Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP/Shutterstock; NBC
Matthew Perry Had an Impressive Net Worth From ‘Friends’ and More Before His Death at 54
More like Chandler ~Bling~! Before Matthew Perry’s sad death at the age of 54, the actor accumulated a pretty hefty net worth thanks to his work on Friends. While the beloved series may have wrapped nearly two decades ago, the funnyman was able to maintain his wealth over the years.
Matthew died on October 28, 2023, after an apparent drowning at his home in Los Angeles, according to TMZ. The actor was reportedly found by first responders in the hot tub at his home after a call for cardiac arrest.
Scroll down for a look at how the TV star acquired his wealth before he sadly died.
What Is Matthew Perry’s Net Worth?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, the 17 Again actor was worth a whopping $120 million.
Before Friends became an iconic fixture in pop culture, the actors on the show were making $22,500 per episode, meaning each cast member took home $540,000 for their first season. For their second season, their salaries doubled to $40,000 per episode, equaling a yearly take-home of just under a million dollars.
Before the third season of the show, the cast negotiated as a group and settled on some mind blowing terms. They each earned $75,000 per episode for season three for $1.875 million for the season. For season four, they were paid $85,000 per episode and $2.04 million for the season. Their salaries continued to steadily increase each season until they were earning $750,000 per episode in seasons seven and eight, making $18 million per season. Each cast member was paid $1 million per episode for season nine and 10. In total, Matthew and the gang earned $90 million during their time on set before bonuses and continuous royalties.
Does the ‘Friends’ Cast Still Make Money?
The cast made TV history during their 2000 negotiations as they became the first TV actors to have ownership stakes in their show. Before then, the only other TV stars who had royalty deals were Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Cosby. Today, Friends continues to make around $1 billion in syndication sales and streaming deals. Depending on the sales each year, the cast earns between $10-20 million in royalties.
Matthew spoke about the residuals he earned from the beloved sitcom while appearing on the November 2 episode of SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live.
“Are the Friends checks that come in today, would you characterize them as bountiful checks? Or would you say it’s a trickle at this point?” host Andy Cohen asked Matthew.
“Well, yesterday I bought Iowa,” Matthew joked before adding, “They’re not bad.”
He continued, “And they come in form of a text: ‘You just made this.’ And I go, ‘Oh, great.'”
Matthew Perry Invested in Real Estate
Matthew made major money from his estate investments, too. In 2015, he sold his Malibu home for $10.65 million, after purchasing an $11 million beachfront property in the same area in 2011. He later listed the home on the beach for $15 million in August 2020 and, after months on the market, sold it for $13.1 million in January 2021.
After dropping $20 million for a penthouse apartment in 2017, he listed the Century City, California, pad for $35 million in 2019. Two years later, the unit sold for $21.6 million.
Matthew Perry Was a Published Author
Matt, who struggled with addiction much of his adult life, opened up about his struggles ahead of the release of his memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing in November 2022.
“By the time I was 34, I was really entrenched in a lot of trouble,” he told People in October 2022. “But there were years that I was sober during that time. Season 9 was the year that I was sober the whole way through. And guess which season I got nominated for best actor? I was like, ‘That should tell me something.’
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