Conan O’Brien has had a unique and lucrative career. After graduating from Harvard and writing for The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live, he was offered the job of replacing David Letterman as host of The Late Late Show on NBC. He was unknown, awkward, and according to reports at the time, close to being replaced before he really got going.
But Conan kept plucking along, developing a unique and popular style that has kept him relevant for three decades thanks to his ability to adapt and reinvent himself. Remember when he took over “The Tonight Show” from Jay Leno in 2008, only to have to give it back when Jay changed his mind. Yeah, NBC paid him $45 million for the inconvenience, and he went off and started a show on TBS that he recently walked away from.
Now, Conan’s entering a new chapter. He just signed a deal with SiriusXM, selling his podcasts and digital media business called Team Coco to the satellite radio monster for a cool $150 million.
In all, Conan has ten podcasts under his umbrella, and they will all be moving to SiriusXM. That includes his interview show “Conan Needs a Friend.” Just like other big-time podcasts, they will continue to be distributed on most podcasting networks.
The new deal is for five years, and along with it, Conan will produce a comedy channel for SiriusXM.
Here’s a quote from SiriusXM president and chief content officer Scott Greenstein.
“We are thrilled that Conan remains committed to producing his incredibly successful podcast and will now expand his role into executive producing an exclusive Team Coco radio channel for SiriusXM. Conan has built an amazing brand and organization at Team Coco with a proven track record of finding and launching compelling and addictive podcasts. We look forward to continuing to grow the Team Coco brand.”
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