Number
Michael Buffer made $400M by trademarking 'Let's get ready to rumble'
Shaan explains that boxing announcer Michael Buffer has earned $400M over his career, most of it by trademarking his catchphrase 'Let's get ready to rumble' and licensing it to video games, movies and shows.
$400M
Career earnings · USD
“So Michael Buffer has made $400 million, uh, in his career doing what he's doing. He's made most of that off of the, the fact that he has created a personal monopoly. He is synonymous with a big boxing match, and his phrase, "Let's get ready to rumble," is a trademarked phrase.”
Story
The long-lost brother who told Michael Buffer to trademark his catchphrase
Bruce Buffer discovered through his dad that boxing announcer Michael Buffer was his half-brother, became his manager, and convinced him to trademark 'Let's get ready to rumble' and license merchandise. Bruce later became the UFC announcer earning $50K-$100K a fight.
“So Bruce then goes to Michael and he says, Michael, you're doing great, but you have no, like, business manager. I'll be your manager. And he's like, okay, what does that mean? He goes, dude, you need to trademark this phrase. This is your catchphrase. So he applies for the trademark, he gets it, and then he basically says, takes that trademark and he starts licensing out merchandise, you know, hats, shirts, video games, everything.”
Number
Judge Judy turned a $113K judge salary into $47M a year
Shaan's headline example of a personal monopoly: Judge Judy was a judge making $113K/year, but by becoming the irreplaceable face of her own show she earned $47M a year (~$900K per filming day), and CBS later bought her back catalog for $100M.
$47M
Annual earnings · USD/year
“She was making $47 million a year for, I don't know, 50, I think, days of filming. So she was making about $900,000 a day filming the show for Judge Judy, which is— she was a judge before that making $113,000 a year.”