Anderson Cooper Net Worth: Anderson Cooper is an American television personality, journalist and author who has a net worth of $200 million. As the current host of the CNN news show "Anderson Cooper 360," he makes an annual salary of $12 million.

Early Life and Career Beginnings: Anderson Hays Cooper was born on June 3, 1967, in Manhattan, New York City. He is the younger son of write Wyatt Emory Cooper and artist, fashion designer and heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, and the great-great-great-grandson of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt. When Cornelius died, he had an inflation-adjusted net worth of $185 billion, which is enough to make him one of the 5 wealthiest people of all time. Anderson's maternal grandfather died when his mother was just one year old. He was the last male heir of the Vanderbilt fortune and left his entire estate, $5 million in 1925 to his daughter. That's the same as around $70 million after adjusting for inflation. Gloria's mother and aunt fought over her custody, and allegedly over control of the trust fund. Her aunt, the founder of the Whitney museum, ultimately won custody. As an adult, Gloria would go on to have enormous success as an artist and fashion designer.

Prior to becoming a news anchor, Cooper was a model for Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Macy's from the ages 10 to 13. He went to Yale University where he studied Political Science and International Relations. During college, Cooper spent two summers as an intern at the CIA. Tragedy stuck when his father died suddenly in 1978. 10 years later, his older brother committed suicide. This event spurred his interest in journalism. After Anderson graduated from Yale University, he lived in Vietnam for a year, studying the Vietnamese language at the University of Hanoi. He then worked as a fact checker for the news agency Channel One, and periodically sold home-made news segments to the channel. Cooper filmed reports of Vietnamese life and culture, and eventually moved on to filming stories in various war-torn regions including Bosnia, Somalia, and Rwanda that aired on Channel One.

Journalism Career: Cooper became a correspondent for ABC News in 1995, and then co-anchor on ABC's "World News Now" program on September 21, 1999. In 2000, Cooper decided he needed a change from the hectic news schedule and became host of "The Mole" for two seasons before returning to broadcasting. In 2001 he joined CNN, anchoring alongside Paula Zahn on "American Morning." In 2002 he became CNN's weekend prime-time anchor. His own show, "Anderson Cooper 360," began in 2003. Cooper signed a multi-year deal with CNN in early 2007 that would allow him to continue as a contributor to the CBS News program "60 Minutes" while still working as a CNN anchor and correspondent. The deal also reportedly doubled his salary from $2 million annually to $4 million.

As a journalist, Cooper has won numerous awards for his coverage of various events and issues. These include an Emmy Award in 1997 for his coverage of Princess Diana's funeral; a Peabody Award in 2005 for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina; a National Headliner Award in 2005 for his coverage on the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami; two Emmys in 2011 for his coverage of Haiti; and also the GLAAD Media Award in 2013.

Writing and Other Pursuits: Cooper has authored a variety of articles as a freelance writer, including in publications such as Details magazine. His memoir "Dispatches from the Edge" was published in May 2006 by HarperCollins, and topped The New York Times Best Seller list in June that year. In 2017, Cooper also co-authored "The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss" with his mother Gloria Vanderbilt.

After interviewing Andy Cohen about his then-latest book, "The Andy Cohen Diaries," in 2015, the two came up with the idea for a two-man conversational stage show, "AC2." The duo opened their national tour in Boston, followed by Miami Beach, Chicago and Atlanta. They went on to tour to over 50 cities.

In September 2010, Warner Bros. and Telepictures signed Cooper on to host a nationally syndicated talk show, "Anderson Live." Cooper negotiated and signed a new multi-year contract with CNN in order to be able to continue to host "Ander Cooper 360" on CNN. "Anderson Live" premiered on September 12, 2011, but only ran for two seasons after it failed to achieve high ratings. Cooper has previous experience hosting talk shows; he previously filled in as co-host of "Live with Regis and Kelly" in 2007 when Regis Philbin had to undergo triple-bypass heart surgery, and has since periodically served as guest co-host on the show when one of the hosts is unavailable.

Personal Life: Cooper is openly gay, and was actually the first openly gay person to moderate a presidential debate in the general election when he moderated the second presidential election debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in 2016. Apple CEO Tim Cook also turned to Cooper for advice before making the decision to publicly come out as gay. Cooper owns a beach house in the Brazilian town of Trancoso, as well as a renovated former firehouse in New York's Greenwich Village, which he purchased in 2010 for $4.3 million.

Cooper's mother died in June 2019. At the time of her death, Gloria Vanderbilt's net worth was $200 million. A few weeks after her death it was revealed that she had left the majority of her estate to her son.