Posted on 02/21/2021 12:00:55 PM PST by billorites
A decade ago, the late Rush Limbaugh scoffed at the notion of leaving any of his money behind. We know this because he was reacting to us.
Our coverage of Steve Jobs' no-tax estate plan made a lot of waves. Rush felt the need to insert himself into the narrative by sharing his thoughts about legacy.
They were terse and tough. He didn't want to leave anything behind. If he spent everything and died broke, he'd be happy, he said.
Now, a year after announcing he had terminal cancer, he's gone. And as far as anyone can tell, he left a whole lot of money behind.
Some estimates put his net worth above $600 million. That's probably just career earnings and not a real net figure, but it provides a sense of the amount of cash flowing into his operation over the years.
He was the biggest name in radio. It takes a vast amount of work to burn as much as $85 million a year and have absolutely nothing to show for it.
We know that his "Southern Command" in Palm Beach alone can be worth up $50 million to his estate under the right conditions.
It's unlikely that his widow will keep it around forever. She was decades younger than he was and has a lot of living left to do.
Either way, unless Rush made a whole lot more effort to look out for his posterity than anyone but the tabloids suggests, she's the boss now.
There were no kids. She inherits it all.
Look carefully and you can see the tracks of what exactly that entails.
The Non-Profit Thread
Rush had lawyers on his side to structure his wishes. He hated taxes and shielded his privacy.
However, that privacy wasn't perfect. We know that the commercial rights to his show and auxiliary businesses were held in an LLC named after himself and his widow Kathryn.
Kathryn Adams Rush Hudson Limbaugh = KARHL. KARHL Holdings LLC was formed in 2010, when they got married.
It has two employees. It's them. And it shares an address with a charitable foundation the couple set up in their names.
The foundation's books are on record. It's relatively modest by billionaire standards, but a few million dollars a year have moved in and then out to Rush-friendly organizations.
Maybe it will inherit his stake in KARHL and start making huge grants. Either way, Kathryn will call the shots.
Now that Rush is gone, she and her aged mother are the only two officers of record.
And if she simply inherits his KARHL interest, the benefit goes to her.
Tabloids have suggested that Rush hated her toward the end and tried to cut her out of his will. I just don't see that.
For one thing, if he hated her, he would have carved up the holding company and wound down the foundation. None of that happened.
And where else would he put the money in the event of his death? He had a year to ponder mortality.
A prenuptial contract is remotely unlikely. Her name is on all the organizations, right up there with his, and these organizations were set up after the marriage.
He apparently wanted her to deal with his assets. Maybe that was part of the attraction.
She comes from some of the oldest money in New England. This is her dynastic world of galas and philanthropic planning.
For me, the biggest question is what happens to his legacy. The shows have a limited shelf life in rerun form, but there's a vast library of recorded material to mine.
He had millions of dedicated listeners. That audience is worth money too.
All it needs is a successor. That's the real question. Who inherits his desk and his microphone?
We'll find out.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
It would be Heaven!!!
Jesse wouldn’t be bad.
Mark Steyn
As I recall , it was a broadcast. He began some talk about the pain of being a homosexual.
He never said it was his stepson, just something I “assumed”.
I remember that broadcast well but ageing memory prevails. Just gossiping, if you will.
I vote Mark Stein also.
Rush, the divorcee, wanted to die broke.
Rush, the married man, wanted to provide for his wife in the event of his death.
Somehow, this doufus wants to portray that as hypocrisy when, instead, he’s just being a provider for his wife. Shocking!
YOU take care of a man dying from cancer for a year and tell me it’s easy. It’s gutwrenching watching someone you love waste away from within. If she stayed and supported him, AFAIC, she rightfully deserves any inheritance.
As long as she doesn’t pull a Teresa Heinz and throw her inheritance away bankrolling a communist like John F-ing Kerry, I honestly don’t care what she does with the money. It’s none of our business.
If he was younger I would give some serious consideration to Howie Carr. He’s very informative and entertaining, and he’s got one of the best voices in the radio business.
That there was funny.
Kathryn is several orders of magnitude more attractive than Teresa and has a much more pleasing personality. Lurch is probably doing the math as I'm typing this.
Doesn’t he have his hands full with Teresa?
Oh, I see what you mean.
And I agree: no one else could possibly fill Rush’s shoes.
Chris Plante is one of the best. I think he could pull it off. It's obscene that he isn't available on more outlets.
I always wondered if John Heinz would have surfaced eventually as part of the swamp. So many fooled us, I always thought it was possible.
And when was the last time anyone saw or heard from Teresa?
It takes too much time and effort for too little return {compared to what Trump is worth}.
It will be interesting to see what shakes out, but it will not be hannity.
NFW
Mostly harmless.😏
Scott Martin is a true ASSWIPE!! Why would he repeat tabloids that said he hated Kathryn when we all KNOW he LOVED her!! What a freaking jerk you are, Scott Martin....peddling TRASH TALK!
None of the above.
I like Steyn but I think Trump should do it. Talk about carrying on Rush’s legacy.
We all hope Rush is in the better place...
Rush Limbaugh gave his life to Jesus Christ a few years ago & it gave him tremendous hope as he faced his toughest fight
That’s some good strategery right there. ;-)
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