Martha Stewart is a very familiar name to most people. Whether because of her cookbooks, her magazine, or because she ended up in jail for insider trading, it’s hard to find anyone who isn’t familiar with her name. And that is very much reflected in Stewart’s net worth.
But Martha Stewart didn’t start as Martha Stewart. She started as a babysitter and a model by the name of Martha Helen Kostyra, later becoming a caterer and stockbroker before she became famous for her cookbooks and launched her own media empire, complete with a magazine, TV shows, and several specials. This journey is set to be chronicled in the new Netflix documentary Martha, which will follow her unlikely journey from cookbook author to influencer to convicted criminal and now Snoop Dogg‘s best BFF.
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Even when Stewart started as a babysitter, she wasn’t just babysitting any kids, though. Stewart babysat the kids of New York Yankees players Mickey Mantle, Gil McDougald, and Yogi Berra. So, that still puts her way above where most people would begin. From there, Stewart appeared in an ad for Lifebuoy at 15 and would go on to model for brands like Chanel. Then she attended Barnard College at Columbia University, where she graduated with degrees in history and architectural history. At 19, Stewart would also marry Andrew Stewart. Even when they later divorced, Stewart would keep his last name as it was, at that point, part of her brand.
Because of her father-in-law, Stewart would go on to become a stockbroker and later started a catering company from her kitchen. But that is just the beginning for Stewart, who really rose to fame due to her cookbooks. Here’s how much Martha Stewart has made throughout her career, how much she lost when she went to jail, and what her net worth is today.
How much did Martha Stewart make from her cookbooks?
Catering events for her husband led Stewart to Alan Mirken, the then head of Crown Publishing Group, which would be responsible for publishing multiple books from Stewart through Clarkson Potter Books, starting with Entertaining (1982). Stewart also published Martha Stewart’s Quick Cook (1983), Martha Stewart’s Hors D’oeuvres (1984), Martha Stewart’s Pies & Tarts (1985), Martha Stewart’s Quick Cook Menus (1988), and Martha Stewart’s Christmas (1989), Martha Stewart’s Cookie Perfection (2019), Martha Stewart’s Cake Perfection (2020), Martha Stewart’s Fruit Desserts (2021), among others.
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Stewart’s 100th book is set to be published in November of 2024, and will be titled Martha: The Cookbook. There’s no specific amount of money reported just from Stewart’s cookbooks, but considering she’s now onto book 100 and has never stopped, it’s easy to see they have been very successful.
In 1990 Stewart published the first issue of Martha Stewart Living, with subscriptions soon growing to over 2 million. At that point, Stewart had expanded from just cookbooks to crafts, gardening, decorating, and home furnishings. With the success of her magazine, Stewart then started Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, clearly recognizing the value of owning her brands.
That company would then go public in 1999, making Stewart a self-made billionaire by the year 2000.
Fifteen years later, after losing a significant amount of money due to her conviction of insider trading, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia was sold to Sequential Brands Group for $350 million. The deal came with a $6 million salary for Stewart, which included $406,941 for non-business travel, $114,620 for utilities and telecommunication services, and $146,880 for personal fitness, wellness, beauty, and wardrobe.
How much did Martha Stewart lose after being convicted of insider trading?
In 2001 Stewart was accused of selling ImClone Systems stocks just one day before their value plummeted. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicted Stewart for insider trading in 2003, and in 2004 she was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and making false statements to federal investigators and sentenced to five months in prison, two years of supervised release and a $30,000 fine.
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Stewart’s insider trading conviction cost her a lot of money. It is estimated that her stocks dropping cost Stewart around $400 million dollars.
What is Martha Stewart’s net worth?
Stewart’s net worth in 2024 is reported to be around $400 million. Not shabby, but far below the numbers she was worth when her company first went public and she became a billionaire. Not that Stewart’s prison stint was the end of her career. No, after being released Stewart expanded her product lines and made a return to TV with The Martha Stewart Show and her own short-lived Apprentice spinoff, The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, alongside her other shows Martha Stewart Cooking School, Martha Bakes and Martha Knows Best.
On top of that, Stewart has also appeared in Chopped and Law & Order: SVU, and alongside her friend Snoop Dogg she co-hosted Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Party Challenge. She would also go on to appear in a 2023 Super Bowl commercial with the famous rapper. All of these things have contributed to Stewart’s net worth increasing after all the money she lost after her conviction.
But a lot of Stewart’s current worth is tied to real estate, as she owns multiple properties, including an apartment on the Upper East Side in New York, a farm in upstate New York, and a state in Seal Harbor, Maine, where she spends her summers.