Vanna White Net Worth

Vanna White’s Net Worth and Salary: A Detailed Look

Vanna White, the iconic letter-turner on the beloved game show “Wheel of Fortune,” has become a household name over her decades-long career. But beyond her charming presence on television, lies a fascinating financial story. This article dives deep into Vanna White’s net worth, her salary from the show, her other significant income streams, and the events that have shaped her financial journey.

What is Vanna White’s Net Worth and Salary?

Vanna White’s net worth is estimated to be $85 million. Her primary sources of income include her “Wheel of Fortune” salary and substantial earnings from licensing her image to casino slot machines. Furthermore, she has income from hosting the “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” and her various real estate investments. While she is known for her work on “Wheel of Fortune,” it might surprise some to know that her salary from the show isn’t even her largest annual income.

Her “Wheel of Fortune” salary underwent significant negotiation recently. Before the 2023 contract, her salary remained static for eighteen years at $3 million annually. When her co-host, Pat Sajak, announced his retirement in June 2023 and Ryan Seacrest was named as his replacement, White initiated contract negotiations. As a result of negotiations, Vanna’s contract was raised to $10 million per year. This figure takes into account earnings from the show itself and her work on ABC’s “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.”

Interestingly, Vanna White’s net worth actually exceeds that of her co-host, Pat Sajak, whose net worth is $75 million. This is partially due to her investments in real estate made with her former husband, George Santo Pietro. It’s also in part due to her lucrative licensing deal with casino slot machines, which generates more annual income than her “Wheel of Fortune” salary.

Pat Sajak announced his retirement from “Wheel of Fortune” in June 2023, and Ryan Seacrest took over as the host. This transition led to a renegotiation of Vanna White’s contract, solidifying her position on the show through the 2025-2026 season.

Vanna White Salary

As mentioned, Vanna White’s “Wheel of Fortune” salary is now $10 million per year. For eighteen years, between 2005 and 2023, she earned a salary of $3 million. During contract negotiations following Pat Sajak’s retirement, Vanna initially sought a salary increase to align more closely with Sajak’s earnings. A report indicated that her legal team requested a salary increase to at least 50% of Pat Sajak’s $15 million salary, bringing her salary to $7.5 million annually. However, some sources dispute that claim. Regardless, Vanna was successful in achieving a substantial increase in her salary.

In addition to the “Wheel of Fortune” salary, Vanna also hosts “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune,” for which she signed a new contract in June 2023 that came with a significant pay increase. This further contributes to her impressive annual income.

On September 19, 2023, Vanna signed a two-year extension to stay with “Wheel of Fortune,” securing her position through the 2025-2026 season. This new deal provided a substantial salary increase and further solidified her place on the show.

Vanna White’s Salary Per Episode: Breaking Down the Numbers

Vanna White’s salary, regardless of the exact figures, reflects a very good gig. Here’s a breakdown of the show’s taping schedule:

• “Wheel of Fortune” tapes four days a month.
• Each taping day consists of six shows.
• Taping days are typically two Thursdays and two Fridays per month.
• Both Vanna and Pat arrive at the studio around 8:30 AM and begin shooting at noon.
• One audience watches three shows, followed by a lunch break.
• A second audience then watches the remaining three shows.

This means Vanna White works 48 days per year for her work on “Wheel of Fortune.” This allows her to earn $10 million annually. Breaking it down, she earns approximately $208,333 per workday. This is an objectively excellent compensation for the work performed.

Casino Licensing Earnings: A Major Revenue Stream

While her “Wheel of Fortune” salary is impressive, it is not Vanna White’s primary source of income. She earns more from licensing her image to casino slot machines. “Wheel of Fortune” was the first entertainment property to be licensed for use on slot machines. The first “Wheel of Fortune” branded slot machines were introduced in Las Vegas casinos in 1996. Their immediate success led to global licensing agreements, making them the highest revenue-generating slot machines in many casinos. Currently, there are approximately 20,000 “Wheel of Fortune” slot machines in casinos around the world, generating over $2 billion in gross revenue annually. In Las Vegas alone, these machines generate over $1 billion per year.

Vanna White and Pat Sajak receive at least $10 million per year from these licensing agreements. This income is derived from a base royalty payment as well as bonuses and appearance fees.

Total Annual Income: The Full Picture

When combining her earnings from “Wheel of Fortune,” “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” and casino licensing, Vanna White’s annual income easily exceeds $15 million. The details show a diversified income strategy that extends far beyond her role as the letter-turner on a popular game show. She maximizes her financial standing through multiple streams of income.

(David Becker/Getty Images)

Early Life and Career Beginnings

Vanna Marie Rosich was born on February 18, 1957, in Conway, South Carolina. Her parents were Joan and Miguel Angel Rosich. Her father was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and her mother was born in Syracuse, New York. Her parents divorced when she was very young, and her father abandoned the family. Her mother remarried Herbert White, Jr., and Vanna took his last name. Herbert White was a real estate agent and broker in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

She grew up in North Myrtle Beach and graduated from North Myrtle Beach High School. She attended the Atlanta School of Fashion and Design. She also competed in the 1978 Miss Georgia USA pageant, where she placed fourth runner-up.

When she left North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to pursue her dream of becoming a star, she had only $1,000. While she was in college in Atlanta and in the early days in Los Angeles, she worked as a waitress and as a model.

In 1979, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. In 1980, Vanna was a contestant on “The Price is Right.”

She also appeared in the movie “Gypsy Angels” in 1980. However, the film was not released until 1990.

In 1981, she had minor roles in the films “Looker” and “Graduation Day.”

In 1982, she posed for a series of lingerie photos for a photographer because she needed money and was too embarrassed to ask her father for help with rent. These photos were published in Playboy in 1987. She later sued both Playboy and Hugh Hefner over the photos.

Playboy Lawsuit

In 1987, Vanna White’s photos appeared in Playboy Magazine. The photos were taken in 1982, months before she landed the “Wheel” gig by a photographer. Five years later, the photographer sold the photos to Hugh Hefner and Playboy.

When she found out about the plans for the photos, she contacted Hefner, whom she considered a friend. However, she could not convince him not to publish them.

After the photos were published, Vanna filed a $5.2 million lawsuit against Playboy. She claimed that the photos were never intended for mass publication and that their publication would “tarnish her image as a modest, wholesome, attractive and innocent all-American girl.”
She also sued Hugh Hefner personally. Playboy claimed that Vanna was aware of the plan to publish the photos and wanted them to be released around the same time as her autobiography. The lawsuit was eventually dropped.

Decades later, Vanna said, “I did something I shouldn’t have done. When I first moved to Hollywood, I was too embarrassed to ask my dad for rent money. I was young and I wanted to do it on my own. So, I did these lingerie shots and from the moment I said I would do them, I thought, ‘I shouldn’t be doing this, but I’m not going to ask my dad for money, so I’m just going to do it!'”

Wheel of Fortune

Merv Griffin created the game show “Wheel of Fortune” in the mid-1970s while on a family road trip. The game debuted on January 6, 1975. The original host was Chuck Woolery, who was replaced in 1981 by Pat Sajak. Sajak was chosen to be the new host after Woolery asked for a large pay increase that Merv Griffin refused. The original hostess was Susan Stafford.

After Stafford left the show in October 1982, an audition for her replacement was held. Over 200 models auditioned for the job. Vanna White ultimately won the role over Playboy centerfold Vicki McCarthy.

Vanna White became the show’s regular hostess on December 13, 1982. She has remained the primary hostess of the show ever since.

During her time on “Wheel of Fortune,” White has worn more than 6,700 dresses with no repeats. She doesn’t keep the dresses. They are usually borrowed from designers and returned after the show. Additionally, she was presented with a Guinness World Record on May 24, 2013, for being the “most frequent clapper.” She clapped at least 3,480,864 times during the show’s first 30 seasons as of January 31, 2013.

White has made guest appearances on various television shows, including “Just Shoot Me,” “Married… with Children,” “The King of Queens,” and “The A-Team.”

Sony Lawsuit

In 1993, Vanna White sued the Samsung Electronics corporation over a commercial. The company aired a commercial that featured a smiling robot turning letters on a game show. White asserted that Samsung was using her likeness without permission. She won the lawsuit after several appeals and was awarded $403,000 in damages.

(Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images)

Personal Life

In the 1980s, Vanna dated “Playgirl” centerfold and Chippendales-dancer-turned-actor John Gibson. They got engaged in the 80s. Tragically, Gibson died in a plane crash in 1986 before they married.

In the summer of 1980, she returned to South Carolina to be with her mother while she battled ovarian cancer. Her mother died from the disease.

Vanna married George Santo Pietro in December 1990. They have two children: Nicholas, born in 1994, and Giovanna, born in 1997. They divorced in November 2002. From 2004 until 2006, White was engaged to Southern California businessman Michael Kaye, but they never married. Since 2012, she has been dating contractor John Donaldson.

Vanna’s grandmother taught her how to crochet when she was five. She continues this hobby today. After discussing her love of crocheting on the “Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,” she was contacted by the yarn manufacturer Lion Brand Yarns. The company contracted with her to create her own line of yarns called Vanna’s Choice.

White is a patron of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. To date, she has donated $1.8 million to St. Jude’s. She intends to continue her philanthropic work after she retires from “Wheel of Fortune.”

Real Estate

At one point, George Santo Pietro and Vanna lived in a gated community called The Mulholland Estates. They lived next door to Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty. They eventually built a 15,000-square-foot spec house in the gated community of Beverly Park. The couple lived in the home until their divorce in 2002. After their divorce, they both vacated the property, and for several years, they rented it for $175,000 per month. In 2017 they listed the house for sale for $47.5 million. They also owned another house nearby. They eventually sold the two properties separately. The second lot sold for $22 million. The primary lot that featured Vanna’s mansion sold in June 2020 for $19.3 million.

White uses her income to invest in apartment buildings, and she likes flipping houses.

Her primary residence has been a 10,000 square-foot mansion in the hills above Beverly Hills, which she purchased in the early 2000s for $3.4 million. Today, this home is likely worth more than $10 million.

In 2013, Vanna purchased a home in Sherman Oaks, California, for $1.125 million. She listed this home for rent in May 2020 for $20,000 per month.