Anderson Cooper – $12 million

While most TV anchors studied Journalism, CNN’s Anderson Cooper interned at the CIA while studying political science. He even took some time off from news reporting to live in Vietnam and study the Vietnamese language at the national university.

Still, with no formal training, Cooper has landed some top jobs in the media working as The primary anchor of Anderson Cooper 360⁰ for CNN and previously as a correspondent of the TV news magazine, 60 Minutes. To add to his $12 million annual salary, Cooper also inherited $1.5 million after his mother, fashion icon and socialite Gloria Vanderbilt, died in 2019.