Hillary Clinton earns $12m in 16 months

Hillary Clinton has earned at least $12 million in 16 months since leaving the State Department, according to an analysis of data compiled by Bloomberg.

Clinton’s income since her resignation as secretary of state in February 2013 is derived mostly from her latest memoir, speeches and paid appearances at corporate retreats.

At least 12 organisations that previously booked President Bill Clinton -- who has been paid almost $106 million in speaking fees alone since he left the White House -- also hired his wife. Among them: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and the National Association of Realtors. With a prospective 2016 presidential candidacy in her future, she keeps tight control over her events.

In one university contract, Clinton retained the right to approve her introducer, program, moderator and the set, and she limited to 50 the number of pictures taken on a rope line.

Her earnings represent a fraction of the Clinton family’s total income and yet were large enough to rank her not only in the top 1 per cent of the nation’s earners but in the top one- hundredth of the 1 per cent.

“Bill and I have worked really hard and we’ve been successful,” she said last week in an appearance on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” “We believed we could pretty much make our way up the ladder. Now, I think a lot of young people don’t believe that anymore.”

The Bloomberg News evaluation of Clinton’s earnings is based on income from her speeches and her recent book. Bloomberg relied on interviews with organizations that hired her to speak, news reports and public documents to compile her speaking fees. Her book-advance estimate is derived from federal financial- disclosure reports and interviews with literary agents. The total is a minimum figure that doesn’t take into account investment income and isn’t adjusted for earnings that were donated to charity. The accounting of Clinton’s income since leaving government service is likely as much as the public will learn about her finances unless she runs and releases tax returns or is elected and files financial-disclosure reports. The Clintons’ daughter, Chelsea, commands a reported $75,000 a speech, as first reported by the New York Times. She donates all her fees to the family foundation.

The Clinton Foundation reported more than $234 million in revenue in 2012, according to public filings with the Internal Revenue Service. The foundation supports 11 projects, including the "Too Small to Fail' initiative to improve the health of children younger than the age of 6.

The book, ''Hard Choices," chronicles her time at the State Department. It netted the former first lady at least $6 million between her advance and book sales, according to Bloomberg's analysis of industry standards and public records. The 635-page tome has sold 191,000 hard copies in five weeks, according to Nielsen, which covers about 85 per cent of the print book market. The sales have kept Clinton on the non- fiction bestseller list since its release.

“The book should have a very long shelf life, with significant hardcover sales over time” said Christy Fletcher, a literary agent and co-founder of Fletcher and Co. “Especially if she decides to run.”

Beyond her book, Clinton has been paid at least $6 million for more than 100 speeches and appearances she has given to a range of industry groups, nonprofits, universities and corporations, according to published reports and a survey of those who hired her. Companies that have booked the former New York senator include KKR and Co., the Carlyle Group LP and financial-services firms. This week, she'll speak at an Ameriprise Financial conference in Boston. Her fee for delivering speeches is at least $200,000, according to people familiar with the payments who weren't authorized to talk publicly.

Clinton received payment for at least 27 addresses. Some of her fees, including all of those for college campus appearances, have been donated to the family’s nonprofit foundation.

Bloomberg