Comedian Jerry Seinfeld He went through a career envied by many other artists over seven decades. Among his greatest successes is his homonymous series, Seinfeldwhich is considered one of the ‘sitcoms’ (sitcoms) most influential in history.
What not many know is that there was a day where Seinfeld turned down $125 million to avoid the end of the iconic sitcomwhich had a special value for him since the income during its nine seasons is estimated at 3 billion dollarswhich made Jerry the richest comedian in the world according to Forbes.
Also read: The story of Jerry Seinfeld: his obsession with Porsches and the day he sold a car without papers
The American TV star was firm in his decision not to extend the series beyond its existing seasons. It was issued between 1989 and 1998 with chapters that on average lasted between 20 and 25 minutes. In total they were 180 episodes that led to stardom not only to Seinfeld himself, but also to the other members of the cast.
In the last season the numbers were record. It is estimated that the protagonist earned around a million dollars for each episodewhile the co-stars (Julia-Louis Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards) would have pocketed a sum close to 600 thousand dollars each one per episode. Despite the success, the series was not continued.
Jerry Seinfeld also had iconic roles in movies, such as in “Bee Movie” (Photo: Reuters).
To renew for one more season in 1999, Jerry Seinfeld received an offer unmatched by American television standards at the time.. The proposal consisted of one million shares of General Electric company (owner of the network), for an approximate value of 75 million dollarsfurther 25 million contract (again, almost a million per chapter) and more than 25 million co-participation in the program’s sales profits.
In total, it was 125 million dollars for just one more season, but the offer was rejected. Of course, despite it being more money, it was not something that was going to change the life of Seinfeld, who already had the decision made and wanted to end his most remembered cycle at the peak of success.
“Seinfeld”, one of the most successful sitcoms in the history of the United States
To measure the reach of his program at that time, the figures estimated that he was the first on North American television to reach a million dollars per second of advertising. Something comparable only with the superbowl, the most watched event in the United States. Jerry Seinfeld became the second largest earner in the television industry, billing about 60 million dollars annually.
The official trailer for Seinfeld, in its re-release on Netflix.
In 2019, Forbes positioned him above other figures of the genre and described him as the first actor to become a billionaire.with an accumulated fortune that at that time amounted to 950 million dollars. Despite ending the series Seinfeldwhich currently has all its seasons available on Netflix – and he continues to receive money for that in fact – the comedian continued working.
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In recent years, Jerry had other shows like The Marriage Ref, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and 23 Hours to Kill. However, for fans of the series, in a recent interview the creator and star of Seinfeld anticipated that “something will happen” with the end of the iconic television show that did not leave everyone satisfied.
Jerry Seinfeld married Jessica Sklar in 1999 and they are still together. (Photo: Reuters).
“Something is going to happen with that ending, it hasn’t happened yet”, said. At just 70 years old, Jerry Seinfeld continues to be more active than ever and made this unmatched promise for all followers of the success that broke all statistics on American television in the 1990s and achieved world fame.
