The $110 Million "No"

In 1998, Seinfeld was the most-watched comedy on American television. NBC was desperate to keep it going. They offered Jerry Seinfeld an unprecedented $5 million per episode for a 22-episode tenth season — $110 million guaranteed.

Jerry said no.

He told the press he wanted to "go out on top" rather than let the show decline. The decision baffled network executives. No performer in television history had walked away from that kind of money.

After the show ended, Seinfeld didn't retire. He went back to what he'd been doing before the show made him famous: stand-up comedy. He performed in small clubs, working on new material from scratch, sometimes for audiences of a few dozen people. He'd gone from $5 million per episode to passing the hat at comedy clubs.

When asked about the decision years later, Seinfeld was characteristically blunt: "I didn't need the money, and I wanted people to remember the show as great, not as the show that stayed too long." The show is now estimated to have generated over $4 billion in syndication revenue. Jerry's share from residuals alone makes the $110 million he turned down look like a rounding error.