Martha Stewart’s net worth is no longer what it used to be. However, she is still one of the richest celebrities.
Celebrity chef and lifestyle icon Martha Stewart is a Hollywood figure that’ll be remembered for many things. Besides her chef career, the New Jersey native is also a successful businesswoman, TV personality, and cookbook author. Stewart rose to fame back in the 1970s after starting a catering business. The New Jersey native trained herself by reading Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”
Within a decade of opening, Stewart had developed a reputation for her gourmet menus and creative presentation. Her business “Martha Stewart, Inc.” grew into a $1 million business with multiple celebrity and corporate clients. Afterward, she entered the world of publishing, releasing her first book “Entertaining” which instantly became a bestseller.
She then followed it with the release of “Martha Stewart’s Cook Book Menus,” ‘Martha Stewart’s Hors d’Oeuvres, “Martha Stewart’s Christmas,” and “Martha Stewart’s Wedding Planner.” By 1991, Stewart changed her company name to “Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.,” after releasing her magazine “Martha Stewart Living.”
Within subsequent years, her company grew to include two magazines, a checkout-size recipe publication, a cable television show, and a syndicated newspaper column. The company also had a radio show, an internet site, and a series of how-to books. She took her company public on October 19, 1999, when the company debuted on the New York Stock Exchange.
Stewart Went To Prison
The TV star made financial headlines in June 2002 when she got accused of insider trading. Then, the lifestyle guru got investigated for selling hundreds of her shares in ImClone Systems before the FDA disapproved of the company’s new cancer drug.
Once the investigation started, Stewart had to step down from the board of directors of the New York Exchange. A year later, in June 2003, Stewart was indicted and charged with securities fraud, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and false statements.
Stewart pleaded not guilty to all the charges before stepping down as Chair and CEO of her company, Omnimedia empire. A year later, in February 2004, a judge cleared Stewart of the securities fraud charge.
However, a jury found Stewart guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and two counts of making false statements. Stewart was then sentenced to five months in prison which accompanied a fine of $30,000. She served the first half of her sentence at a minimum-security prison on Anderson and completed the rest by house arrest.
Martha Stewart’s Net Worth
Stewart went on an upward trajectory professionally after opening her catering business. Within subsequent years the company grew, adding multiple media subsidiaries to its rank.
By 1999 when her business went public, Stewart rose to become one of the biggest figures in the business world. She earned a lot from her business conglomerate, which included TV, Magazines, Home Products, etc.
Even after her legal issues and incarceration, Stewart’s impact and presence hardly diminished. She returned to daytime television with “The Martha Stewart Show,” which aired for five seasons earning multiple Daytime Emmy nominations.
Stewart also continued releasing books, including “Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook” in 2005. She also launched an upscale line of homewares at Macy’s, a 24-hour satellite radio channel, a line of carpets, etc. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Martha Stewart’s Net worth is currently $400 million.
Martha Stewart Was America’s First Self-Made Female Billionaire
During the early 1990s, Stewart was at the top of her game in the business and entertainment world. The lifestyle icon became the face of her magazine and other ventures. However, she did not completely own the rights to them.
That all changed in 1997 when she raised money to purchase the rights to all her related brands. Stewart borrowed $85 million to acquire her magazine alone. However, a year prior, she had formed the “Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia,” which then became the holding company for all her other subsidiaries.
In 1999 when she listed the company on the New York Stock Exchange, Stewart had an explosive IPO. The company’s stock opened at $18 per share, and by the end of the day, the price had gone up to $38 per share.
Stewart controlled more than 80% of the company’s voting shares, which were worth more than a billion dollars on paper. That day, she became the first female self-made billionaire in the United States.
Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg Are Close Friends
The friendship between Stewart and rapper Snoop Dogg is one of the random, unlikely relationships you can ever imagine. Considering how far apart they are, judging by their lifestyles, the two have developed a very close relationship. They first met in November 2008, during an episode of Stewart’s old cooking show. The pair mashed potatoes together, bantered and made jokes about how Snoop talked.
Their chemistry was very evident on-screen, and they replicated it a year later when the pair teamed up for a Christmas episode. Stewart and Snoop made brownies and joked about why the rapper wanted green brownies and what they would add to it “later.”
Since then, the pair frequently tweeted out each other, and during a Reddit session in 2014, Stewart noted she wished to be better friends with Snoop. In 2016, the duo competed together on the ‘$100,000 Pyramid,’ and they performed well.
That same year they announced their joint cooking show on VH1 titled “Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party.” The series was widely praised and even nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program.
They continued to collaborate over the years, and their friendship grew. Stewart and Snoop may be one of the most unlikely friends in the industry, but they are also one of the most loved.
