A few weeks before this blog post was published, Fox News unceremoniously fired Tucker Carlson, the host of Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight television program. Effective immediately.
Shooting stars
Adore Love him or despise hate him, Carlson was maybe the shiniest star in Fox’s universe. By the time of his exit, Carlson had become a powerful figure, able to influence his large audience, politicians, and others.
Fox reportedly paid Carlson a salary somewhere between $15–$20 million/year for his labors. The day that Carlson was kicked to the curb let go, Fox Corp., the publicly traded parent of Fox News, lost at least $500 billion in share value. That’s not pocket change. Even for Fox Corp.
What struck me as perhaps most remarkable about Carlson’s firing (as it had for how Fox let go other shiny stars in the past, such as Bill O’Reilly, among others) was the nature of Fox’s execution. In short, Fox proceeded swiftly, decisively, and dispassionately.
A bit of context may be necessary for you, Dear Reader. A week before Carlson’s firing, Fox settled a blockbuster defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million. Pre-trial court filings in the months leading up to the trial included many jaw-dropping less-than-glowing revelations about Carlson. Among the repercussions is a massive workplace sexual harassment lawsuit. Other lawsuits are on the docket or might be/have been. So, Fox had reasons for its decision as to Carlson. As it did as to its decisions as to O’Reilly and others.
Gonna take, an unsentimental journey
Carlson all but certainly thought himself invaluable to Fox. And unfireable. If nothing else, his salary surely and reasonably would have led him to that conclusion. Indeed, news accounts of Carlson’s firing indicate that he never saw it coming. No one else outside Fox’s leadership did either.
And yet.
And yet, Carlson not only was was fired, he was fired effective immediately. That tells me that “sentiment” is not a word in Fox’s lexicon. And that the Fox absolutely believes that no one . . . no one . . . is bigger than it.
This all led me to a paradoxical thought. For all of Carlson’s reported monetary wealth and cultural heft and influence, he was no rich man. In fact, I think he was in fact a poor man. A very poor man.
That’s because for all the people who watched Carlson’s show faithfully and/or admired the man, there were many millions who not only didn’t lament Carlson’s firing, they squealed with schadenfreude-fueled glee when they learned of were pleased by it. And an employer that acts as Fox did shows that it values him as much as week-old fish left on the counter.
Spike’s peak
Contrast Carlson with one of my part-time gig coworkers. I’ll call him Spike. Because why not.
Spike and I both are early-50-something guys working part-time for our employer. We’re also each early retired. More accurately, we’re work optional and financially independent.
Whereas I called it a day from full-time employment after breezing past hitting our FIRE number, Spike took a different route. He worked for a public employer for his whole career and also had some side gigs. His wife also has worked and continues to do so.
While I’m sure that Spike surely earned a decent salary in his career, I’m all but certain it never reached six figures. He may not even have earned six figures annually between his full-time job and side gigs, tho I’m sure that the combination of his and his wife’s income exceed that threshold.
Spike is a diligent saver and always has lived well within his means. What’s more, Spike had access to a generous pension, the majority of which he could access in large part after a certain number of service years. Spike met that threshold at about age 50.
Spike’s got an epic work ethic and is a smart cookie. You see, Spike knew a few important things as he approached the age he could access his pension. First, that because he rarely used all his available days off and could and did carry over unused days off from year to year, he’d amassed more than a year’s worth of time off. And second, that his employer allowed him to “buy” service time toward his retirement requirement.
So, a bit more than a year before Spike would have been eligible to access his pension based on service years, he “bought” the remaining service time with his bank of days off. In doing so, he hit the trifecta. He got a payout of more than a year’s salary, met the retirement threshold, and became eligible for pension payments.
Now, Spike’s got money rolling in from the part-time job . . . and another side gig that he carried over from his full-employment days . . . and his pension . . . and anything spinning off of his savings and investments. Plus, like I mentioned, his wife still works.
Richly rich
Strictly from the perspective of Spike’s assets, passive revenue sources (not to mention active ones he enjoys by choice), and fiscal discipline, Spike’s loaded.
But there’s more to the story. More that indicates that he’s not just loaded, but comprehensively and extremely rich.
See, Spike’s worked all of his full- and part-time jobs and side gigs because he’s loved the work involved. In fact, as to the part-time and side gigs, he never needed the money. He just wanted (maybe even needed) the satisfaction he got from the work. As they say, if you love what you do in your job, you’ll never work a day in your life.
Spike’s also deeply religious, has long been happily married, is close with his parents, and is filled to the brim with friends. He also—wholly by choice—lives a pretty simple life.
All this is to say that Spike is a highly contented man. And, at least from this humble blogger’s perspective, an infinitely richer man than Carlson could ever be.
And in the end . . .
Maybe you agree with me that Spike’s way richer than Carlson. Maybe you don’t. But what can’t be denied is that Spike was never kicked to the curb in as merciless a way as Carlson was. And that’s he’s never suffered an epic burn on a worldwide network.
