Phil Donahue Net Worth and Salary: Phil Donahue is an American producer, writer and TV host who has a net worth of $150 million dollars. That is a combined net worth with his wife of several decades, actress/philanthropist Marlo Thomas.

Phil Donahue was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 21, 1935. Donahue has a bachelor of business administration alumni of the University of Notre Dame. He landed his first job working as a radio and TV production assistant in Cleveland in 1957. Donahue bounced around after a brief stint at a Michigan radio station before landing on “CBS Evening News” and then anchoring mornings for WHIO-TV in Dayton. He hosted a call-in radio talk show for four years. Donahue’s interview guests included Jimmy Hoffa, John F. Kennedy, Johnny Carson and Malcolm X. His radio show became a TV show on WLWD in 1967, and “The Phil Donahue Show” was broadcast to a national audience three years later.

Phil took his show from Dayton to Chicago and ultimately to New York City, where he filmed from a studio in Rockefeller Plaza. The show gained fame for teaming up with Russian Vladimir Pozner to host the “U.S.-Soviet Space Bridge”, where both men filmed episodes from their home countries in front of live audiences who were able to talk to each other. His show’s final episode aired on September 13, 1996 after 29 years and almost seven thousand episodes. It is the longest continuously running syndicated talk show in US history.

In 2002, Donahue broke his seven-year retirement to return to hosting with MSNBC’s “Donahue”. It was cancelled after a year despite being the network’s top-rated show because of Donahue’s outspoken opposition to invading Iraq. Afterward, Donahue became a strong public voice against the war in Iraq, and co-directed the documentary “Body of War” in 2006, telling the story of a disabled vet. During his career, Donahue won nine Emmy Awards, and in 1993, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame.

Contracts and Salary: In 1982, Phil signed an 8-year deal with his syndication company Multimedia Entertainment that guaranteed him $10 million in annual base salary. Phil was actually the largest shareholder in Multimedia Entertainment and earned additional annual dividends that brought his annual earnings to $20 million at his peak in the mid 1990s. Earning $20 million in the mid 1990s is the same as earning around $30 million per year today.

Personal Life: Phil was married Marge Cooney from 1958 to 1975. They had five children together. In 1977 actress/philanthropist Marlo appeared as a guest on Donahue. Marlo and Phil reportedly fell in love at first sight. They married in May 1980. She became stepmother to Phil’s five children.

Real Estate: In 1986 Phil and Marlo bought a 17-room home in Westport Connecticut for an undisclosed price. In 1988 they paid just under $7 million for a 7-acre connected property. They sold the combined estate to a financier in 2006 for $25 million. That same year they bought a pair of side-by-side parcels right next to their former estate for an unknown amount. They listed the roughly 6.5-acre property for sale in 2012 for $27.5 million, ultimately accepting $20 million in 2013.