Simon Cowell To End Up Richer Than You No Matter What

Buried in a Guardian piece on Simon Cowell’s plans for world entertainment domination, which he hopes to achieve through the creation of a company that will create and own TV shows in the U.S. and Europe was a tidbit about just how much the acid-tongued Brit might be paid for a season of American Idol when (and if) he re-ups his contract at the end of the show’s forthcoming season. Whatever number you’re thinking he might have been offered? It’s way, way too low.

A source close to Fuller says that Cowell has already been offered three to four times the $36m he was paid for American Idol in 2008 – but then, he is the most important person on the show and the series makes $900m a year and attracts audiences of 25 million. The point is that Cowell makes nothing more than this admittedly large performance fee and that’s the gap the Green deal hopes to fill.

That would ballpark the figure between $108 million and $144 million. Newsday TV critic Verne Gay thinks the figure is crap, but even if the offer on the table is for “only” two times Cowell’s current salary? That’s a pretty high per-barb rate for anyone. [Guardian; HT NYP]