George Clooney’s Search for a Hangover-Less Tequila Has Made Him $239 Million and Counting
George Clooney is a man of many talents. He is an award-winning actor, director, producer, activist, and businessman.
Known for many years as a confirmed bachelor, Clooney has found domestic bliss with his high-powered human rights attorney wife and two small children. He has also taken a step back from the film business in order to concentrate on his activism efforts and occasional TV projects.
In recent years, Clooney has found his greatest success with a somewhat unexpected business, one that has ultimately made him filthy rich.
George Clooney became famous on ‘ER’
Clooney was born in Kentucky in 1961. In high school, Clooney had a wide variety of interests, and even briefly considered pursuing professional sports — but the world of entertainment called to him instead.
In the late seventies, Clooney was able to break into television, acting in TV shows such as The Facts of Life and Roseanne. In 1994, Clooney got his big break when he started appearing on the famed medical drama ER.
He went on to work on the show for years, until he left in 1999. He would ultimately return to the series that made him a star through several cameo appearances.
After ER, Clooney concentrated on his film career. He enjoyed a lot of success in many genres, appearing in movies like Batman & Robin, The Perfect Storm, Syriana, The Good German, and The Descendants. Clooney also began branching out to work on many different aspects of the film business, directing, producing, and writing various projects that he was involved with.
What is George Clooney’s net worth?
Clooney has appeared in some big-budget films over the years and has been a very successful actor for several decades. However, it wasn’t until the past several years that Clooney was elevated to the status of one of Hollywood’s wealthiest leading men. He has an estimated net worth of $500 million these days. What’s more impressive, Clooney has only appeared in a small handful of film projects.
In fact, Clooney has made the majority of his money from selling alcohol. In 2013, Clooney, along with his good friends Rande Gerber (Cindy Crawford’s wealthy husband) and Mike Meldman, set out in search of the perfect tequila, one that they didn’t have to mix and that they could sip on “all day” and not experience a hangover the next morning.
After tasting hundreds of samples, the friends, who are also next-door neighbors, chose a tequila that fit their specific criteria, and Casamigos was born.
George Clooney’s wildly successful tequila company
The Casamigos brand was launched with several flavor varieties, from mezcal to anejo, and enjoyed success right out of the gate. As Gerber and Clooney later admitted, their reason for founding the brand was never about money, but they ended up raking in some serious coins from their tequila company.
In 2017, the friends sold Casamigos to the beverage brand Diageo for reportedly up to one billion dollars.
Out of that billion-dollar payday, Clooney’s share clocked in at around $239 million, effectively making him Hollywood’s highest-paid actor in 2018. As Clooney admitted in an email shortly after the deal was finalized: “If you asked us four years ago if we had a billion-dollar company, I don’t think we would have said yes. This reflects Diageo’s belief in our company and our belief in Diageo. But we’re not going anywhere. We’ll still be very much a part of Casamigos.”
Clearly, Clooney’s belief in a solid tequila paid off in a big way, and even if he never dips his toes in the alcohol business again, he will still be very well set up for the future.
