Why Did Castle Rock Lose Money on Seinfeld on Purpose?

David Rosenthal closes the books on Seinfeld's first run on NBC. Ben Gilbert says to leave syndication out. David Rosenthal says NBC made about $2 billion in cumulative advertising profit from Seinfeld during its run. He says the figure vastly undercounts the actual value to NBC, because a buyer could not purchase Seinfeld alone and had to buy primetime around the show. Ben Gilbert says NBC owned nothing. The network rented it.

David Rosenthal says Castle Rock loses money on nine years of Seinfeld by design. Ben Gilbert likens the loss to the first nine years of an early stage venture portfolio, then says the likeness is not fair. He is unsure of the exact year and puts Castle Rock's syndication share at year six, while the tally here stays on the first run alone. Ben Gilbert says Columbia and Sony make zero dollars and spend zero dollars. David Rosenthal says that is again by design.

David Rosenthal says Jerry Seinfeld made 50 to 60 million dollars in salary from all of his seasons as the star, creator, and co-writer. David Rosenthal calls the salary huge and still peanuts compared to the back end. Larry David's salary during the show has never been reported. David Rosenthal says it is safe to say the pay was much lower than Jerry Seinfeld's and covered only seven seasons.