Glenn Beck when he parted ways with Fox News last year and moved the seat of his forum for rational political discourse from New York to Irving. According to Forbes, Beck managed to pull in $80 million without the imprimatur of cable's oh-so-fair-and-balanced news network. That puts him at No. 11 on the magazine's list of highest-paid celebrities, sandwiched between Simon Cowell and Elton John, which seems like it'd be uncomfortable for him.
So how did Beck manage to rake in so much cash? He's got a media empire with his own book imprint through Simon & Shuster, a "news" website, a radio show, and GBTV, his Internet-only TV network, not to mention legions of like-minded fans.
To be clear, Beck is not Oprah. She topped the Forbes list with $165 million despite losing nearly half her previous year's income. But there was never really any question of that, was there?