Comedian, actor, voice actor and producer
Larry the Cable Guy
Base case$70M
Estimate confidence
★★★★★
2 out of 5
Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
Ted Danson Net Worth Estimate
Actor and producerTed Danson’s $70M base case reflects top-tier Cheers compensation, reported syndication advances and a television career that continued for decades after the sitcom ended.
Published estimateReviewed Oct 13, 2026
Actors
Research context
See what supports this page, how current it is, and where comparable or historical context is available.
- Evidence
- 2 retained sourcesReviewed through Oct 13, 2026
- Change history
- 1 tracked snapshotComparable tracking began Sep 18, 2026
- Comparison context
- 1 reviewed peer rankingPeer lists preserve the same base-case estimate and uncertainty range.
Current estimate
What we can support today
Base case
$70M
Bear case
$45M
Bull case
$110M
Estimate confidence
2 out of 5
Why this estimate
- Main wealth driver
- Estimated retained television and entertainment capital ($70M base case)
- Estimate confidence
- 2 out of 5
- Key evidence
- The Los Angeles Times reported Danson at $450,000 per Cheers episode in 1991.Sources[1]
- Biggest uncertainty
- What current residual or syndication economics remain attributable to Danson personally?
- Evidence reviewed through
- Oct 13, 2026
Base case is our central scenario. Bear and bull cases show how uncertainty around private holdings, retained proceeds, taxes and liabilities can move the estimate.
Celebrity rankings
Explore this profile in context
Rankings use the current base-case estimate and show the wider bear-to-bull range on the full list.
Scenario composition
Where the estimated wealth comes from
Switch scenarios to see how the total and each component move together. The bars show each positive component's share of the estimated assets in that scenario, not audited holdings.
Bear scenario net worth$45MPositive estimated assets shown: $45M
Estimated retained television and entertainment capital
$45M to $110M range$45M100%
Base scenario net worth$70MPositive estimated assets shown: $70M
Estimated retained television and entertainment capital
$45M to $110M range$70M100%
Bull scenario net worth$110MPositive estimated assets shown: $110M
Estimated retained television and entertainment capital
$45M to $110M range$110M100%
How Ted Danson Built a Fortune
Los Angeles Times reporting from the early 1990s placed Danson at the very top of network television pay. One report cited $450,000 per episode, while another put his salary around $250,000 per episode or $6.5M a season and said syndication advances brought Cheers-related compensation close to double that season figure.
The quoted episode rates are not perfectly consistent, so the estimate treats them as evidence of scale rather than precise cumulative arithmetic. Both accounts point to unusually large personal television income before Danson’s later decades of acting work are considered.
Danson continued working in major television roles long after Cheers, but public reporting does not provide a complete current residual schedule or balance sheet. The show’s enduring commercial value therefore does not become a separate personal asset by assumption.
The range reflects a long period of high earning power while leaving investments, property, producing interests, taxes, spending, transfers and liabilities unresolved where public evidence is incomplete.
Sources[1][2]Observed assets and financial anchors
A reported salary, company sale or brand valuation is not automatically current personal wealth. We show the pieces that can be tied to retained evidence and keep historical flows separate.
No major component is directly observable as a precise current valueThis estimate is built from source-backed financial anchors and explicitly modeled scenario ranges rather than pretending a private balance sheet is directly observable.
Historical flow
The Los Angeles Times reported Danson at $450,000 per Cheers episode in 1991.
Sources[1]Historical flow
The Los Angeles Times later reported about $250,000 per episode or $6.5M a season, with syndication advances bringing Cheers-related compensation close to double that season figure.
Sources[2]Scenario balance sheet
The estimate uses contemporaneous Cheers pay reports as historical earning-power evidence without adding overlapping salary and syndication figures together. No current residual stream is valued without reliable person-level economics.
| Component | Bear | Base | Bull |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estimated retained television and entertainment capitalSources[1][2] | $45M | $70M | $110M |
| Estimated net worth | $45M | $70M | $110M |
Modeled component
Estimated retained television and entertainment capital
Contemporaneous Los Angeles Times reporting placed Danson at the top end of television pay during Cheers, including a reported $450,000 per episode in 1991 and about $250,000 per episode or $6.5M a season in 1992, with syndication advances bringing total Cheers-related compensation close to double the latter figure. The range recognizes the scale and longevity of his career while allowing for inconsistent historical salary reports and an otherwise private current balance sheet.
Sources[1][2]Tracked estimates
Estimate history
We began retaining comparable estimate snapshots on Sep 18, 2026. Earlier Grizzly Bulls figures are not reconstructed unless a retained snapshot exists.
- Current tracked estimateBase case$70MBear to bull$45M to $110M
Initial Grizzly Bulls estimate published with historical television compensation and syndication advances separated from current retained personal capital.
This is the first retained snapshot, so there is no earlier comparable Grizzly Bulls estimate to show yet.
What could move the estimate
- What current residual or syndication economics remain attributable to Danson personally?
- How much of his multi-decade television compensation remains invested in liquid assets, property or production interests?
- What taxes, spending, transfers and liabilities materially affect current retained wealth?
Wealth timeline
Cheers compensation reported at $450,000 per episode
The Los Angeles Times described Danson as earning $450,000 per episode while covering the economics of renewing Cheers.
Sources[1]Season pay and syndication advances remain substantial
The Los Angeles Times reported roughly $250,000 per episode or $6.5M a season and said syndication advances brought the total close to double that season figure.
Sources[2]
Related celebrity net-worth estimates
Explore other estimates for people with similar careers, industries or estimated wealth.
Sources
Numbered citations above link to the retained sources below. External net-worth headlines do not set our estimate.
- [1]Los Angeles TimesReporting · Feb 7, 1991Is 'Cheers' Worth $120 Million?
- [2]Los Angeles TimesReporting · Mar 22, 1992Too Costly for Prime Time
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