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How Judge Judy Achieved a Net Worth of $420 Million

Judy Sheindlin should be better-known to most people out there as Judge Judy, the star of the court show of the same name. She has been very successful in this regard, so much so that there are estimates that her current net worth is an impressive $420 million. Something that might be explained by how she is believed to be one of the highest-paid entertainers in the entire world at $47 million on an annual basis.

In short, Judge Judy was born as Judith Susan Bloom in Brooklyn. She seems to have had a happy childhood, as shown by the fact that she has spoken about her parents in fond terms. Regardless, she studied government at American University before going on to study law at New York Law School.

How Did Judge Judy Reach Her Current Net Worth?

As a result, Judge Judy graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 1965, which was followed up by her passing the bar examination for the state of New York in the same year. Due to this, she was able to secure a job as a corporate lawyer for a cosmetics firm. Unfortunately, she didn't find it to be very satisfying, which is why she winded up quitting in preference for raising her two children. However, that would not be the end of her career in law.

Instead, what happened was that she was informed about a position as a prosecutor in the family courts, which she found to be much more to her liking. Eventually, what was called her "no-nonsense" approach to things caused the NYC mayor at the time to make her a judge, with the result that she proceeded to earn a reputation for being a "tough" judge because of her wit as well as her fast decision-making. Both of which are characteristics that have helped her in her TV career.

By the 1990s, Judge Judy had become prominent enough that she was receiving mention in national media. Said attention enabled her to publish her first book, which in turn, enabled her to secure an offer for a court room series. This is what resulted in Judge Judy, which started up in 1996 but is still going strong in the present day.

To get an idea of just how successful Judge Judy has been, it is worth looking at a number of facts. First, it has remained the number one court show since it started up. Second, it brings in something along the lines of 9 to 10 million viewers on average. Third, there was actually a season in which Judge Judy managed to dethrone The Oprah Winfrey Show when it came to daytime viewers, which was incredible because that was the first time that it had happened in close to a decade. Ever since then, it has been the top daytime show that can be found out there, which speaks volumes about its remarkable longevity.

Based on this, it seems clear that Judge Judy's main way of building up her net worth has been her show. After all, she was reported back in 2013 as earning $47 million on an annual basis, though it is important to note that this is a much higher number than in earlier years, which reflects her continuing success. However, she has had other sources of income as well, though none that can even come close to being as profitable.

Final Thoughts

For the time being, Judge Judy's current net worth is estimated to be around $420 million. However, there is a good chance that said figure could soar higher still in the time to come. Judge Judy has stated that she believes that there will come a time when audiences get tired of her court show, but until that happens, she plans to be there as long as possible because being on her court show is something that she is genuinely interested in. There was an incident in 2011 when she suffered a mini-stroke, but since that time, there has been no mention of health issues, which suggests that she could go on for some time to come. Due to this, it will be very interesting to see whether her salary will see a significant jump the next time that her contract comes up, which will be for the 2020-2021 season because her court show is guarantee to run until the 2019-2020 season at the very least.

Garrett Parker

Written by Garrett Parker

Garrett by trade is a personal finance freelance writer and journalist. With over 10 years experience he's covered businesses, CEOs, and investments. However he does like to take on other topics involving some of his personal interests like automobiles, future technologies, and anything else that could change the world.

Read more posts by Garrett Parker

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