What Is Scott Adams' Net Worth?
Scott Adams is an American comic author who has a net worth of $20 million. Scott Adams earned his fortune as the creator of the comic strip "Dilbert." Scott created "Dilbert" in 1989, and within a decade, his daily comic strip was featured in over 2,000 newspapers in 19 languages in nearly 60 countries. He was the executive producer of a "Dilbert" television show that aired on UPN from 1998 to 2000. Outside of "Dilbert," Scott has had success with several nonfiction works, such as a novel called "The Religion War." Adams is the founder of a vegetarian food company called Scott Adams Food, Inc. In recent years, he has earned a level of notoriety for his outspoken opinions on social media. A 2015 blog post famously predicted that Donald Trump would be elected President at a time when no one believed that was a remote possibility. In February 2023, comments made by Adams on his YouTube show resulted in a number of important publications dropping "Dilbert" from their respective newspapers. This event also caused his distributor, Universal, to stop working with Adams altogether.
Early Life
Scott Adams was born on June 8, 1957, in Windham, New York. He is the son of Paul and Virginia Adams and is of half-German descent. He began drawing comics at age 6 after being inspired by the "Peanuts" comics. At age 11, he won his first drawing competition. Adams was valedictorian at Windham-Ashland-Jewett Central School in 1975, graduating in a class of just 39. Although he had been very interested in cartooning since he was a child, a lack of progress in art caused him to focus on a more traditional career, receiving a bachelor's degree in economics from Hartwick College in 1979. He moved to California shortly after his graduation and earned his MBA in 1986 from U.C. Berkeley.
Early Career and Dilbert Success
He then began working for various companies, including Pacific Bell, which is where he worked when his first "Dilbert" cartoon was published. Every morning, Adams would diligently wake up at the crack of dawn to draw for a few hours before his day job. Scott submitted and pitched "Dilbert" to various publications, including "Playboy" and "The New Yorker," with no success. He worked at Pacific Bell between 1986 and 1995. The many coworkers he had there became the inspiration for many of the personalities of his "Dilbert" characters.
Adams launched "Dilbert" with United Media in 1989 and continued to draw his cartoons every morning while maintaining a steady income from his job at Pacific Bell. His first paycheck from "Dilbert" royalties was $368.62. By 1991, "Dilbert" was in 100 newspapers, and by 1994, it had increased its reach to 400 newspapers. From there, the popularity of "Dilbert" grew slowly but steadily until, eventually, he was able to quit his job and work full-time as a cartoonist. By 1996, "Dilbert" was in 800 newspapers. Adams released his first business book that year called "The 'Dilbert' Principle." In 1997, Adams won the most prestigious award in the comic field, the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist, and Best Newspaper Comic Strip of 1997. From 1998 to 2000, the "Dilbert" TV series ran, picking up a Primetime Emmy Award in 1999. The comic was in 2,000 newspapers in 57 countries and 19 different languages by the year 2000.
Since then, "Dilbert" has exploded in popularity, bringing Adams all kinds of money from merchandising, books, and through their short-lived but successful animated sitcom. Despite (or perhaps because of) his success, Scott hasn't been free of controversy. He even recently admitted to logging onto various websites under a false name to defend himself from his attackers. "Dilbert" continues to be seen and read in newspapers across the world.
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Other Ventures
As if his "Dilbert" legacy weren't enough, Adams is also the CEO of Scott Adams Food, Inc., which specializes in vegetarian dishes – this is because Scott himself is a vegetarian. The company makes the Dilberito and Protein Chef. He tried his hand at being a restaurateur but failed. At the height of his "Dilbert" success, Adams appeared in season 4 of "Babylon 5" and had a cameo on "NewsRadio." He has appeared on "Real Time with Bill Maher," "Commonwealth Club of California," Fox News, "Real Talk with Zuby," "Making Sense with Sam Harris," "The Joe Rogan Experience," and several other talk shows and podcasts.
Adams, in 2015, wrote blog posts predicting that Donald Trump had a 98% chance of winning the presidency. He based his predictions on Trump's persuasion skills and techniques. His blog grew popular, and soon he turned it into a daily vlog called "Coffee with Scott Adams," which amassed over 27 million views on YouTube and 95,000 subscribers. In 2020, Trump retweeted an episode of the show where Adams mocked Joe Biden, and Trump proceeded to retweet Adams 15 times. Adams met with Trump at the Oval Office in 2018, where he received a special gift. He has written two books on religion, "God's Debris" in 2001 and "The Religion War" in 2004.
Controversies
Despite (or perhaps because of) his success, Adams hasn't been free of controversy. He even recently admitted to logging onto various websites under a false name to defend himself from his attackers.
Scott made a prediction in March 2020 that Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Joe Biden would all get COVID-19 and that one of the men would die from it by the year's end. Politico named Adams' prediction one of "the most audacious, confident and spectacularly incorrect prognostications about the year." Adams made further controversial statements when he said that if Biden were to win the 2020 presidential election, then "Republicans would be hunted" and that "there's a good chance they'll be dead within a year."
February 2023 Incident
In late February 2023, Scott made what many people considered racist and disparaging remarks against black people on his YouTube show. In the wake of this controversy, his comic distributor announced it would no longer work with Adams. Furthermore, a number of prominent outlets, including "The New York Times," "Washington Post," "Los Angeles Times," the "USA Today" network, and the "Cleveland Plain Dealer" announced they were dropping "Dilbert."
Personal Life
Adams suffers from focal dystonia, which affects his ability to draw for long periods of time, so he uses a graphics tablet now. In July 2008, he had surgery to fix his vocal cords, having long suffered from spasmodic dysphonia, a condition that causes the vocal cords to behave in irregular and abnormal ways.
In July 2006, Adams married Shelly Miles aboard a yacht in San Francisco. The two had met at a gym where Miles was working. Adams adopted Miles' two children from another marriage, Savannah and Justin. Sadly, Justin died of a fentanyl overdose in 2018 at the age of 18. Adams and Miles divorced in 2014 but remain friends. Scott announced on his podcast on Christmas Day in 2019 that he was engaged to model Kristina Basham. The two married on July 11, 2020. Basham also has two kids from a previous relationship.
Real Estate
Scott lived in San Francisco and nearby Marin County for much of the 1990s and 2000s, at the peak of his success. In 2009, he moved to the town of Danville, California, in the Bay Area's East Bay. On the property, Scott constructed a 7,000-square-foot mansion that features an indoor basketball court, a one-acre backyard, a resort-style pool, and a Dilbert-shaped wall.
