Will Ferrell's Net Worth Is No Joke and Part of His Fortune Came from 'Succession'

If anyone gets their hands on a copy of Will Ferrell's high school yearbook, please feel free to flip to the superlatives section, draw a Venn Diagram between "Class Clown" and "Most Likely to Succeed" and write Will's name in the middle of it in all caps.

Between his seven seasons on Saturday Night Live, years of A-list reign of the box office, and diverse range of investments and other business ventures, Will Ferrell is living proof that clowning can pay big. Like, very, very, make-everyone-who-sees-your-bank-statement-feel-Dickens-orphan-poor big. Here's how he amassed his fortune, for any aspiring comedians/multi-millionaires in the market for a new life guru.

Will Ferrell earned a record-breaking salary during his time on SNL.

So, being on SNL is obviously a choice job, but it's also a notoriously draining and stressful one—and one that reportedly comes with a pretty standardized pay structure, too. According to a 2018 report from Celebrity Net Worth, first-year cast members earn $7,000 per episode pretty much across the board and raises seem pretty standardized, too, with second-year cast members get a $1,000 per episode raise, for example. Cast members who make it to their fifth year on the show see their pay bumped wayyy up to $15,000. CNW reports that SNL cast member salaries cap out at $25,000 per episode (which, if true, means someone like Kenan Thompson, who has been on the show since 2003 and holds the record for the longest-running SNL cast member of all time, eventually just stops getting raises, presumably).

Breakout stars can earn more than the standard $15K per episode (which works out to $315,000 per season) salary and Will Ferrell definitely qualified as a breakout star during his SNL heyday. The actor starred on SNL from 1995 until 2002 and by 2001, NBC was paying him a then record-breaking $17,500 per episode (or $367,500 per season). That might not seem like a lot compared to the current standard season five salary of $15K per episode, but adjusted for inflation, Will's 2001 salary would be the equivalent of almost $30,000 per episode today.

Will Ferrell was also one of the highest-paid film actors for SEVERAL years.

In the Golden Age of Will Ferrell (approximately 2001-2008), the actor was literally one of the highest-paid actors in all of Hollywood and earned $20 million actual dollar per movie for several years (some of his $20M payday gigs include Kicking & Screaming, Bewitched, Talladega Nights, Semi-Pro and Land of the Lost). Even though his contracts and pay structures vary more these days (often a "mix of lower base salary and backend profit participation points," according to CNW), he still reportedly earned a full $20 mil for his role in 2022's Spirited.

Fun fact: Will Ferrell is so rich, he actually turned down $29 to do an Elf sequel.

You know how we've all been religiously rewatching Elf every December since 2003? Welp, the studio execs noticed that, too, and it apparently made them pretty desperate to cash in on that success with a sequel. How desperate? Enough to offer Will Ferrell $29 million to step back into Buddy's pointy shoes and make Elf 2. Will wasn't feeling the script, though, and had the immense luxury of already being rich enough to even be physically capable of saying no to Scrooge McDuck money bin the studio was offering him.

"I would have had to promote the movie from an honest place, which would've been, like, 'Oh no, it's not good. I just couldn't turn down that much money,'" he explained in a 2021 interview with Rolling Stone. "And I thought, 'Can I actually say those words? I don't think I can, so I guess I can't do the movie.'"

Will Ferrell is also making money when you watch Succession, FYI.

In addition to all of the $$$ he makes for being in front of the camera, Will Ferrell has some behind-the-scenes revenue streams, too. In 2006, he and writer/director Adam McKay founded their production company, Gary Sanchez Productions, which is behind Succession.

Will was also a founder of Funny or Die, which was sold for an "undisclosed sum" in 2021 (putting an undisclosed number of additional dollars in his pocket) and since 2016, he's been a part-owner of the Los Angeles FC soccer team, which won the MLS Cup in 2022 because all Will does is win, clearly.

So, what's Will Ferrell's net worth?

When you add up all the huge acting paychecks and top it off with all the Succession and soccer money, Celebrity Net Worth estimates Will Ferrell's total net worth at a staggering $160 million. So here's some footage that isn't of Will remembering how rich he is, but also very believably could be:

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