In 1984, she took over the flailing talk show, AM Chicago. With her raw honesty and infectious charm, she revitalized it in no time. As it started climbing the charts, it got a new identity—The Oprah Winfrey Show—and went national in 1986.
The journey started with the Oprah Winfrey Show, of course. But Oprah didn’t just stop at winning over TV viewers. She branched out and designed her TV network, OWN, adding another income stream to her portfolio. More TV shows, docuseries, and movies meant even more zeroes in her financial statements.
You may remember hearing about Oprah sinking some of her millions into Weight Watchers back in 2015. Well, she didn’t just buy her way in, she also became the face of the brand. That $34-million investment turned into $430 million by 2020