Ashton Kutcher Net Worth: Is He Really a Tech Investment Genius?

Though Ashton Kutcher has traditionally played some not-so-bright characters, the Ashton Kutcher net worth total of $149 million tells a different story. Kutcher’s extremely high net worth doesn’t just come from his stellar acting career, though that’s definitely the basis of it. Kutcher also has his own investment firm called A-Grade Investments along with two partners, one of whom is billionaire Ron Burkle. The lowdown on Ashton Kutcher is that it may be a bit of a stretch to call him a tech investment genius. Certainly he’s a lot more savvy and proactive than his That 70’s Show character. That said, reports of his fast track to the billionaire life may be a bit premature. Realizations of, “Holy cow, the guy’s actually got a brain” are founded, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that he’s the next Mark Zuckerberg.

The tables and charts below show the Ashton Kutcher net worth story as a tale of solid acting, fame, endorsement deals and yes, tech investment. However, so far acting remains the biggest wellspring of the star’s net worth. Numbers are current as of 7/22/16

Ashton Kutcher Net Worth Facts

Ashton Kutcher Net Worth Facts
Ashton Kutcher Net Worth$149,176,832
Ashton Kutcher net worth vs Charlie Sheen net worth20% bigger
Ashton Kutcher net worth vs Demi Moore net worthAbout the same
Ashton Kutcher net worth vs Bruce Willis net worth17% smaller
Ashton Kutcher net worth vs Vin Diesel net worthTwice as big
Ashton Kutcher net worth vs Will Smith net worth40% smaller
Ashton Kutcher net worth vs Leonardo DiCaprio net worth30% smaller
Ashton Kutcher net worth vs Brad Pitt net worth40% smaller
Ashton Kutcher net worth vs Barack Obama net worth44 times bigger
Ashton Kutcher net worth vs typical American family net worth2,194 times bigger

Before we dig into the sources behind the Ashton Kutcher net worth fortune, let’s take a peek at how he stacks up against other actors like him. The truth is, if Kutcher were some kind of Silicon Valley Mastermind, he’d be a lot further ahead of some of his contemporaries. However, Kutcher’s net worth is only 20% bigger than former Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen’s. Some may point to Sheen’s 26 extra years of acting as proof that Kutcher is doing something drastically different. In fact he is: he’s not doing a Charlie Sheen media meltdown that kills his earnings. The Ashton Kutcher net worth sum is about the same as Demi Moore’s and 17% smaller than Bruce Willis’ net worth of $180 million. It’s twice as big as Vin Diesel’s fortune of $75 million and 40% smaller than Will Smith’s net worth of $250 million. Ashton Kutcher also has 30% less wealth than Leonardo DiCaprio’s $217 million and 40% less than Brad Pitt’s $240 million. The point is, Kutcher is extremely rich, but when he’s measured against his peers, there’s no evidence yet that he’s some kind of Gen-X Warren Buffett.

Related: Leonardo DiCaprio Net Worth

Ashton Kutcher Net Worth from Tech Investments

Ashton Kutcher Net Worth TechInvestments in the tech world have put an estimated $78 million in the Ashton Kutcher net worth stockpile. Kutcher isn’t dumb. His net worth is tied into a company he founded called A-Grade Investments. It’s a private tech investment firm with partner’s Guy Oseary and Ron Burkle. Oseary is the former manager of U2 and Madonna. Burkle is a billionaire investor who owns large stakes in Whole Foods and A&P. Kutcher has said some smart things about investing in the past. He’s said the key is to invest in things that accelerate the paths to happiness. He’s said his mission is to discover ways to help people find health or love or friendship. The dollars, he says, will follow those kinds of improvements to our daily lives. In spite of that, Kutcher doesn’t show signs of being the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates just yet. One example of a star who really hit it big in the business world is Dr. Dre, whose headphone company sold to Apple for $3 billion, earning him over $300 million in the process. Another is Jay Z, whose clothing company netted him $204 million. Kutcher isn’t quite in the same league with heavy hitters like that yet. He’s not down with stars like 50 Cent either, who invested his money in bad businesses and lost the bulk of it. Instead, Kutcher is somewhere in between. There’s no doubt his investment firm has made some smart choices, like investing in Spotify, Uber, Airbnb and Soundcloud. Right now the firm has over half a billion invested, according to business research firm Crunchbase.

Half a billion invested doesn’t mean Ashton Kutcher is worth a half a billion. Not only does he have two partners in the firm, but the company takes money from outside investors and buys stock in companies with it. Kutcher almost certainly has a good deal of his own money tied up in the firm, but he wouldn’t have to. Many hedge fund managers who control billions in invested assets only have a net worth of a few million personally. Will Kutcher reach a net worth of a billion through investing? He’s got a decent chance. If A-Grade Investments spins off a company as popular as Beats By Dre, Kutcher could well see a payday in the hundreds of millions from it. It just hasn’t happened yet.

Ashton Kutcher Net Worth Timeline

Ashton Kutcher Net Worth Timeline

Ashton Kutcher Net Worth by Year
Ashton Kutcher net worth 1998$717,491
Ashton Kutcher net worth 1999$1,518,620
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2000$3,495,610
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2001$4,696,051
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2002$5,987,520
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2003$8,970,553
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2004$12,028,875
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2005$15,731,843
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2006$21,416,568
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2007$24,384,118
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2008$29,666,761
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2009$33,578,716
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2010$41,238,330
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2011$56,289,047
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2012$71,336,526
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2013$89,695,359
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2014$109,732,895
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2015$132,133,046
Ashton Kutcher net worth 2016$149,176,832

Ashton Kutcher Net Worth DataKutcher’s net worth rose steadily from 1998 through 2009, as the chart above shows. However, the Ashton Kutcher net worth timeline took a sharp turn upwards starting in 2010. While that’s at least partially thanks to his tech investment company, it’s also in large part thanks to two other factors: his Two and a Half Men role and some smart endorsement deals. Before 2010, Kutcher had earned a total of $50 million from acting. Since then, he has earned over $130 million, and most of that comes directly from his $24 million a year salary from Two and a Half Men. With great fame comes great endorsement deals, and Kutcher signed some sweet ones after he landed his big CBS prime time role. Chief among those is his position as the face of Nikon. Between that and other deals, Kutcher’s endorsement pay has gone from around $2 million a year in the years leading up to 2010 to about $10 million a year afterward.

Ashton Kutcher Net Worth Sources: Acting, Endorsements, Investments

Where does the Ashton Kutcher net worth powerhouse get its power? Primarily from acting. The star has earned $182 from acting since his career began in 1998. That’s 52% of Kutcher’s total earnings. Another 23% or $78 million comes from tech investments, with 18% or $64 million from endorsement deals. A few million more of his financial worth comes from his producing business and appearances on talk shows and news shows.

Ashton Kutcher Net Worth Sources
Acting$182,359,838
Producing$6,280,000
Appearances$1,935,000
Endorsements$63,700,000
Tech Investments$78,418,609
Total Ashton Kutcher Earnings$332,693,447
Ashton Kutcher Salary (average)$14,224,991
Ashton Kutcher Salary 2016$14,320,414
Taxes$142,975,389
Expenses$40,541,226
Ashton Kutcher Net Worth$149,176,832

Related: Matt Damon Net Worth

Ashton Kutcher Net Worth from Acting

Ashton Kutcher Acting Net worthAshton Kutcher’s net worth owes $182 million to acting, before taxes and expenses. Kutcher makes a lot more from acting than most stars. From analyses we’ve conducted on other celebrities, big TV stars can actually earn a lot more than movie stars. Every movie is a different numbers game. A bankable star can earn tens of millions from a successful blockbuster. They can also command millions up front before a film even hits the theaters. Movies are a double edged sword however. A flop can sink a star’s percentage of earnings, and a few failures in a row can even destroy the actor’s up-front pay per film. In Kutcher’s case, lightning has struck three times for him. The first was with That 70’s Show, where his role as Kelso earned him an estimated $18 million over 183 episodes. The second is his relatively solid film career, boosting his net worth by $2 million to $7 million for each of several films. The third big financial win for Kutcher was his Two and a Half Men coup. When he filled the shoes of Charlie Sheen, he inked a deal for $24 million a year.

Ashton Kutcher Net Worth From Acting
YearActing RoleRole TypeAshton Kutcher Earnigns
1998-2006That '70s Show (Ashton Kutcher in 183 episodes)TV Series$18,300,000
2000Dude, Where's My Car?Movie$2,245,422
2003Just MarriedMovie$3,096,948
2003My Boss's DaughterMovie$595,730
2004The Butterfly EffectMovie$2,931,826
2005A Lot Like LoveMovie$1,336,602
2005Guess WhoMovie$3,105,981
2006BobbyMovie$671,138
2006Open SeasonMovie$5,969,271
2006The GuardianMovie$2,899,206
2008What Happens in VegasMovie$6,631,274
2009SpreadMovie$410,989
2010KillersMovie$2,994,799
2010Valentine's DayMovie$6,544,570
2011-2015Two and a Half Men (Ashton Kutcher in 84 episodes)TV Series$117,600,000
2011No Strings AttachedMovie$4,526,842
2013JobsMovie$1,127,942
Other Ashton Kutcher Roles (20)$1,421,299
Total Ashton Kutcher Net Worth From Acting$182,409,838

Related: Robert Downey Jr. Marvel Pay: Half a Billion by 2019?

Ashton Kutcher Net Worth from Endorsements

Ashton Kutcher Net WorthKutcher cleans up in endorsements. In fact, the Ashton Kutcher net worth sum gets a big $63.7 million boost from endorsement deal pay. Celebrities can earn anywhere from $500,000 a year in sponsor money for a small sports star, all the way up to $25 million a year for a big star like LeBron James who gets his own Nike shoe and multi-year contracts. Tiger Woods has the highest endorsement pay on record, pulling down a whopping $50 million a year from brand endorsements. Kutcher is somewhere on the low end of amazing, earning $100,000 to $500,000 a year in his early days, then gradually climbing to an estimated $5 million a year by 2012. Kutcher has signed deals with Calvin Klein, Popchips, Lenovo, Wrigley’s and Motorola. More recently he landed a huge multi-year contract with Nikon to be the face of their cameras. With the boost to his popularity from his Two and a Half Men fame, he now commands endorsement pay worth about $10 million a year.

Ashton Kutcher Net Worth Calculations

Death and taxes don’t leave anyone untouched. While Kutcher has earned a total of $333 million from all sources including investments, taxes chop out about half of that. Expenses take another $40 million. The table below shows total Kutcher earnings adding to the net worth totals from 1998 through 2016. The “total earnings” column adds up income from acting, appearances, producing, endorsements and business income. Taxes take 52.9%. That’s 39.6% for the top U.S. federal rate and 13.3% for California’s top state bracket. Expenses take another 15%.

Ashton Kutcher Net Worth Calculations
YearTotal Ashton Kutcher EarningsTaxesExpenses (15%)InvestmentsAshton Kutcher Net Worth
1998$2,235,175$1,182,408$335,276$0$717,491
1999$2,285,175$1,208,858$342,776$67,588$1,518,620
2000$5,713,195$3,022,280$856,979$143,054$3,495,610
2001$2,713,877$1,435,641$407,081$329,286$4,696,051
2002$2,645,175$1,399,298$396,776$442,368$5,987,520
2003$7,535,854$3,986,467$1,130,378$564,024$8,970,553
2004$6,895,001$3,647,456$1,034,250$845,026$12,028,875
2005$8,005,758$4,235,046$1,200,864$1,133,120$15,731,843
2006$13,092,790$6,926,086$1,963,919$1,481,940$21,416,568
2007$2,959,842$1,565,756$443,976$2,017,441$24,384,118
2008$9,301,116$4,920,290$1,395,167$2,296,984$29,666,761
2009$3,480,832$1,841,360$522,125$2,794,609$33,578,716
2010$14,007,782$7,410,117$2,101,167$3,163,115$41,238,330
2011$34,785,256$18,401,400$5,217,788$3,884,651$56,289,047
2012$30,358,414$16,059,601$4,553,762$5,302,428$71,336,526
2013$36,258,356$19,180,670$5,438,753$6,719,901$89,695,359
2014$36,100,414$19,097,119$5,415,062$8,449,303$109,732,895
2015$37,580,414$19,880,039$5,637,062$10,336,839$132,133,046
2016$14,320,414$7,575,499$2,148,062$12,446,933$149,176,832
Ashton Kutcher Net Worth Totals$270,274,838$142,975,389$40,541,226$62,418,609

Like reading about the net worth of stars? Check out our article on Dr. Dre’s net worth or this post on Jay Z’s net worth.

All Ashton Kutcher net worth numbers in this article are based on analyses of income streams and media reports and are provided here for entertainment purposes only.

Sources:

Ashton Kutcher’s Investment Company Assets