Friends, the popular sitcom, may have ended in 2004 but it still adds millions to the net worth of the star-studded cast. USA Today reports that the iconic show still makes a staggering $1 billion each year for Warner Bros. and an estimated $20 million annual paycheck each for Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer, who each make 2% from syndication income.
A post shared by Friends (@friends)
Marketplace reports that the sitcom was earlier titled Insomnia Cafe which was later changed to Six of One. The makers then named it Friends Like Us and eventually the show was christened Friends. The star cast reportedly took a paycheck of $22,500 per episode in the first season. Their base salary grew over the seasons as the show continued to become popular among the masses.
The show premiered on September 22, 1994, and attracted an estimated 22 million viewers. However, it showcased a slight slump in viewership during seasons five to seven. The show later made a lucrative deal with giant streaming platform Netflix in 2019 for a whopping $80-$100 million which added more millions to the makers' profit.
A post shared by Friends (@friends)
Perry credited his co-star Schwimmer for negotiating a lucrative salary deal for the entire main cast, "It was a decision that proved to be extremely lucrative down the line."
According to Insider, Matthew Perry revealed in his memoir titled Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing that his costar David Schwimmer suggested the main cast collectively renegotiate their contracts to get equal pay. Recalling the incident, Perry wrote, "Schwimmer showed up one day at my dressing room and said - 'When we renegotiate our contracts, we should do it as a team. We should all get paid the same amount.' He was by far the one in the best position to negotiate, I could not believe what he was saying. Needless to say, I was thrilled. I was perfectly happy to take advantage of his generosity of spirit."
Perry further revealed that by season eight, the talented main cast was collectively making $1 million each per episode. By the 10th and final season, the stars were reportedly earning a whopping $1,100,040 per episode, and "were asking to do fewer episodes". Explaining further, he said, "His decision served to make us take care of each other through what turned out to be a myriad of stressful network negotiations, and it gave us a tremendous amount of power."
According to Variety, the Friends cast earned approximately $2.5 million each when they 'reunited' for an unscripted version of the hit sitcom for HBO Max in 2021. Perry expressed his gratitude towards Schwimmer in the last chapter of his memoir saying he was instrumental in "making us stick together when he could have gone it alone and profited more than all the rest, and deciding we should be a team and getting us a million bucks a week."