Larry David is an American comedian, writer, actor, director, and television producer who has a net worth of $400 million. Larry David earned his fortune as the co-creator of “Seinfeld,” and the creator/star of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Through these two shows, Larry has been producing a successful comedy show on a major network every year continuously since 1989.

What is Larry David’s net worth?

Larry made most of his net worth thanks to an ownership stake in the backend syndication royalties from “Seinfeld.” By the time the show sold into syndication, Larry and co-creator Jerry Seinfeld both possessed 15% of the show’s backend equity. Much more on this later in the article.

If you’re wondering why Jerry Seinfeld is so much richer than Larry David, consider the fact that Larry lost a big chunk of his net worth in his 2007 divorce from ex-wife Laurie David. As he has said in interviews, Larry gave Laurie half of his net worth at the time – roughly $200-300 million – plus a cut of future revenue generated by “Seinfeld” syndication royalties.

Larry David “Seinfeld” Syndication Earnings

As you might guess, Larry made the vast majority of his net worth thanks to his connection with the incredibly successful “Seinfeld.” Since the very beginning of the show, Larry and Jerry each held 7.5% of the show’s backend equity points. At the height of the show’s popularity in the mid-1990s, the two negotiated a deal with NBC that increased their points to 15% each. Part of that increase also came thanks to Larry and Jerry buying out an equity owner who wanted to cash out.

The show was first syndicated in 1998. That first deal generated $1.7 billion in revenue, giving Larry and Jerry each a $250 million pre-tax windfall. In an average year, he makes $40-50 million between syndication, DVD sales, merchandise, and other platform royalties. In some years, that number can be much higher. In 2015, Larry earned a total of $80 million after Hulu paid $180 million to acquire Seinfeld’s streaming rights, giving both Larry and Jerry an extra $30 million. When “Seinfeld” sold to Netflix for $500 million in September 2019, both Larry and Jerry earned $75 million.

In syndication alone, Seinfeld has pulled in over $4 billion in the past twenty years, or approximately $17 million per episode. At the time of writing, Jerry and Larry have each made at least $800 million from “Seinfeld” between salary, DVD, merchandise, and syndication deals.

Early Life

Lawrence Gene David was born on July 2, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York, to Rose and Mortimer “Monty” David. He has an older brother, Ken. His family is Jewish. Larry attended Sheepshead Bay High School and then the University of Maryland.

He was an affiliated member of the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity while in college. During college, he realized that being himself made people laugh. He graduated with a major in history. He enlisted in the United States Army Reserve after college and did odd jobs, such as a store clerk and limo driver, while still doing stand-up comedy at night.

Larry started his career in comedy as a stand-up comedian in the late 1970s. During his time living at Manhattan Plaza-a subsidized housing complex just north of the theater district, primarily serving performers and artists-he met his neighbor, Kenny Kramer, a stand-up comic who lived across the hall. His connection with Kenny Kramer would prove quite significant later on.

Fridays & Saturday Night Live

At some point, he began to shift his focus from performing to writing. In 1980, he was hired to work on an ABC series called “Fridays.” The show was similar in format to “Saturday Night Live” and ran until 1982. He was also a cast member, along with fellow up-and-coming comedian Michael Richards. Their association would become important later, as well.In 1984, he was hired to write for “Saturday Night Live. This would prove not to be a good fit, and he lasted just one season on the show. Larry famously only got one of his sketches on the air while at “SNL,” which aired at 12:50 AM, the last time slot on the show. At one point, Larry resigned out of frustration midway through the season. He actually returned to the studio as if nothing had happened a few days after resigning. This would later be used as a plot device on “Seinfeld.” During his time writing for SNL, one of the cast members was Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Creation of Seinfeld

In 1989, Larry teamed up with Jerry Seinfeld to create a pilot for NBC, which was originally titled “The Seinfeld Chronicles.” The series became known as “Seinfeld” and was loosely based on Larry David’s own life and experiences, as well as the people in and around him. Kenny Kramer, his neighbor at Manhattan Plaza, became Cosmo Kramer, played by his friend from the cast of “Fridays” – Michael Richards. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, from his “SNL” days, joined the cast as Elaine Benes. He based the character George Costanza, played by Jason Alexander, on himself.

Larry was the co-creator and executive producer of “Seinfeld.” The show ran from 1989 to 1998 with 180 episodes. Larry wrote 62 episodes of “Seinfeld,” including the iconic episode “The Contest.” David’s work on the show won him two Primetime Emmy Awards in 1993, for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Comedy Series for “The Contest.” Seinfeld is one of the most successful shows in television history. It reached the top of “TV Guide’s” list of the 50 greatest TV shows of all time. “Entertainment Weekly” ranked it the third-best TV show of all time.

Creation of Curb Your Enthusiasm

began scripting “Curb Your Enthusiasm” for HBO in 1999. The show was meant to be a one-off special, but it proved so popular that it was turned into a series, and it’s still running. As with “Seinfeld,” he has brought in actors from his past, including Michael McKean from “SNL” and all of the cast of “Seinfeld.” With “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” rather than working with a tight script, he or one of the staff writers that were hired after Season 5 writes a loose outline, and everyone involved in the episode improvises. He stars in the series, playing a variation of himself, and like “Seinfeld,” the show is an exploration of his personal experiences. The majority of the series focuses on all of the social and emotional issues he faced after the runaway success of “Seinfeld.”

In addition to his work on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” he has also written two films, “Sour Grapes” and “Clear History.” He has also continued to perform off and on, including roles in “New York Stories,” “Whatever Works,” “The Three Stooges,” and “Clear History.”

Personal Life

On March 31, 1993, David married Laurie Lennard. They have two daughters, Cazzie Laurel David (born May 10, 1994) and Romy March (born March 2, 1996). Laurie met Larry while she was working as a talent coordinator on “Late Night with David Letterman.” The character of “Cheryl” on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” which is played by Cheryl Hines, is loosely based on Laurie David. Laurie is an environmental activist and film producer. She won an Oscar for producing the 2006 Al Gore documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.”

On July 13, 2007, Laurie David filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences and seeking joint custody of the couple’s two daughters.

Larry met comedy producer Ashley Underwood at Sacha Baron Cohen’s birthday party; the couple married in 2020. In the summer of 2017, PBS’s “Finding Your Roots” unearthed, through genealogical research, that David and Bernie Sanders are distant relatives. As the comedian explained, Sanders is “a third cousin or something.” What a coincidence, considering that since 2015, David made multiple guest appearances portraying Bernie Sanders on “Saturday Night Live.” Larry David and other spokespeople have been sued for their roles in touting cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading Unlimited in a class-action

lawsuit filed in November 2022. The commercial aired during Super Bowl LVI. In February 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the Securities Act of 1933 extends to targeted solicitation using social media. Laurie David Divorce Settlement Unfortunately, Larry’s net worth took a pretty large hit after his divorce from ex-wife Laurie in 2007. Larry reportedly paid Laurie 50% of his net worth at the time. That resulted in a $200-300 million settlement that includes future syndication income from both “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” FTX Endorsement In 2022, Larry appeared in what is now considered an infamous Super Bowl commercial for the fraudulent crypto company FTX. As was revealed in lawsuits, Larry was paid $10 million to appear in the commercial. That $10 million fee for Larry was on top of the $25 million FTX paid to produce the commercial. The commercia

l featured a subtle cameo from Sam Bankman-Fried’s father, Joseph Bankman, who was apparently a huge Larry David fan. Real Estate In 2014, Larry David sold a home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of LA for $12 million. The home has seven bedrooms and ten baths. The master bedroom includes a deck overlooking the ocean, a grassy backyard, and a pool. Additional features include a large guest house, multiple fireplaces, a living room, family room, and dining room. He still owns another home in the same area, which he bought around 2006 for $10.35 million. He has at least two other homes in the Palisades. In February 2022, Larry spent $5.7 million on a house in Montecito, California. For some reason he sold this house less than a year later for $6.9 million. Here’s a video tour of this house from September 2021: In September 2022 Larry closed on a new Montecito mansion, this one setting him back $7.6 million. In 2004 he purchased a modest, yet beautiful property on Martha’s Vineyard.