Here's How Much Jamie Oliver Is Really Worth

He's only 44 years old, but it feels like British chef Jamie Oliver has been on the scene forever. His television series The Naked Chef first aired in 1999 and he parlayed the show's success into a cookbook which was a bestseller in the United Kingdom (via Vice). Worldwide, the cookbook sold more than 1.2 million copies by December of that next year. 

Oliver's cooking style — simple and without fancy ingredients, hence the name "The Naked Chef" — proved to be a hit with a new generation learning to cook (via Now to Love). He is so beloved by the British that in 2003 he was awarded an MBE, an award unique to the United Kingdom which recognizes prominent national achievements, by Queen Elizabeth (via BBC). Although he once ran a successful restaurant chain that was credited with making Britain's notoriously bland food scene a bit more interesting, his restaurant group went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017 (via The Guardian).

Oliver has had his ups and downs, but estimates put his net worth at around $300 million. This is a pretty impressive figure given the fact that his restaurants were in around $100 million worth of debt before they filed for bankruptcy (via The Sun). Much of his net worth comes from his cookbook sales, of which have totaled 40 million over the course of two decades (via Celebrity Net Worth). 

Oliver was also prolific on television programs after The Naked Chef, starring or being featured in some two dozen of them. Cooking shows are certainly a lucrative endeavor and his success on the television networks have probably helped his net worth rise. And, although Oliver lent his doomed restaurant group $10 million in 2007, we can also assume that he built at least some of his nest egg from his restaurants, which were probably profitable at one point.