He subsequently became president and CEO of NBCUniversal in early 2007. In this position, however, he was unable to replicate his past triumphs, as NBC fell from its number-one network ranking to the lowest ranking of the four primary broadcast networks. This was due in part to Zucker's botched handling of "The Tonight Show" and the consequent PR fallout. In mid-2010, after Comcast acquired NBCUniversal, Zucker was paid between $30 million to $40 million to leave the company.
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CNN Worldwide and WarnerMedia
On New Year's Day in 2013, Zucker became the president of CNN Worldwide. He took over the position with the aim of granting a larger focus to reality-style docuseries and to bringing in a wider base of regular viewers. At the same time, Zucker was adamant that CNN's first priority remain the news. His leadership was mostly successful, as the network experienced an increase in both daytime and primetime viewership in 2014, eventually overtaking MSNBC in key demographic viewership for primetime. Moreover, Zucker made substantial investments in CNN's digital properties, resulting in a monthly average of 105 million unique visitors to the company's web and mobile applications in 2016.
In early 2019, Zucker became the chairman of WarnerMedia News & Sports, overseeing the division's properties such as Turner Sports, AT&T SportsNet, and Bleacher Report. Meanwhile, he remained in his position at CNN Worldwide. In early 2022, Zucker resigned from both CNN and WarnerMedia News & Sports when it was revealed that he had been carrying out an undisclosed affair with Allison Gollust, CNN's executive vice president and chief marketing officer. The relationship became public knowledge when the network launched its investigation into anchor Chris Cuomo.
Personal Life
Jeff Zucker wed "Saturday Night Live" supervisor Caryn Nathanson in 1996. The couple had four children before divorcing in 2017.
Zucker has had some health struggles over the years. He was twice diagnosed with colon cancer, for which he was successfully treated both times. Later on, he had heart surgery.
Real Estate
In 2007 Jeff and Caryn paid $12.3 million for a Manhattan apartment. In 2020, likely in the wake of their separation, they placed the five-bedroom apartment for sale for $17.5 million. The monthly co-op fee on the apartment is a mind-boggling $11,000.
Outside of Manhattan, the duo also co-own a 1.5-acre estate in the Hamptons which is technically three parcels combined into one. They acquired the parcels in three transactions starting in 2002 and ending in 2014. In total they spent $7.3 million on the estate.
