Chip Hailstone is an American reality television personality, hunter, trapper, fisherman, craftsman, and subsistence resident who has a net worth of $100 thousand. \Chip Hailstone is best known for starring with his wife Agnes Hailstone and their children on the National Geographic documentary series "Life Below Zero."

Raised in Montana, Chip moved to Alaska as a young man and eventually settled in Noorvik, an Iñupiaq community near the Kobuk River. He built a life centered on hunting, fishing, trapping, seasonal travel, equipment repair, and raising a large family in one of the coldest and most isolated regions of the United States.

On "Life Below Zero," Chip often handled navigation, firearms, mechanical repairs, shelter construction, and the planning of long hunting trips. He also acknowledged that much of the family's place-specific knowledge came from Agnes and her Iñupiaq relatives, whose ancestors had lived and harvested food in the region for generations.

Chip appeared throughout most of the show's lengthy run, although he was absent from part of the series while serving a prison sentence stemming from his conviction for perjury and providing false information to law enforcement.

Early Life and Move to Alaska

Edward V. "Chip" Hailstone was born in 1969 and raised in Kalispell, Montana. He learned basic hunting, fishing, and outdoor skills while growing up in the state.

In 1988, when he was approximately 19 years old, Chip traveled to Alaska. What was initially a visit became a permanent relocation. He eventually reached northwestern Alaska and settled near Noorvik, roughly 19 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Chip had to adapt to conditions that were considerably different from those he had experienced in Montana. The region had few roads, severe winter temperatures, changing river ice, expensive imported supplies, and long distances between communities.

After meeting Agnes, he learned more about the area's seasonal cycles, animal migrations, fishing locations, and traditional methods of using harvested animals. The couple married and built a family life around Noorvik and a series of more remote seasonal camps.

Marriage and Family

Chip became the stepfather of Agnes's two sons, Douglas and Jon, and the couple had five daughters together: Tinmiaq, Iriqtaq, Mary, Caroline, and Qutan.

All seven children participated to varying degrees in the family's subsistence activities. Chip taught them to operate boats and snow machines, use rifles safely, repair equipment, construct camps, and respond to emergencies. Agnes concentrated heavily on the traditional hunting, food-processing, sewing, and cultural knowledge passed down through her family.

The Hailstones divided their time between their residence in Noorvik and camps closer to seasonal hunting and fishing grounds. National Geographic later reported that they had inherited additional land, allowing the family to expand the territory used for trapping, fishing, and hunting.

"Life Below Zero"

Chip and Agnes became original cast members of "Life Below Zero" when it premiered in 2013. The series documented the daily and seasonal work required to maintain a household in remote Alaska.

The Hailstone family's earliest episodes included setting whitefish nets beneath thin ice, hunting caribou, bartering food for supplies, repairing snow machines, and preparing for periods when weather made travel nearly impossible.

Chip frequently emphasized that mistakes in the Arctic could become fatal very quickly. Mechanical breakdowns were more than an inconvenience because losing a snow machine or boat could prevent the family from obtaining food or returning safely from camp.

The program also showed that the family did not live completely without modern equipment. They used rifles, boats, outboard motors, snow machines, chainsaws, manufactured clothing, and other tools. Their survival depended on combining those items with traditional knowledge and the ability to repair or improvise equipment far from a conventional service center.

As the children grew older, the Hailstone segments increasingly focused on Chip and Agnes preparing them to travel and hunt independently.

Hunting, Fishing, and Craftsmanship

Chip developed skills in hunting, trapping, fishing, building shelters, and making tools. He hunted animals including caribou and smaller game and helped set nets for whitefish and other species.

Because Chip is not Alaska Native, federal law restricts him from personally harvesting certain marine mammals reserved for qualifying Alaska Native subsistence hunters. Agnes and their eligible children handled those hunts, while Chip could assist with transportation, equipment, camp preparation, and processing after the harvest.

The family used meat for food and transformed hides, antlers, bone, and fur into clothing, tools, and crafts. Chip became particularly associated with building and repairing equipment and making knives, including ulus.

Conviction and Prison Sentence

Chip's most significant personal controversy began with a 2011 fight in Noorvik involving his stepson and one of his daughters. Afterward, Chip accused an Alaska State Trooper of assaulting his daughter and threatening members of his family.

He repeated his account in communications with investigators and while seeking protective orders. Authorities concluded that portions of his allegations were false, and a jury convicted him of two counts of perjury and two counts of providing false information with the intent to implicate another person in a crime.

Chip maintained that he believed his account was accurate. His convictions were upheld on direct appeal, and he was sentenced to 15 months in prison. He was absent from portions of "Life Below Zero" while incarcerated, leaving Agnes to manage the family's household and subsistence work with their children.

After his release, Chip returned to Noorvik and resumed appearing on the series. He continued pursuing post-conviction relief, but the Alaska Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of his remaining ineffective-assistance claim in 2024. The court record confirms that he was convicted on all four counts and that the convictions were not overturned.

Read more: Chip Hailstone Net Worth

The actor chosen to lead that experiment was also considered a gamble.

Robert Downey Jr. had once been viewed as one of the most talented actors of his generation. He had earned an Academy Award nomination for "Chaplin" and delivered acclaimed performances in films including "Less Than Zero" and "Natural Born Killers." But years of addiction, arrests, rehabilitation stays, and failed attempts at recovery had made him extremely difficult to insure and even harder to cast in a major studio production.

Marvel was effectively placing the future of its movie division in the hands of an actor many studios still considered untouchable.

Downey was paid a base salary of just $500,000 to play Tony Stark in the first "Iron Man."

That modest contract became the starting point for the greatest financial and career comeback in Hollywood history…

TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images

The $500,000 Gamble

Casting Downey was not an obvious decision.

Director Jon Favreau strongly believed Downey was uniquely suited to play Tony Stark: a brilliant, charming, self-destructive industrialist attempting to rebuild his life after years of reckless behavior. The parallels between the actor and the character were impossible to miss.

Marvel executives were more hesitant. Downey's personal problems had cost previous productions money, and studios were reluctant to trust him with a franchise that was supposed to launch an entire movie universe.

Favreau persisted, Downey won the role, and Marvel protected itself by keeping his initial salary low.

The company's caution was understandable. "Iron Man" was not built around a superhero with the same mainstream recognition as Batman, Superman, or Spider-Man. Marvel was committing $140 million to a character who had never carried a major live-action movie.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and his team surrounded Downey with a cast that included Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard as James Rhodes, and Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane.

The gamble paid off almost immediately.

"Iron Man" opened to nearly $100 million domestically and eventually grossed more than $585 million worldwide. Downey's performance received much of the credit. His humor, improvisational style, and natural charisma helped distinguish the movie from the more solemn superhero films of the era.

The final scene, in which Stark abandons the traditional secret-identity formula and declares, "I am Iron Man," established both the character and the actor as the center of Marvel's new universe.

Little more than a year after the movie's release, Disney agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment in a transaction valued at $4 billion. "Iron Man" was not solely responsible for that deal, but it demonstrated that Marvel could turn its own characters into enormously valuable movie franchises.

From $500,000 To $10 Million

Once "Iron Man" became a hit, Downey's leverage changed dramatically.

Marvel could replace supporting actors or move characters in and out of its expanding universe. Howard was replaced by Don Cheadle as James Rhodes beginning with "Iron Man 2." Replacing Tony Stark would have been much more difficult. Audiences had come to associate the character completely with Downey.

For 2010's "Iron Man 2," his base salary increased to $10 million.

The sequel grossed more than $620 million worldwide, confirming that the first movie had not been a fluke. Downey had now anchored two successful films and made a brief appearance as Stark in "The Incredible Hulk," helping Marvel establish the idea that all of its characters occupied one shared world.

But the real financial breakthrough came when Marvel combined those characters in "The Avengers."

The $50 Million "Avengers" Payday

When "The Avengers" arrived in 2012, Downey shared the screen with Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, and Jeremy Renner.

Samuel L. Jackson also appeared as Nick Fury, the character who had first teased the Avengers Initiative during the post-credits scene of "Iron Man."

Although "The Avengers" was technically an ensemble film, Downey was Marvel's established star. He also had something even more valuable than a large upfront salary: a contract that allowed him to participate in the movie's financial success.

Directed by Joss Whedon, "The Avengers" grossed more than $1.5 billion worldwide. Thanks largely to bonuses and backend compensation, Downey earned $50 million.

"Iron Man 3" And The Backend Money Machine

After "The Avengers," Downey returned for "Iron Man 3," which grossed more than $1.2 billion worldwide.

Downey earned $75 million from the sequel through his salary, bonuses, and backend participation. The payday placed him among Hollywood's highest-paid actors and showed how completely the financial balance between Downey and Marvel had changed.

His exact compensation for each Marvel appearance is difficult to isolate because his earnings did not consist of a single check. Depending on the movie, Downey received some combination of an upfront salary, box-office bonuses, backend participation, and other contractual payments.

His earnings reached $40 million for "Avengers: Age of Ultron." He earned another $40 million for "Captain America: Civil War," a movie that essentially functioned as another "Avengers" installment despite Captain America receiving top billing.

Even Downey's comparatively brief appearance in "Spider-Man: Homecoming" paid him $15 million. He appeared for only a small portion of the movie, serving as a mentor to Tom Holland's Peter Parker, but Marvel understood the commercial value of placing Tony Stark in the film.

The $75 Million "Endgame" Payday

Downey's compensation reached another level during Marvel's two-part culmination, "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame." For both films, with base salary and backend bonuses were combined, Robert made $75 million.

Robert Downey Jr.'s Marvel Paydays

Robert Downey Jr.'s publicly known Marvel paydays include:

• "Iron Man" (2008): $500,000
• "Iron Man 2" (2010): $10 million
• "The Avengers" (2012): $50 million
• "Iron Man 3" (2013): $75 million
• "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015): $40 million
• "Captain America: Civil War" (2016): $40 million
• "Spider-Man: Homecoming" (2017): $15 million
• "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018): $75 million
• "Avengers: Endgame" (2019): $75 million

Those major paydays total $380.5 million. After adding his appearance fees for "The Incredible Hulk" and other Marvel cameos, additional bonuses and backend compensation, and his $100 million payday to play Doctor Doom in "Avengers: Doomsday" and "Avengers: Secret Wars," Robert Downey Jr. will have made around $600 million from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The Greatest Financial Comeback In Hollywood History

Robert Downey Jr.'s Marvel story began with two parties taking a risk on each other.

Marvel took a chance on an actor whose career had nearly collapsed. Downey took a relatively small salary to star in an unproven superhero movie produced by a studio attempting something Hollywood had never seen before.

"Iron Man" revived Downey's career, but his contribution went far beyond showing up and delivering a successful performance. His version of Tony Stark established the personality, humor, and emotional center of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Every subsequent Marvel film benefited in some way from the foundation that "Iron Man" created.

Downey made sure his compensation eventually reflected that value.

He went from a $500,000 base salary to $50 million for "The Avengers," $75 million for "Avengers: Endgame," and between $500 million and $600 million across his original Marvel run.

The actor who was once considered too risky to insure became the one performer Marvel apparently could not afford to leave behind.

Tony Stark built his fortune with advanced technology, weapons, and an arc reactor. Robert Downey Jr. built his by becoming Iron Man.

Read more: Robert Downey Jr. Made Just $500K For The First "Iron Man." He Eventually Earned $600 Million Off The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Tarek Mansour is a Lebanese-American entrepreneur who has a net worth of $2.6 billion. Tarek Mansour earned his fortune as the co-founder and CEO of Kalshi, a federally regulated prediction market that allows users to trade on the outcomes of elections, sporting events, economic announcements, weather, entertainment, and other real-world events. Mansour reportedly retains approximately 12% of Kalshi. Applying that percentage to the company's $22 billion private valuation produces a stake worth roughly $2.64 billion. Mansour founded Kalshi with his Massachusetts Institute of Technology classmate Luana Lopes Lara in 2018.

Mansour conceived Kalshi as a simpler alternative to the complicated derivatives that major investment banks create for institutional clients. Instead of using a basket of stocks or a complex options strategy as a proxy for an event, Kalshi allows traders to purchase a straightforward "yes" or "no" contract based on whether the event occurs. Mansour and Lopes Lara spent nearly three years seeking regulatory approval before launching the exchange in 2021. They later sued the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and won the right to offer election-related contracts, a victory that helped propel Kalshi into the financial mainstream. The company's valuation reached $22 billion in 2026. Mansour reportedly owns approximately 12% of Kalshi, making him one of the world's youngest self-made billionaires.

Early Life and Education

Tarek Mansour was born on May 7, 1996, in California. His family subsequently moved to Lebanon, where he spent most of his childhood and attended Collège Louise Wegmann.

Mansour became interested in mathematics and computers while growing up in Lebanon. He later returned to the United States to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, arriving in 2014.

At MIT, Mansour studied mathematics, computer science, and electrical engineering. He completed bachelor's degrees in mathematics and computer science in 2018, followed by a Master of Engineering degree.

Mansour also participated in artificial intelligence research. As an undergraduate researcher at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, he worked on a project that used deep learning to improve the prediction and diagnosis of breast cancer.

It was at MIT that Mansour met Brazilian computer science student Luana Lopes Lara. The two shared an interest in financial markets, quantitative trading, and the possibility of using technology to make sophisticated financial products more accessible.

Wall Street Career

While attending MIT, Mansour interned in the equity derivatives division at Goldman Sachs. During his 2016 internship, clients were attempting to protect themselves against the financial effects of the Brexit vote and the American presidential election.

Mansour was struck by the complexity of the products Goldman created. An investor who wanted to trade on Donald Trump's election prospects, for example, might have needed to use an indirect strategy involving stock indexes, volatility, currencies, or calendar spreads. The resulting trade was expensive, difficult to understand, and generally available only to large institutional clients.

Mansour believed there should be a direct market where someone could simply trade on whether an event would happen.

He later worked as a global macro trader at Citadel. Lopes Lara separately gained experience at Bridgewater Associates and Citadel Securities. The pair also worked together at quantitative trading firm Five Rings Capital, where their conversations about event-based markets developed into a business plan.

Founding Kalshi

Mansour and Lopes Lara founded Kalshi in 2018. The name is derived from an Arabic word meaning "everything," chosen to represent the founders' vision of eventually making almost any future event tradable.

Kalshi's basic product is a binary event contract. A market might ask whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates, whether inflation will exceed a particular figure, or whether a candidate will win an election. Each contract pays $1 if the stated outcome occurs and nothing if it does not.

The contract's trading price can also be read as a probability. A contract priced at 65 cents suggests that traders collectively assign the event a roughly 65% chance of occurring.

Unlike many cryptocurrency-based prediction markets, Mansour wanted Kalshi to operate inside the American financial regulatory system. The founders applied to have Kalshi designated as a contract market by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The process involved extensive legal work, technical reviews, compliance planning, and repeated discussions with regulators. The CFTC finally approved Kalshi in November 2020. The platform opened to the public in July 2021 after raising a $30 million financing led by Sequoia Capital.

Battle Over Election Trading

Mansour viewed political elections as one of the clearest applications for prediction markets. Elections affect interest rates, taxes, healthcare policy, regulation, and the value of businesses, yet investors historically had no simple instrument for hedging against a particular result.

Kalshi applied for permission to list contracts based on which political party would control each chamber of Congress. The CFTC rejected the proposal, concluding that the contracts involved gaming and were contrary to the public interest.

In 2023, Kalshi sued the CFTC. The decision placed the company in the unusual position of taking legal action against the federal agency responsible for regulating it. Investors and advisers warned Mansour that the lawsuit could permanently damage the company if Kalshi lost.

A federal judge ruled in Kalshi's favor in September 2024, finding that the CFTC had improperly interpreted federal law when it blocked the contracts. After additional appeals and temporary stays, Kalshi was allowed to offer election markets during the 2024 presidential campaign.

The case transformed Kalshi from a relatively obscure financial startup into the leading federally regulated prediction market in the United States.

Expansion and Funding

After its legal victory, Kalshi expanded into sports, entertainment, politics, economics, technology, and popular culture. Its event probabilities were incorporated into financial terminals, brokerage products, and news coverage.

Sports contracts became an especially large part of the platform. That expansion also created new legal challenges, with several states arguing that Kalshi's sports markets amounted to unlicensed sports betting. Kalshi has maintained that its event contracts are federally regulated financial derivatives and therefore fall under the CFTC's jurisdiction rather than state gambling laws.

Investor demand increased alongside trading volume. Kalshi raised $185 million at a $2 billion valuation in June 2025. A December 2025 financing brought in $1 billion at an $11 billion valuation.

In May 2026, the company completed another $1 billion financing at a $22 billion valuation. Investors across Kalshi's funding rounds have included Sequoia Capital, Paradigm, Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue, CapitalG, Y Combinator, ARK Invest, IVP, Morgan Stanley, Charles Schwab, and Henry Kravis.

Management Style and Personal Life

Mansour serves as Kalshi's CEO and principal public spokesman. He has promoted prediction markets as tools for revealing probabilities, aggregating information, and helping businesses and individuals manage risk. He strongly rejects the characterization of Kalshi as a conventional sportsbook, emphasizing that users trade against one another rather than against a house that sets the odds.

Inside Kalshi, Mansour focuses primarily on long-term strategy, regulation, and product direction, while Lopes Lara oversees much of the company's day-to-day execution. The two founders deliberately challenge each other's ideas and have maintained a relatively flat management structure despite the company's rapid expansion.

Mansour has kept his romantic and family life private. He is based in New York City, where Kalshi maintains its headquarters.

Read more: Tarek Mansour Net Worth

Luana Lopes Lara is a Brazilian entrepreneur and former professional ballerina who has a net worth of $2.6 billion. Luana Lopes Lara earned her fortune as the co-founder and chief operating officer of Kalshi, a federally regulated prediction market where users trade contracts tied to the outcomes of elections, sporting events, economic reports, entertainment awards, and other real-world events. She founded the company with her Massachusetts Institute of Technology classmate Tarek Mansour in 2018.

Lopes Lara has overseen much of Kalshi's product development, operations, and expansion. The company received approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to operate as a designated contract market in 2020, launched publicly in 2021, and later won a landmark legal battle that allowed it to offer contracts connected to American elections. Kalshi's popularity exploded around the 2024 presidential campaign before sports-related contracts and brokerage partnerships pushed trading volume even higher. After a series of increasingly large venture capital rounds, Kalshi reached a valuation of $22 billion in 2026. Lopes Lara reportedly owns approximately 12% of the privately held company, making her one of the world's youngest self-made billionaires and the world's youngest self-made woman billionaire.

Early Life and Ballet

Luana Lopes Lara was born in 1996 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. She showed an early aptitude for both mathematics and the performing arts, winning medals in Brazilian mathematics and astronomy competitions while also pursuing intensive ballet training.

Lopes Lara spent approximately eight years studying at the Bolshoi Theatre School in Joinville, Brazil, the famed Russian ballet company's only school outside Russia. The program demanded long days of physical training, rehearsals, academic work, and performance preparation.

After completing her training, Lopes Lara briefly worked as a professional ballerina in Austria. She performed with the Salzburg State Theatre, including in a production of "Swan Lake." Although she had spent much of her youth preparing for a career in dance, she eventually concluded that her long-term future was in mathematics and technology.

At 18, Lopes Lara left ballet and moved to the United States to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

MIT and Finance Internships

At MIT, Lopes Lara studied computer science and became part of a close circle of students interested in mathematics, technology, markets, and quantitative finance. She graduated in 2018.

During her college summers, Lopes Lara completed internships at several major financial firms. She worked at Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates and Ken Griffin's Citadel Securities, gaining experience with the research and trading systems used by large institutional investors.

She also worked at quantitative trading firm Five Rings Capital with fellow MIT student Tarek Mansour. The two had already met at school, but their time in New York strengthened their friendship and working relationship. They frequently discussed the limitations of conventional financial products and why ordinary people had few direct ways to trade or hedge against specific real-world events.

Founding Kalshi

Lopes Lara and Mansour founded Kalshi in 2018. The name comes from an Arabic word meaning "everything," reflecting their ambition to create markets around nearly every measurable future event.

On Kalshi, users can buy "yes" or "no" contracts tied to questions such as whether inflation will exceed a certain level, which political party will win an election, or whether a team will win a game. Contract prices range between one cent and 99 cents and can be interpreted as the market's estimate of an outcome's probability.

The founders believed these contracts could serve two purposes. Traders could attempt to profit from their knowledge of a subject, while individuals and businesses could use the contracts to hedge against risks not covered by traditional financial products.

Rather than launching first and dealing with regulators later, Lopes Lara and Mansour pursued federal approval before opening the platform. The process took nearly three years. In November 2020, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission designated Kalshi as a regulated contract market, making it the first federally regulated American exchange devoted primarily to event contracts.

Kalshi launched publicly in July 2021.

Election Markets and Legal Battle

Kalshi initially offered contracts involving economics, weather, entertainment, and other events, but political markets represented one of the founders' largest ambitions. The CFTC rejected the company's attempt to offer contracts based on which party would control Congress, arguing that the contracts involved gaming and raised public-interest concerns.

Kalshi sued its own regulator in 2023, an unusually aggressive move for a young financial company whose business depended on maintaining federal approval. Many of the company's investors and advisers opposed the strategy because a loss could have damaged Kalshi's entire business.

In 2024, a federal judge ruled that the CFTC had exceeded its authority when it blocked Kalshi's congressional-control contracts. After further appeals, Kalshi was allowed to open election trading during the 2024 campaign.

The victory established Kalshi as the leading regulated election prediction market in the United States. Its prices became widely cited as alternative indicators to polls and conventional forecasting models.

Growth and Billionaire Status

Kalshi's valuation increased rapidly following its election-market victory. The company raised $185 million at a $2 billion valuation in June 2025. Six months later, it raised $1 billion at an $11 billion valuation from investors including Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, CapitalG, ARK Invest, and Y Combinator.

In May 2026, Kalshi raised another $1 billion at a $22 billion valuation. The round was led by Coatue, with additional participation from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, IVP, Paradigm, Morgan Stanley, and ARK Invest.

Lopes Lara and Mansour were each estimated to own approximately 12% of Kalshi following the financing. A 12% interest in a company valued at $22 billion is worth roughly $2.64 billion.

Role at Kalshi

While Mansour serves as Kalshi's chief executive and public spokesman, Lopes Lara serves as chief operating officer and concentrates heavily on the company's daily execution. Her responsibilities have included product development, compliance, hiring, internal management, and scaling the platform's operations.

The founders have maintained an unusually flat corporate structure in which much of the company reports directly to one or both of them. Mansour has described himself as focused primarily on long-term strategy, while Lopes Lara is more closely involved with translating those ideas into operating systems and finished products.

Read more: Luana Lopes Lara Net Worth

Shayne Coplan is an American entrepreneur and software developer who has a net worth of $1 billion. Shayne Coplan earned his fortune as the founder and CEO of Polymarket, a blockchain-based prediction market that allows users to trade on the outcomes of elections, sporting events, economic announcements, entertainment awards, and other future events. Coplan launched Polymarket in 2020 while working from a makeshift office in his New York apartment. The company initially occupied a small corner of the cryptocurrency industry but became one of the world's most prominent prediction platforms during the 2024 United States presidential election.

Polymarket's growth attracted investors including Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, Blockchain Capital, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, and Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. In 2025, Intercontinental Exchange agreed to invest up to $2 billion at a valuation of approximately $8 billion before the investment and $9 billion afterward. Coplan reportedly retained an ownership stake of roughly 11%, making him the world's youngest self-made billionaire at the time. Nearly all of his fortune consists of privately held Polymarket equity, meaning his net worth can fluctuate significantly whenever the company raises money at a new valuation.

Early Life

Shayne Coplan was born on June 14, 1998, in New York City. He was raised by his mother on Manhattan's Upper West Side and attended public schools in Hell's Kitchen.

Coplan became interested in computers and taught himself how to program as a teenager. He also became involved with cryptocurrency unusually early. In 2014, when he was approximately 16 years old, Coplan reportedly participated in Ethereum's initial token sale, purchasing Ether when the tokens cost only a fraction of a dollar.

He later enrolled at New York University to study computer science but left during his freshman year. Rather than pursuing a conventional technology career, Coplan immersed himself in cryptocurrency, decentralized finance, and the economic theory behind prediction markets.

Founding Polymarket

Coplan became fascinated by the idea that markets could produce more accurate forecasts than polls, pundits, or individual experts. Prediction markets allow participants to purchase contracts connected to a future event. A contract trading at 70 cents can be interpreted as the market assigning the event a roughly 70% probability of occurring.

Unlike a traditional sportsbook, Polymarket does not generally act as the house or independently set the odds. Users trade contracts with one another, and prices move according to supply and demand. Transactions were originally conducted using the USDC cryptocurrency and recorded through blockchain technology.

Coplan began developing the company during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Running low on money, he worked alone from a Lower East Side apartment, where he converted part of a bathroom into an office. Polymarket officially launched in 2020, initially offering markets related to the pandemic, politics, cryptocurrency prices, and other news events.

The platform raised a $4 million seed round in 2020. Its early investors included cryptocurrency-focused venture firms and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who had long supported prediction markets as tools for aggregating information.

Growth and the 2024 Election

Polymarket grew gradually during its first several years before breaking into the mainstream during the 2024 presidential campaign. Users traded billions of dollars' worth of contracts connected to the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

For much of the campaign, Polymarket gave Trump a stronger probability of winning than many traditional polls and election models. Its prices were cited by financial news organizations, political commentators, and social media users, transforming the company from a specialized crypto platform into a widely watched source of real-time political sentiment.

The election also demonstrated both the strengths and weaknesses of prediction markets. Supporters argued that traders had financial incentives to make accurate forecasts. Critics noted that a small number of wealthy participants could influence prices and that market odds represented the opinions of traders rather than a scientific measurement of public opinion.

Polymarket expanded beyond politics to offer markets involving sports, interest rates, business deals, international conflicts, film awards, and popular culture. Statistician and FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver joined the company as an adviser, further raising its profile.

Regulatory Problems and FBI Raid

Polymarket's rapid expansion brought significant regulatory scrutiny. In January 2022, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission accused the company of operating an unregistered event-based derivatives platform. Polymarket agreed to pay a $1.4 million civil penalty, wind down markets that did not comply with federal regulations, and block customers located in the United States.

Questions subsequently arose over whether American users were continuing to access the platform through virtual private networks. In November 2024, shortly after the presidential election, FBI agents searched Coplan's Manhattan residence and seized his electronic devices. He was not arrested or charged.

The Justice Department and Commodity Futures Trading Commission investigated whether Polymarket had violated the terms of its earlier settlement. Both investigations were closed in 2025 without additional charges against Coplan or the company.

Polymarket then paid $112 million to acquire QCEX, the parent company of a federally licensed derivatives exchange and clearinghouse. The acquisition provided the regulatory infrastructure needed for Polymarket to begin returning to the American market as a licensed platform.

Funding and Billionaire Status

Polymarket raised $55 million in 2024 at a valuation of approximately $350 million. It followed that round with another $150 million in 2025 at a reported valuation of $1.2 billion. Investors included Founders Fund, Blockchain Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Point72 Ventures, Ribbit Capital, and 1789 Capital, the venture firm associated with Donald Trump Jr.

The company's value increased dramatically when Intercontinental Exchange agreed to invest up to $2 billion in Polymarket. The transaction placed an approximately $8 billion pre-investment valuation on the company and valued it at roughly $9 billion after the investment.

Coplan reportedly owned around 11% of Polymarket after accounting for outside investment and dilution. At that ownership level, his stake was worth approximately $1 billion, although the overwhelming majority of that wealth remained illiquid private-company stock.

Polymarket later explored raising additional capital at a valuation approaching $15 billion. Because the exact terms, dilution, and size of Coplan's current stake have not been publicly disclosed, a $1 billion net worth remains more defensible than simply applying his earlier ownership percentage to the company's highest proposed valuation.

Personal Life and Digital Art

Coplan has generally kept his personal and romantic life private. He lives in New York City and has remained closely involved in Polymarket's product development and strategy.

Outside of prediction markets, Coplan became active in the digital-art world under the name "ethsquiat." He collected NFTs and supported emerging crypto artists before digital collectibles became a mainstream speculative market. That involvement reflected the broader interest in blockchain-based ownership and decentralized technology that eventually led him to build Polymarket.

Read more: Shayne Coplan Net Worth

ESPN wanted him, and CBS was determined not to lose him. The network ultimately signed Romo to a 10-year, $180 million contract, making him the highest-paid sports analyst in television history. Six years later, CBS has taken Romo off the air following his arrest for operating a vehicle while intoxicated. If the network decides it no longer wants him in its lead NFL booth, it could still be on the hook for $72 million…

Matthew Eisman/Getty Images

Tony Romo Is On Leave From CBS

CBS Sports announced on July 31 that Romo had been placed on leave "until further notice." The network did not say how long the leave would last, whether he would continue to be paid, or what conditions he would need to meet before returning.

In Romo's absence, CBS elevated J.J. Watt to work alongside Jim Nantz and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson on its No. 1 NFL broadcast team. For the moment, putting Romo on leave allows CBS to remove him from its most important broadcasts without making a final decision about his contract.

Romo's timing could hardly be worse. CBS is preparing for the start of the NFL season, when networks heavily promote their lead announcing teams. Romo was also expected to participate in the network's annual seminar for its NFL production staff and on-air talent. He now has a September 21 court appearance scheduled shortly after the season begins.

Romo was arrested in Milwaukee on July 23 after participating in a golf tournament. Authorities said he was pulled over after passing traffic on the right and driving through a restricted section of the highway.

Police body-camera footage showed Romo telling officers that he had consumed no alcohol. He struggled during field sobriety tests, repeatedly interrupted officers as they explained the instructions, and refused a preliminary breath test. Romo also complained that previous back surgeries made some of the physical tests difficult to perform.

Authorities later said an open alcoholic beverage was discovered on the passenger side of his Jeep. Romo was cited for operating while intoxicated, along with an additional moving violation. A first-offense OWI is generally handled as a civil rather than criminal matter in Wisconsin, but it can still result in fines, a driver's license suspension, and other penalties.

The incident created an immediate public-relations problem for CBS. It also gave the network an opportunity to reconsider a broadcasting relationship that had already become increasingly uncomfortable.

Why CBS Gave Romo $180 Million

When Romo retired from the NFL in 2017, CBS immediately placed him beside Nantz in its lead broadcast booth. It was an enormous gamble. Romo had no significant broadcasting experience and was replacing veteran analyst Phil Simms on the network's most important NFL crew.

The gamble initially looked brilliant. Romo approached broadcasts like a quarterback still standing at the line of scrimmage. He identified blitzes, explained defensive coverages, and frequently predicted what an offense was about to do before the ball was snapped. His energetic delivery also made complicated football strategy accessible to casual viewers.

Romo's first CBS contract paid him between $3 million and $4 million per year. When that agreement approached its expiration, ESPN began pursuing him for "Monday Night Football" and was prepared to offer him as much as $14 million annually. CBS responded by offering Romo a 10-year contract worth $180 million, or $18 million per season.

The deal was not merely about retaining a popular announcer. CBS was preparing for negotiations over future NFL television rights and did not want one of its signature personalities defecting to a rival. At the time, losing Romo to ESPN may have appeared riskier than guaranteeing him a record salary.

Romo's Broadcasting Reputation Was Already Slipping

Romo's early popularity did not last. The pre-snap predictions that made him famous became less frequent, while critics accused him of talking too much, making strange noises, missing important details, and occasionally sounding unprepared.

During recent playoff broadcasts, he was criticized for confusing players, misstating game situations, and offering commentary that viewers found obvious or unhelpful. Some of that backlash was undoubtedly amplified by social media, where every mistake can be clipped and replayed thousands of times. Even so, Romo had become a divisive broadcaster long before his arrest.

That distinction could become important. CBS is not deciding what to do with an indispensable announcer performing at the peak of his profession. It is evaluating an announcer receiving the largest salary in sports television whose performance had already become a source of criticism.

The arrest did not create CBS's Tony Romo problem. It gave CBS a reason to confront it.

Can CBS Cancel The Contract?

Romo's full contract has not been made public, so no outsider can know whether CBS can terminate him without paying the remaining $72 million. Like most major on-air television agreements, his deal reportedly contains a morals clause that could allow CBS to discipline or terminate him if his conduct damages the network's reputation.

Everything would depend on the precise language. The contract might allow CBS to act following an arrest, or it could require a conviction. It might permit a temporary suspension without pay, a complete termination for cause, or only limited disciplinary action. There is also a difference between having $72 million left on a contract and being unconditionally guaranteed every dollar.

CBS could bring Romo back following a suspension and public apology. That would allow the network to preserve its original investment without initiating a costly contract fight. The decision may depend partly on the outcome of Romo's legal case and how Watt performs alongside Nantz.

A return in a reduced role is also possible. Romo could move to CBS's second NFL crew, receive fewer marquee assignments, or appear in the studio. That arrangement would be financially awkward, however, because CBS would still be paying $18 million per year to an analyst who was no longer calling its biggest games.

The cleanest solution may be a negotiated buyout. CBS could pay Romo a portion of the remaining $72 million in exchange for ending the contract without arbitration or litigation. Romo has already earned more than $127 million during his NFL career, more than any undrafted player in league history at the time of his retirement, but he would have no reason to voluntarily surrender tens of millions of dollars.

If CBS attempts to terminate Romo for cause and stop paying him entirely, he would almost certainly challenge the decision. That could turn a broadcasting controversy into a legal fight over the meaning and enforceability of his morals clause.

Read more: Tony Romo's Arrest Could Trigger A $72 Million Contract War With CBS

Milton Hershey was an American entrepreneur, chocolatier, and philanthropist who had a peak net worth of $60 million in 1918. That's the same as around $1 billion today, after adjusting for inflation. Over several points later in life, Milton donated all of his wealth to charity. More details on this later in the article.

Milton Hershey founded the Hershey Chocolate Company and transformed milk chocolate from a costly specialty into an affordable product sold throughout the United States.

Hershey endured several failed businesses before creating the Lancaster Caramel Company, which he sold for $1 million in 1900. He used the proceeds to concentrate on chocolate manufacturing, constructing an enormous factory in rural Pennsylvania near dairy farms that could supply fresh milk.

Around the factory, Hershey developed the community that became Hershey, Pennsylvania. He financed housing, schools, transportation, utilities, recreational facilities, and public spaces. His best-known products included the Hershey bar and Hershey's Kisses.

Hershey and his wife, Catherine, had no children. In 1909, they established a residential school for orphaned boys. In 1918, Hershey transferred his ownership of the chocolate company, then valued at approximately $60 million, to the school trust. The institution eventually became the Milton Hershey School and developed one of the largest educational endowments in the United States.

Early Life

Milton Snavely Hershey was born on September 13, 1857, in Derry Township, Pennsylvania. His parents, Henry and Fanny Hershey, came from Pennsylvania German Mennonite families.

Hershey's father was intelligent and ambitious but frequently pursued unsuccessful business ideas. The family's repeated moves disrupted Milton's education, which ended after approximately the fourth grade.

At 14, Hershey was apprenticed to a German-language newspaper printer. He disliked the work and was dismissed after dropping a tray of type. His mother then arranged an apprenticeship with Lancaster confectioner Joseph Royer.

Hershey spent four years learning to make candy, ice cream, and other sweets. The experience gave him the practical training on which he built his career.

Early Business Failures

In 1876, Hershey opened a candy shop in Philadelphia. He worked long hours and sold caramels, taffy, nuts, and other treats, but the business failed after several years.

Hershey traveled west and found work with a confectioner in Denver. There he learned that fresh milk could produce a softer, longer-lasting caramel. He subsequently attempted businesses in Chicago and New Orleans before opening another shop in New York City.

The New York business also failed. Hershey returned to Lancaster in his late 20s with little money and several relatives convinced that he lacked the temperament to succeed.

Lancaster Caramel Company

Hershey began making caramels using the fresh-milk method he had learned in Denver. A British importer sampled his products and placed a large order, giving Hershey the credibility he needed to obtain financing.

The Lancaster Caramel Company grew rapidly. Hershey opened factories in Lancaster and other cities, employed more than 1,000 workers, and exported candy to Europe.

During the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Hershey saw German chocolate-making machinery. He purchased equipment and began producing chocolate coatings for his caramels.

Hershey became convinced that chocolate had greater potential than caramel. In 1900, he sold the Lancaster Caramel Company for $1 million and retained the developing chocolate operation.

The Hershey Chocolate Company

Milk chocolate was difficult to produce consistently and remained relatively expensive. Hershey and his employees spent years developing a formula suitable for mass manufacturing.

The first Hershey milk chocolate bars reached the market in 1900. Hershey's Kisses followed in 1907, and the milk chocolate bar with almonds was introduced in 1908.

Hershey selected Derry Township for his factory because the area offered dairy farms, clean water, inexpensive land, and access to railroads. The factory began operating in 1905 and became one of the world's largest chocolate-manufacturing plants.

By combining mass production, national distribution, and relatively low prices, Hershey helped make chocolate an everyday American product rather than a luxury.

Public Domain

Hershey, Pennsylvania

Hershey did not want his factory surrounded by a conventional industrial settlement. He planned a community with wide streets, single-family houses, schools, churches, parks, public transportation, and cultural facilities.

The town eventually included an amusement park, a theater, a convention hall, a zoo, a hotel, a golf course, and community recreation facilities. Hershey's companies also provided electricity, telephone service, water, and public transit.

During the Great Depression, Hershey launched an ambitious building program to keep local residents employed. Major projects included the Hotel Hershey, the Hershey Theatre, the Hershey Sports Arena, and a new community building.

Milton Hershey School

Milton and Catherine Hershey were unable to have children. In 1909, they created the Hershey Industrial School for orphaned boys and transferred farmland and other assets to support it.

Catherine died in 1915 after years of illness. Three years later, Hershey transferred nearly all of his Hershey Chocolate Company stock to the school trust. The gift was valued at approximately $60 million at the time but was not publicly revealed until several years later.

The trust retained voting control of the company and used its income to support the school. Admission later expanded beyond orphaned boys, and the institution was renamed the Milton Hershey School. It provides housing, education, health care, meals, and career preparation to children from lower-income families.

Cuba and Other Ventures

Hershey invested heavily in Cuban sugar production after World War I. He constructed mills, railroads, housing, schools, and utilities around a settlement known as Central Hershey.

Falling sugar prices eventually caused significant losses, and Hershey sold most of his Cuban interests during the 1940s.

Milton and Catherine had booked passage on the maiden voyage of the "Titanic" in 1912. A change in travel plans led them to sail earlier on another ship, avoiding the disaster.

Personal Life and Estate

Hershey married Catherine Sweeney in 1898. Their marriage lasted until her death in 1915, and he never remarried.

Despite his enormous business success, Hershey lived less extravagantly than many industrialists of his era. His principal residence, High Point Mansion, overlooked the factory and community.

Hershey died on October 13, 1945, at the age of 88. Although he had transferred the bulk of his fortune to the school trust in 1918, he accumulated additional assets during the remainder of his life. His estate was valued at nearly $900,000 and was placed into another trust benefiting the public schools of Derry Township.

His name remains attached not only to a global chocolate company but also to a town, a medical center, charitable foundations, entertainment businesses, and a school supported by the fortune he relinquished during his lifetime.

Read more: Milton Hershey Net Worth

Rebecca Miller is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, author, and actress who has a combined net worth of $40 million with her husband, actor Daniel Day-Lewis.

Rebecca Miller has written and directed films including "Angela," "Personal Velocity," "The Ballad of Jack and Rose," "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee," "Maggie's Plan," and "She Came to Me."

Miller began her creative career as a painter and sculptor before acting in films and eventually moving behind the camera. Her work frequently focuses on women reinventing themselves, families operating under emotional pressure, and characters caught between independence and obligation.

She won the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize for "Personal Velocity" and later adapted her own novel "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" into a film starring Robin Wright. Miller also directed the HBO documentary "Arthur Miller: Writer," an intimate portrait of her father, playwright Arthur Miller, and the Apple TV documentary series "Mr. Scorsese."

In addition to filmmaking, Miller has published short stories, novels, and illustrated works. Her books include "Personal Velocity," "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee," "Jacob's Folly," and "Total."

Early Life

Rebecca Augusta Miller was born on September 15, 1962, in Roxbury, Connecticut. Her father was Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Arthur Miller, and her mother was Austrian-born Magnum photographer Inge Morath.

Miller grew up in an intellectually and artistically prominent household. Her father's plays included "Death of a Salesman," "The Crucible," and "A View from the Bridge," while her mother traveled internationally photographing political figures, artists, communities, and major historical events.

Miller attended Choate Rosemary Hall and later enrolled at Yale University. She studied painting and literature and graduated in 1985. While at Yale, she shared a room with future author Naomi Wolf.

After college, Miller received a fellowship to study abroad in Germany. She returned to New York and exhibited paintings and sculptures at galleries while beginning to explore film.

Acting Career

Miller studied filmmaking at the New School and made experimental short films. She also worked as an actress during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Her film credits included "The Murder of Mary Phagan," "Regarding Henry," "Consenting Adults," "Wind," and "The Pickle." She appeared opposite actors including Harrison Ford, Kevin Kline, and Peter Riegert.

Miller ultimately decided that acting was not the best outlet for her ideas. She became increasingly interested in writing, directing, and creating stories from the ground up.

"Angela" and "Personal Velocity"

Miller made her feature directing debut with "Angela" in 1995. The drama followed a young girl who develops intense religious beliefs while coping with her mother's mental illness.

"Angela" screened at the Sundance Film Festival and earned Miller the Filmmaker Trophy. She also received the Open Palm Award, now known as the Gotham Breakthrough Director Award.

Miller published the short-story collection "Personal Velocity" in 2001. She adapted three of its stories into the 2002 film "Personal Velocity," starring Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey, and Fairuza Balk.

The film was shot using digital cameras on a budget below $500,000. It won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards.

"The Ballad of Jack and Rose" and "Proof"

Miller wrote and directed "The Ballad of Jack and Rose," released in 2005. Daniel Day-Lewis starred as a terminally ill environmentalist raising his teenage daughter in an isolated former commune. The cast also included Camilla Belle, Catherine Keener, Paul Dano, and Ryan McDonald.

That year, Miller wrote the screenplay for "Proof," based on David Auburn's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Directed by John Madden, the film starred Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Hope Davis.

"The Private Lives of Pippa Lee"

Miller published the novel "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" and adapted it into a 2009 film. Robin Wright played a woman reconsidering her identity after moving with her significantly older husband into a retirement community.

The ensemble cast included Alan Arkin, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Julianne Moore, Blake Lively, Maria Bello, and Monica Bellucci. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Miller followed with the novel "Jacob's Folly," a story involving an 18th-century French Jewish peddler reincarnated as a fly in modern-day Long Island.

"Maggie's Plan" and "She Came to Me"

Miller wrote, directed, and produced the 2015 romantic comedy "Maggie's Plan." Greta Gerwig starred as a woman who decides to have a child on her own before becoming involved with a married professor played by Ethan Hawke. Julianne Moore portrayed his formidable wife.

The film was one of Miller's most accessible comedies and received strong reviews for its performances and unconventional approach to marriage and parenthood.

Her 2023 film "She Came to Me" starred Peter Dinklage as an opera composer suffering from creative block. The cast included Marisa Tomei, Anne Hathaway, Joanna Kulig, and Brian d'Arcy James. Bruce Springsteen wrote and performed the film's closing song, "Addicted to Romance."

Documentaries

Miller directed "Arthur Miller: Writer," which premiered on HBO in 2018. She assembled footage she had recorded of her father over several decades, combining family conversations, archival material, and reflections on his writing.

She later directed "Mr. Scorsese," a five-part documentary series about Martin Scorsese. Miller interviewed Scorsese for approximately 20 hours over five years and spoke with collaborators including Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mick Jagger, Cate Blanchett, Spike Lee, and Thelma Schoonmaker.

Personal Life

Rebecca Miller met Daniel Day-Lewis while he was preparing to star in the film adaptation of Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible." They married in November 1996.

The couple has two sons, Ronan and Cashel. Miller is also the stepmother of Day-Lewis' son Gabriel-Kane from his relationship with Isabelle Adjani.

Miller and Day-Lewis have maintained homes in Ireland and New York. They have generally alternated major projects so that one parent could remain more available to their children.

Read more: Rebecca Miller Net Worth

Joyce Brothers was an American psychologist, television personality, columnist, author, and actress who had a net worth of $8 million at the time of her death. Dr. Joyce Brothers became one of the first mental-health professionals to build a sustained career in mass media, dispensing advice about marriage, parenting, sex, grief, work, and emotional health through television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and books.

Brothers first became famous not as a psychologist but as a game-show contestant. She memorized an enormous amount of boxing history and won the top prize on "The $64,000 Question." She later won another $64,000 on "The $64,000 Challenge," making her one of the most successful contestants of the quiz-show era.

She transformed that exposure into a media career lasting more than five decades. Brothers hosted advice programs, wrote a newspaper column carried by hundreds of publications, contributed to Good Housekeeping for nearly 40 years, published numerous books, and appeared as herself in dozens of films and television shows.

Early Life and Education

Joyce Diane Bauer was born on October 20, 1927, in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents were attorneys who encouraged academic achievement.

Brothers entered Cornell University at the age of 16. She studied home economics and psychology and graduated in 1947. She then attended Columbia University, where she earned graduate degrees in psychology and completed a doctorate.

She married physician Milton Brothers in 1949. During his medical residency, the couple lived on a limited income while raising their young daughter.

"The $64,000 Question"

Seeking a way to improve the family's finances, Brothers applied to appear on the popular television quiz show "The $64,000 Question" in 1955. Contestants could not select a subject related to their professional expertise, so producers assigned her boxing.

Brothers had little initial knowledge of the sport. She studied fight records, biographies, technical terms, and newspaper accounts with extraordinary intensity. Her appearance as a petite psychologist answering increasingly obscure boxing questions made her a national sensation.

She became the first woman to win the show's $64,000 grand prize. Brothers later competed on "The $64,000 Challenge," where former champions faced specialists in their chosen fields. She defeated several boxing experts and won another $64,000.

When investigations later revealed that some contestants on 1950s quiz shows had received answers or assistance, Brothers was cleared of wrongdoing.

Sports Broadcasting

Her boxing knowledge led to work as one of television's earliest female sports commentators. Brothers provided analysis of a championship fight between Sugar Ray Robinson and Carmen Basilio and co-hosted the program "Sports Showcase."

The assignments were unusual at a time when women were largely excluded from sports broadcasting. Brothers used her visibility to move toward the subject she had originally wanted to discuss publicly: psychology.

Television Psychology

Brothers began hosting a local television advice program in New York during the late 1950s. Viewers submitted questions about relationships, family problems, anxiety, sex, and personal behavior. Her combination of professional credentials and accessible language proved well suited to television.

Over the following decades, she hosted programs with titles including "The Dr. Joyce Brothers Show," "Consult Dr. Brothers," "Tell Me, Dr. Brothers," and "Living Easy with Dr. Joyce Brothers." She also hosted syndicated radio shows.

Brothers was not acting as a therapist to individual viewers. Instead, she used psychological research and general principles to explain common emotional problems. Her programs helped make discussions of therapy and mental health more acceptable in American households.

She became a frequent guest on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," appearing more than 90 times. She also appeared on "The Mike Douglas Show," "The Merv Griffin Show," "Good Morning America," "Today," CNN, and numerous other programs.

Columns and Books

Brothers wrote a syndicated advice column that appeared in more than 300 newspapers at its peak. She also contributed a monthly column to Good Housekeeping for nearly four decades.

Her books included "What Every Woman Should Know About Men," "How to Get Whatever You Want Out of Life," "Positive Plus," and "Widowed." She wrote "Widowed" after Milton Brothers died of cancer in 1989, combining psychological guidance with her own experience of grief.

Her publishing, broadcasting, and speaking work made Brothers one of the most commercially successful psychologists in American media.

Acting and Popular Culture

Brothers frequently played a comic version of herself in movies and television programs. Her credits included appearances in "The Naked Gun," "Police Squad!," "The Love Boat," "Frasier," "The Simpsons," "Happy Days," "ALF," "Entourage," and "Analyze That."

These appearances reinforced her public image as the psychologist Americans could instantly recognize. She was often summoned by fictional characters to explain an absurd problem or offer advice before delivering a punchline.

Personal Life and Death

Joyce and Milton Brothers had one daughter, Lisa. They remained married until Milton's death in 1989.

Brothers continued writing and appearing publicly well into her later years. She died in New York City on May 13, 2013, at the age of 85. Her daughter later disclosed that she had suffered from Lewy body dementia.

Brothers is remembered as a founder of media psychology who helped move discussions of mental health from private offices into mainstream American culture.

Read more: Joyce Brothers Net Worth

Hallie Jackson is an American television journalist and news anchor who has a net worth of $3 million. Hallie Jackson is the senior Washington correspondent for NBC News, the anchor of the Sunday edition of "NBC Nightly News," and the host of "Hallie Jackson NOW" on the network's streaming service, NBC News NOW.

Jackson rose through local television stations before becoming a national political correspondent. She joined NBC News in 2014 and gained recognition covering the presidential campaigns of Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. NBC subsequently appointed her chief White House correspondent, placing her among the network's most visible reporters during the first Trump administration.

In addition to reporting from the White House, Capitol Hill, campaign events, and breaking-news scenes, Jackson has anchored programs for MSNBC and NBC News NOW. Her move from a traditional cable-news program to a daily streaming show made her an important part of NBC's effort to build a younger digital-news audience.

Early Life and Education

Hallie Marie Jackson was born on April 29, 1984, in Yardley, Pennsylvania. She attended Pennsbury High School, where she developed an early interest in television news and politics.

Jackson enrolled at Johns Hopkins University and graduated in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in political science. She was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the academic honor society.

Although Jackson initially considered a career outside broadcasting, she pursued television journalism after college and began working in small local-news markets.

Local Television Career

Jackson started her professional career at WBOC-TV, which serves Salisbury, Maryland, and Dover, Delaware. Like many entry-level television reporters, she covered a wide variety of stories while learning to shoot, write, edit, and deliver reports under tight deadlines.

In 2008, Jackson joined WFSB-TV in Connecticut. She worked as a reporter and weekend anchor, covering news throughout Hartford and New Haven.

Her work in Connecticut led to a position with Hearst Television in 2012. Based in Washington, D.C., Jackson reported national political stories for the company's network of local stations. The job gave her experience covering Congress, federal agencies, and presidential politics for audiences across the country.

NBC News

NBC News hired Jackson as a correspondent in 2014. Her reports appeared on "Today," "NBC Nightly News," "Meet the Press," MSNBC, and NBC's digital platforms.

During the 2016 presidential election cycle, Jackson was assigned to cover Senator Ted Cruz's Republican primary campaign. The position required nearly constant travel, live reporting, and rapid analysis of one of the most unpredictable presidential races in modern American history.

Jackson later covered Donald Trump's campaign and transition. Her energetic reporting style, fast-paced delivery, and willingness to ask direct questions made her a regular presence across NBC's political coverage.

White House Correspondent and MSNBC Anchor

NBC promoted Jackson to chief White House correspondent in 2017. She covered the Trump administration's policy decisions, personnel changes, investigations, foreign travel, and daily conflicts with the news media.

Jackson frequently questioned Trump and members of his administration during White House press conferences. Her reporting also took her around the world for presidential summits and international events.

At the same time, she became a regular MSNBC anchor. She initially hosted a morning edition of "MSNBC Live" and later moved to an afternoon time slot. The program combined breaking news, political interviews, and correspondent reports.

Jackson eventually became NBC News' senior Washington correspondent, broadening her responsibilities beyond the White House to include elections, Congress, national policy, and major political investigations.

"Hallie Jackson NOW"

In 2021, Jackson began hosting "Hallie Jackson NOW" on NBC News NOW. The program was designed specifically for streaming rather than simply reproducing a traditional cable or broadcast newscast.

The show used a conversational format, digital graphics, original reporting, and longer explanatory segments. Jackson interviewed lawmakers, government officials, newsmakers, and NBC correspondents while covering both major national stories and issues receiving less attention on conventional evening broadcasts.

NBC expanded the program in 2023 as the company increased its investment in streaming news. Jackson gave up her regular MSNBC hour to concentrate on the longer NBC News NOW broadcast.

"NBC Nightly News"

Jackson became anchor of the Sunday edition of "NBC Nightly News" in 2024, succeeding Kate Snow. The appointment gave her responsibility for one of NBC's flagship broadcasts while allowing her to continue hosting "Hallie Jackson NOW" and serving as senior Washington correspondent.

She has also substituted on the weekday edition of "NBC Nightly News" and on programs including "Today," "Weekend Today," and "Sunday Today."

Jackson has covered several presidential elections, Supreme Court decisions, mass shootings, international conflicts, the COVID-19 pandemic, and major breaking-news events. Her ability to work across broadcast television, cable news, and streaming has made her one of NBC's most versatile anchors.

Personal Life

Hallie Jackson is married to NBC News producer and reporter Frank Thorp, who has spent much of his career covering Congress. The couple welcomed a daughter named Monroe in March 2020.

Jackson and Thorp have spoken about balancing two demanding journalism careers with parenthood. They live in the Washington, D.C., area.

Read more: Hallie Jackson Net Worth