How Much is Simon Cowell Worth? Here's What the 'AGT' Judge Makes Yearly
Updated Feb. 5 2024, 4:28 p.m. ET
These days, America’s Got Talent judge Simon Cowell has a net worth in the nine figures, but it wasn’t so long ago that he was broke and living with his parents.
As Simon revealed at Advertising Week Europe in 2023, he started living beyond his means and went broke after becoming a successful artists-and-repertoire consultant during his 20s.
“Once I started to make a little bit of money, then I just did everything a young A&R guy would do,” he said at that event, per CNBC. “[I] bought a Porsche, bought a house I couldn’t afford,” he said.
Read on for more details about Simon's wealth now and his wealth — or lack thereof — back then.
Simon Cowell’s reported net worth now stands at $600 million.
American TV viewers know Simon for his stints judging American Idol, The X Factor, and America’s Got Talent. Those who watch British telly, meanwhile, have seen him cast judgements on Pop Idol, The X Factor UK, and Britain’s Got Talent.
He’s also the entrepreneur behind the music, film, and TV production company Syco Entertainment, where he has overseen the X Factor and Got Talent franchises and helped launch the careers of One Direction, Camila Cabello, Little Mix, Labrinth, James Arthur, CNCO, and Grace VanderWaal, according to his NBC bio.
Simon Cowell
Television personality, entrepreneur, record executive
Net worth: Net worth: $600 million (reported)
Simon Cowell is a TV personality who has served as a judge of Pop Idol, The X Factor UK, and Britain’s Got Talent in the U.K. and American Idol, The X Factor, and America’s Got Talent in the U.S. He’s also the founder of Syco Entertainment.
Date of birth: Oct. 7, 1959
Birthplace: London, England
Parents: Julie and Eric Cowell
Education: Dover College, Windsor Technical College
Fiancée: Lauren Silverman
Children: Eric (b. 2014)
All those big moves have translated into big dollars for Simon. In 2023, the Sunday Times’ Rich List pegged his fortune at £390 million, then worth about $483 million, per CNBC. These days, Celebrity Net Worth reports his fortune has risen to $600 million.
The TV personality worked his way back from near-bankruptcy.
After getting that Porsche and that house in his late 20s, the future TV star realized he was in dire financial straits. “What I didn’t learn about was credit cards,” he said at that Advertising Week Europe event, per CNBC. “By the time I was 28, I was broke. I had to go back and live with my parents. I was nearly bankrupt, actually.”
Luckily for him, he started doing “really well” by his mid-30s. But his brush with bankruptcy taught him an important lesson, as he told the audience.
“I wanted everything to happen overnight,” he said, according to Fortune, adding that he realized he’d have to play the long game if he wanted financial success.
“If you’re not born with a talent, you learn, you watch, you listen, and then you learn from your mistakes and your successes,” he said, reflecting on his journey so far.
