American Idol judge Simon Cowell set to earn up to $144 million next season

June 30, 3:24 PMSF Music Industry ExaminerJeffrey Winslow

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Simon Cowell: American Idol judge and mega-multi-millionaire

Fox and 19 Entertainment, the producers behind American Idol, the music career-launching vehicle that has produced stars such as Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, David Cook, and Adam Lambert, are about to launch their biggest non-musical star into the salary stratosphere.

According to PopEater.com and the New York Post, the Idol conglomerate is offering judge Simon Cowell a pay raise in the neighborhood of $100-$144 million dollars for next season. At the top end of that scale, that's a 400 percent increase over his current $36 million per season. Even the best of the artists he judges on the hit television show are likely not pulling in anywhere near that amount of money.

The entire Idol entity generates approximately $900 million dollars, meaning Cowell will be raking in about 15 percent of the show's annual revenue.

For his contributions to American Idol, does Cowell deserve that kind of money? I'd love to hear your thoughts.