How Much Money Does Alex Jones Make?

[Mick West]

Alex Jones is a radio and internet personality who makes a living from spreading and promoting conspiracy theories, and from making endless apocalyptic predictions that never actually happen. But how much money does he make from doing this?

First of all, there's nothing intrinsically wrong or suspicious about making money. Neil deGrasse Tyson makes money, that does not mean that everything he says about astrophysics is tainted. The problem arises when there is a conflict of interests. When your making money depends upon you promoting a particular message of fear (the world as we know it is ending), and then encouraging people to buy particular products (gold, water filters, detox juice, ammo, survivalist gear and books) based on the validity of message.

So the question is: how much money is he making from this?

Here are some estimates and discussion from around the net:

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/alex-jones-net-worth/

Alex Jones is an American talk radio host and filmmaker who has a net worth of $5 Million. Alex Jones is best known for being the host of a nationally syndicated radio talk show. His show is syndicated by the Genesis Communications Network to more than 150 radio stations around the US. In addition to his radio work, Alex Jones runs the websites PrisonPlanet.com and infowars.com. He also has a youtube channel for InfoWars that has generated more than 250 million video views.

That sounds like a rough estimate, and does not really indicate income, also probably based on older data.

Salon.com has a much more detailed analysis:
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/02/alex_jones_conspiracy_inc/

On the very low end, we'd estimate a little over $1 million for Web, $215,000 for radio, and $1.5 million for paid subscribers for a not-too-shabby $2.7 million a year. On the high end, if we assume he pulls in the maximum $6 million on Web, another $450,000 on the radio (if his ad rates are at the top of their possible window), and he has 2.5 percent of his website visitors paying to subscribe, then we're talking about more than $10 million a year.

Forbes throws out some rough numbers:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/01/09/who-is-alex-jones-anyway-five-fun-factoids/

1. For a guy who's pretty out there, he's got some scale. His daily four-hour show airs on more than 60 AM and FM radio stations, according to Infowars.com, one of his two websites. It's syndicated by Genesis Communications, a radio network founded in 1998 by Midas Resources, a vendor of gold and silver coins. The show draws 2 million listeners per week, according to a 2010 Texas Monthly profile.

Infowars.com and Prisonplanet.tv, his other site, attract a monthly unique audience of 4 million. Jones also has a YouTube channel with 350,000 subscribers, which has received more than 260 million views. He's produced around 25 documentaries, depending how you count them, including "Loose Change," the most famous of the films alleging that the Sept. 11 attacks were an inside job by the U.S. government.

Altogether, Jones was taking in revenues of about $1.5 million per year in 2010, enough to support a staff of 15 and enable him to buy an $800,000 house and 7,600 square foot studio.

$1.5 million per year is quite a bit, it's less than Salon.com suggests as a low end, but remember that's in 2010, and he's had a great surge in publicity recently.

For a staff of 15, upper end that's an average of $50,000 each wages and overhead (likely far less), $750,000, so still plenty of room for profit. Given the nature of the internet he can reach ten times as many people with no more staff, and a relatively cheap upgrade in server capacity, so his recent surge in popularity between 2010 and 2013 is pretty much pure profit from the products his stories promote.

 

[David Fraser]

I heard David Icke can make 200 grand a gig. He has managed 6,000 folk at Wembley Arena before now paying 30 quid a pop. You are in the wrong business Mick ;-)

 

[BombDr]

Mick, I know sarcasm is not approved of here, but his most verciferous support say he is a patriot...

 

[Mick West]

And, full disclosure, the amount of money I make from debunking is about -$200 per year (that's negative $200). The cost of the shared server. I have never been paid for anything I do. I have no advertising on metabunk.org or contrailscience.com. I've never been paid for a TV appearance or anything else related to debunking. I make no profit in any way, directly or indirectly. It's just a pastime.

I might write a debunking book in the future, which might cover my accumulated server costs. But that's it.

 

[George B]

And, full disclosure, the amount of money I make from debunking is about -$200 per year (that's negative $200). The cost of the shared server. I have never been paid for anything I do. I have no advertising on metabunk.org or contrailscience.com. I've never been paid for a TV appearance or anything else related to debunking. I make no profit in any way, directly or indirectly. It's just a pastime.

I might write a debunking book in the future, which might cover my accumulated server costs. But that's it.

Wow!!! Mick . . . thought this would cost you much more than $200.00 . . . I am sure it does if you didn't donate you time . . .

 

[Mick West]

Wow!!! Mick . . . thought this would cost you much more than $200.00 . . . I am sure it does if you didn't donate you time . . .

Yeah, the only costs are:

A) Domain name registration, $10 per year.
B) Server costs, which I'm just estimating as a fraction as the Linode VPS server is one that I use for multiple other things.

There was an initial expense for the forum software two years ago, I think it was $100.

 

[Lost World]

There's more money in peddling conspiracy theories than de-bunking them.

It's psychology 1.0. It's quite simply more interesting and alluring to think that there is some master plan that is being hidden from us. Once you have convinced yourself that you have 'woken up' and can see all this you feel special, like you have an additional sense that all the other people, who sit in front of TV talent shows getting fat, don't share. it's no fun when some smartass comes along with a load of scientific data and proves your ideas to be bunk. No de-bunker is ever going to pack out Wembley Arena as David Icke does. No de-bunking radio host will ever enjoy the vast international listener base that Alex Jones does. People who don't believe in conspiracy theories don't need to attend lectures to have this affirmed. Those who do believe in them need those beliefs 'validated' by an 'expert'

It's as though they need to tell themselves "I knew I was right"

With regard to Alex Jones earnings, much of it comes from the unrelenting advertisments for water filters, survivial seed banks, storable foods, gold etc etc that punctuate his broadcasts at a rate of about 15 - 20 minutes per hour. I often listen on Youtube. I find him entertaining and some of his guests very interesting, especially the economists he has on. He's not the demon that idiot Rachel Maddow portrays him as. I don't think he is a conman. He believes in what he says, even though I would put around 60% of it down as bunk or at best exageration. He is often misrepresented in the mainstream. Maddow attacked him recently for suggesting that the Oklahoma tornado was caused by some government weather weapon. I actually heard that particular broadcast and Jones didn't say anything of the kind. One of his callers suggested it, and Jones actually said there was no evidence to support the listerners claim.

 

[Critical Thinker]

I actually heard that particular broadcast and Jones didn't say anything of the kind. One of his callers suggested it, and Jones actually said there was no evidence to support the listerners claim.

I just watched the video of Jones, he does not say what you claim he said: "there was no evidence to support the listerners claim".

http://youtu.be/0hp-2zUXa_U


Here is the transcript:

"And tornadoes are way down. Of course, they
lie and say they are way up, to try to get carbon taxes. But I don't know
if this was a weather weapon or not, but they can -- with the right weather
conditions, they can create and steer groups of tornadoes.

If people 50 miles out of storm systems see aircraft in and around the
clouds spraying and doing things, if you saw that, you better bet your
bottom dollar they did this. But who knows if they did. You know, that's
the thing."

He's not the demon that idiot Rachel Maddow portrays him as

Additionally you call Rachel Maddow an 'idiot', that was an ad hominem attack on her because she is critical of Alex Jones. The fact is that she had been a recipient of a Rhodes Scholarship...

which "is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as Time, Yale University Press, The McGill Reporter, and Associated Press."




which is awarded based on these criteria:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes_Scholarship

Rhodes' legacy specified four standards by which applicants were to be judged:

Literary and scholastic attainments;
Energy to use one's talents to the fullest, as exemplified by fondness for and success in sports;
Truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and fellowship;
Moral force of character and instincts to lead, and to take an interest in one's fellow beings.

 

[Rroval]

Yet I hear from conspiracy believers that he's "Risking his Life"....hmmhmm.

 

[BombDr]

Yet I hear from conspiracy believers that he's "Risking his Life"....hmmhmm.

I heard that too, and the only reason the Illuminati/Bilderbergers/British Royal Family/Mossad/NWO/Reptilians/CIA/Freemasons or Satan have not killed his so far is because 'he is too famous'.

I have alternatively heard that he is really working for the above as a secret Shill to spread disinformation.

Would i violate the politeness policy to dismiss him as a kook?

You get mad at your neighbor if they park in your parking spot; you get mad at your neighbor's dog if it craps in your yard; but you don't get mad when a bunch of mad dog killers are building FEMA camp control grids, brainwashing police, banning protest, having door-to-door gun confiscations?

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None of which has happened.

The school's just teaching you how to not think, suck prozac and drink fluoride.

Read more at http://www.woopidoo.com/business_quotes/authors/alex-jones/index.htm#lOb3G4P9r65f0zgc.99 ​

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Not true

THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO KILL YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!

HHmmmm....

If you disagree with me, it is merely because you have consumed fluoride. Everybody that disagrees with me is a brainwashed sheeple.

Yes, the I am right, because I am right argument.

Devil worshiping pedophiles basically run the New World Order. They love death and they love killing babies.

Of course they do...

I'm like a chimpanzee, in a tree, jumping up and down, warning other chimpanzees when I see a big cat coming through the woods… I'm the weirdo? Because I'm sitting in a tree going OOH OOH OOH AAH AAH AAH

I would agree, up to the first comma....

 

[Rroval]

I heard that too, and the only reason the Illuminati/Bilderbergers/British Royal Family/Mossad/NWO/Reptilians/CIA/Freemasons or Satan have not killed his so far is because 'he is too famous'.

I have alternatively heard that he is really working for the above as a secret Shill to spread disinformation.

Would i violate the politeness policy to dismiss him as a kook?

Or rather they don't exist....

None of which has happened.



Not true



HHmmmm....



Yes, the I am right, because I am right argument.



Of course they do...



I would agree, up to the first comma....

Also ever noticed that these conspiracy theories reflect landowner fears of "They're going to come and take our property/guns/land/life,etc Away!"? Which basically sums up everything.

Also when conspiracy theorists refer to themselves as Chimpanzees not only that's when we seriously start to question their mental facilities and they're also just showing their true colors and how unpredictably dangerous they really are (i.e. look up Travis the Chimp who ripped a woman's face off).

 

[Sticky Fingers]

I heard that too, and the only reason the Illuminati/Bilderbergers/British Royal Family/Mossad/NWO/Reptilians/CIA/Freemasons or Satan have not killed his so far is because 'he is too famous'.

I have also heard the opposite said about people on occasion. "The only reason the [insert group here] hasn't taken him out yet
is because it isn't worth the risk. He's not famous enough. They only go after the big guys."

I have alternatively heard that he is really working for the above as a secret Shill to spread disinformation.

I've seen the same said as well and usually it is by hardcore anti-semites who think he doesn't come down hard enough on Israel.

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[Oxymoron]

So no one knows how much money Alex earns fro his work but we will subvert the thread into a character assassination anyway.

Also ever noticed that these conspiracy theories reflect landowner fears of "They're going to come and take our property/guns/land/life,etc Away!"? Which basically sums up everything.

And these are not things to be concerned about?

People haven't had their property taken away?

America is not a Military Industrial Complex?

Politicians (of both parties), are not controlled by mega corporations?

The police are not a para military organisation who are there to serve big business and suppress dissent?

Peaceful protesters are not subjected to beatings, pepper sprays and tazers etc.

90% of the wealth is not held by 1% of the population? (an estimate)

You talk about delusion and ignore the reality.

Why is that?

 

[David Fraser]

So no one knows how much money Alex earns fro his work but we will subvert the thread into a character assassination anyway.


You talk about delusion and ignore the reality.

Why is that?

Oxy. Can I ask, do you think Alex Jones does what he does purely out of a sense of altruism?

http://www.therichest.org/celebnetworth/celeb/radio-personality/alex-jones-net-worth/

 

[Oxymoron]

Oxy. Can I ask, do you think Alex Jones does what he does purely out of a sense of altruism?

http://www.therichest.org/celebnetworth/celeb/radio-personality/alex-jones-net-worth/

Jones sees himself as a libertarian, and rejects being described as a right-winger

I am sure he believes in what he does.

Which do you think the more likely:

He believes passionately in what he does and has done from the beginning; even when it cost him money?

Or the alternative :

He decided he could earn money by editorialising under reported stories about government and big corporation wrongdoings and preying on peoples baseless fears, (because none of the stuff I mentioned above is true), by making stuff up and just to con the 'dumb' people?

When evaluating this 'conundrum', please take into account that Alex is and always was, well connected socially financially and could very likely have secured much more money by working in the mainstream. It is reported, he comes from a wealthy family and he also married into a wealthy family. What he earns from running his own business, employing around 15 people and speaking out against oppression and war and criminality on a huge scale is irrelevant.

Take for example the very many whistleblowers who have declined huge bribes to keep quiet and these are the type of people who appear on Alex's shows.

You have made some very informative posts on this site Dave and I do appreciate yours and others insight/perspective... but I do suggest you take a look from an alternate viewpoint as well. It is relatively easy to big up on things that are wrong in his reporting... just don't ignore the far far greater content which is right.

 

[J. Michael]

Not to bump an old thread or anything....
But, I actually know some guys on the ins with infowars (he has actually done freelance work for them, once programmed their video CDN servers)
As of when this was originally made Jones' company previously called Freedom Partners, not sure the name since it restructured. But the income was around 2 million a year. Jones' was listed as working for a dollar a year. And the company just paid his monthly rent, bills, 2 vacations a year to Galveston and eating tab. And all employees made 35,000 a year as contractors (being 1099). But they had a $600,000 server bill in 2010, and just under a million dollar server bill in 2012. That's why they started hosting videos on YouTube (after boycotting YT for years) they cut nearly a hundred grand a year by not self hosting the short video, and only hosting the member-area videos.
As of 2012 Jones didn't have a dollar to his name. But then he had the company buy him a $800,000 ranch (bought it at auction for a quarter the price) and he suddenly accumulate a ton of weapons and pickup trucks. But since he is now going through the divorce, he has to give his wife money, which is probably why they restructured the company (since she was previously listed as Vice President) and now he is living in an apartment while his wife and kids live in the house and he visits every Saturday.

Since last year my friend said they restructured the company, now it makes about 5-7 million a year. And all 22 employees and Jones all make $55,000 a year. The server bills are outrageous, they get monthly bills of 60 to over 80 grand.

Just thought I'd through that out there since this is still on the first page of Google 3yrs later.
And I have an in on this subject.

 

[Gridlock]

I'm going to guess part of that eye-watering server bill comes from hosting it from a former ICBM silo or whatever is popular with the "ultra-hardened" server room crowd at the moment.

Alternatively someone is running a middleman setup via a shell company in order to extract income tax-efficiently.

 

[Mick West]

This is an old thread that does not really conform to the posting guidelines, and is just attracting general criticism of Jones. So I'm going to close it.