He’s the man so influential he’s been dubbed “President Bannon.” But Trump’s chief White House strategist has another little known gig on the side—as an investor in iconic sitcom “Seinfeld” that sees him cash in each time the famous show is aired.
The former investment banker for Goldman Sachs wound up with his stake in the show in the early 1990s through his boutique investment firm, Bannon and Co., that specialized in media.
He was working on a deal for Ted Turner of CNN, which involved buying a stake in Castle Rock Entertainment, which produced Seinfeld, when Turner found himself short of cash at closing time, Bannon told Bloomberg in 2015.
“Westinghouse just wanted out. We told them, ‘You ought to take this deal. It’s a great deal.’ And they go, ‘If this is such a great deal, why don’t you defer some of your cash fee and keep an ownership stake in a package of TV rights?’” Bannon told Bloomberg in an interview.
His company accepted a stake in five shows in lieu of its fee, including the little-known Seinfeld.
It’s unknown what Bannon has made from the deal, but it’s estimated the show has raked in $4.06 billion since it entered syndication.
“We calculated what it would get us if it made it to syndication,” Bannon said. “We were wrong by a factor of five.”
The connection has been particularly “galling” for one of the writers on the show, Peter Mehlman, who told The Guardian he was aghast that a “raging anti-Semite” was making money off a show based on Jewish humor.
Bannon has been accused of being anti-Semitic by his ex-wife in their divorce proceedings, which he denies.
“That’s pretty galling,” Mehlman said. “He made a ton of money. It was a smart decision.”
The investment also paved the way for Bannon to enter Hollywood where he served as an executive producer. He then entered politics after Sept. 11 and paired with Andrew Breitbart to turn his news website into the home of the alt-right in America.
“One of the things I admired about him was that the dirtiest word for him was ‘punditry,’ ” Bannon told Bloomberg.
“Our vision — Andrew’s vision — was always to build a global, center-right, populist, anti-establishment news site.”
After Brietbart died in 2012 of a heart attack, Bannon took over as executive chairman of the organization, which ensured his meteoric rise to the heart of the Trump administration.
His high-profile role, where he works alongside Republican Reince Priebus, ensures he has the president’s ear on issues like national security and immigration.
Time Magazine recently branded him “the great manipulator” for his role in crafting the “American carnage” inauguration speech and his seat on the National Security Committee.
His influence has also seen him dubbed “President Bannon” on Twitter, prompting a backlash from President Trump on Monday who wrote: “I call my own shots, largely based on an accumulation of data, and everyone knows it. Some FAKE NEWS media, in order to marginalize, lies!”
This article originally appeared on News.com.au.
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