Just when you thought Oprah and Apple could not possibly earn more money here comes another announcement about a major merger that could reap millions upon millions.
Media mogul Oprah Winfrey and tech giant Apple have signed a multi-year partnership to create programs that will become part of a lineup of original content from Apple, Variety reports.
The announcement marks another notch in Winfrey’s expensive designer belt. She already owns the cable network OWN, home to the haunting Louisiana-based series Queen Sugar. OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, came about in 2011 from a partnership with Discovery Communications.
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The success keeps rolling in for Oprah, who now is the subject of an entire exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington DC. Along with her own long-running talk show (“You get a car, you get a car, everybody gets a car”) Oprah also runs O, The Oprah Magazine, which infamously features a photo of her on the cover of every issue. She is also behind a parade of syndicated shows, including Dr. Phil, The Dr. Oz Show health-oriented program and Racheal Ray, a show featuring cooking tips. She also was the powerhouse behind the film, A Wrinkle in Time and the HBO movie, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
The new partnership marks the first such agreement between Apple and a content creator, Variety reports.
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The announcement might be seen as a snap in the face of media powerhouses Amazon and Netflix, who have been working hard to draw top talent into financially lucrative deals. Netflix recently closed brought on famed producer and screenwriter, Shonda Rhimes who is the brains behind Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy.
More to come
The deal with Winfrey is not the only new development on Apple’s plate.
The Silicon Valley company is working on a return of Steven Speilberg’s Amazing Stories, a collection of psychological thrillers produced with the help of M. Night Shyamalan, as well as Are You Sleeping? – a true-crime podcast drama featuring Octavia Spencer.
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Winfrey’s Harpo Films will own any of the content produced under the partnership, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Apple is based in Cupertino, Calif., and was founded in 1976. It is worth close to $1 trillion. Winfrey, on the hand, is only worth a mere $3 billion, according to Forbes.