When Friends debuted on NBC in September 1994, its six stars, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer, were newcomers, earning just $22,500 per episode. Ten years later, they became the first TV cast to make $1 million per episode and secure a share of the show’s backend profits. For TV actors, backend profits are a share of the money a show earns after it airs, usually from syndication, reruns, streaming, and international sales, providing ongoing income long after original episodes are filmed. In 2026, Lisa Kudrow confirmed to The Times of London that each surviving cast member still earns around $20 million in residuals annually. Not bad for a sitcom about six friends in a New York coffee shop.
Starting in Season 3, the cast negotiated together. Warner Bros. wanted to bargain with each actor separately, but the cast demanded group negotiations, using the lowest offer as the baseline for everyone. By Seasons 9 and 10, they each earned $1 million per episode, making Aniston, Cox, and Kudrow the top-paid women in TV at the time. In 2000, they also secured backend points, about 2% of all Warner Bros. revenue from the show. Thanks to this deal, the checks keep coming more than 20 years after the finale.
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston launched to superstardom playing Rachel Green, earning $1.25 million per episode by the show’s final seasons. Her base salary for all 10 seasons was roughly $90 million. Add the $2.5 million she made for the 2021 HBO Max reunion, along with more than two decades of backend residuals estimated at $20 million per year, and Friends has earned her well over $300 million. Outside the show, she boosted her income with endorsement deals with L’Oreal, Smartwater, Emirates, and Aveeno, as well as her producing and starring role on Apple TV+’s The Morning Show. Today, Aniston is thought to be worth $320 million, making her the richest Friends cast member by a large margin.
Courteney Cox
Courteney Cox came into Friends with more industry experience than her co-stars, having appeared in a Bruce Springsteen music video and other roles before playing Monica Geller. Like the rest of the cast, she started at $22,500 per episode and climbed to $1 million by the final two seasons. Cox has starred in films and TV shows, including the Scream franchise and Cougar Town, and co-founded Coquette Productions with her then-husband, David Arquette. The 2000 backend deal has continued to pay generously, and with multiple income sources, Cox is the second-richest Friends cast member, boasting an estimated fortune of $150 million.
Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Kudrow put the $20 million residuals figure on the record. In her April 2026 interview with The Times of London, Kudrow confirmed she and her co-stars each still earn about $20 million per year from Friends, driven by syndication, international licensing, and streaming. Her base salary over the show’s run was about $90 million, with the reunion special adding another $2.5 million. Kudrow also created projects like Web Therapy and The Comeback, and appeared in films such as Easy A and Booksmart. Her Friends fortune and other work give her a net worth of around $130 million.
Matt LeBlanc
Matt LeBlanc arrived at Friends with barely a dollar to his name—famously just $11 before booking Joey Tribbiani. His earnings grew with the cast’s, reaching $1 million per episode, and he shared in the 2000 backend deal. Financial freedom for LeBlanc meant something refreshingly uncomplicated. After the Joey spinoff, he left Hollywood for a while, later returning in Showtime’s Episodes. He also hosted BBC’s Top Gear and starred in CBS’s Man With a Plan. His current net worth is around $80 – $85 million, the lowest among the six main cast members, though still an extraordinary figure.
David Schwimmer
David Schwimmer deserves a mention in any discussion of the cast’s earnings because he played a key role in the equal-pay strategy. In the early seasons, Schwimmer and Aniston earned more thanks to the Ross-and-Rachel storyline’s popularity. Schwimmer reportedly suggested all six be paid equally, giving up a personal premium so the group could move as one. Matthew Perry later wrote in his memoir, “I owe you about $30 million, David.” That decision proved valuable when the backend deal was struck. Schwimmer started at $22,500 per episode, earned up to $1 million in the final season, and made roughly $90 million in base salary from the show. His work since has included American Crime Story and Madagascar. His net worth is about $120 million.
Matthew Perry
Matthew Perry, who played Chandler Bing, earned the same as his co-stars across the show’s run, totaling roughly $90 million before residuals and bonuses, plus $2.5 million for the 2021 reunion special. Perry was candid about the money, telling People in 2022, “That was the greatest job in the world.” He passed away in October 2023 at age 54, and at the time of his death, his net worth was estimated at $120 million, with Friends residuals continuing to flow into his estate. Outside the show, he earned significantly from Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, films, real estate sales, and royalties from his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.
What the Show Has Paid in Total
The numbers, tallied across the six cast members over three decades, are staggering. Each earned roughly $90 million in base salaries, $2.5 million from the reunion, and an estimated $200 million-plus each in residuals since the 2000 backend deal, with ongoing payments. They still bring in about $20 million per year from reruns. Friends generates an estimated $1 billion annually for Warner Bros. through syndication and streaming, and the cast’s 2 percent share, split six ways, amounts to $20 million. While the show remains hugely popular in syndication and on streaming platforms for now, industry experts note that residuals may decline gradually over the coming years as streaming contracts are renewed, audiences shift to new shows, and international popularity fluctuates. Still, for now, Friends remains a major source of income for its stars. From earning $22,500 each in 1994 to a collective payout in the billions, it’s arguably TV’s most financially successful ensemble deal.
