Mr. Burns is the wealthiest character in The Simpsons, but how did he become so rich and how much is he worth? Created by Matt Groening, The Simpsons began as a series of animated shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987, and after three seasons, it was developed into a half-hour prime time show, making its official debut on Fox in 1989. Since then, The Simpsons has become the longest-running American sitcom and has expanded to other media, most notably comic books and film.
The Simpsons follows the daily adventures of the title family in the fictional town of Springfield, along with some of their closest friends and a couple of enemies as well. Springfield has a bit of everything, and one of the series’ main antagonists is Mr. Burns, owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and thus Homer’s boss, as well as the town’s richest, oldest, and most powerful citizen. A lot of things about Mr. Burns’ life are a mystery, such as his real age, which has changed various times due to many inconsistencies in his backstory, but also how he became so rich, as there have been different explanations.
Charles Montgomery Burns was the second-youngest of 12 children, and he was such a cheerful and amiable kid that his parents called him “Happy”. It all changed when he left his family to live with a twisted and heartless billionaire, who turned out to be his grandfather and former slaveholder Colonel Wainwright Montgomery Burns – and this made way for one explanation on how Mr. Burns became so rich, as he inherited his grandfather’s wealth. Another explanation is that his fortune came through his business ownership, as he has either co-owned or fully owned a number of companies and businesses, such as the Germ Warfare Laboratory (destroyed by Mona Simpson and other protesters), the Springfield Concert Hall, and (of course) the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. The third possible reason for his wealth is all about the song “White Christmas”, as he owns the rights to it after failing to buy Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica”, but the song ended up earning him billions.
The richer Mr. Burns gets, the more powerful and cruel he becomes, and he has used his wealth and power countless times to blackmail and bribe many citizens of Springfield. Given all the businesses and companies he owns, many specialists and fans as well have done their best to calculate how much Mr. Burns is worth. At one point in the series, he lost his spot in Billionaire Camp when his fortune went down to $996 million, but he bounced back. Mr. Burns has been part of Forbes’ Fictional 15 list many times, but his net worth fluctuates depending on the episode. In 2007, he was estimated to be worth $16.8 billion, and the most recent calculation says his net worth is around $1.3 billion, so he hasn’t lost his spot in Billionaire Camp again.
As The Simpsons continues its course (and as it shows no signs of stopping soon), Mr. Burns’ net worth will surely continue to grow, as it’s very possible that he will keep on buying companies and businesses, though that also means he will grow crueler and more powerful, and that can be potentially dangerous – luckily, there’s always a Simpson family member ready to fight back.