By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-21 14:32:40 | Updated at 2025-04-04 18:39:33
2 weeks ago
Jim Acosta will likely soon be paid more than he was at CNN, six weeks after he quit in January amid fallout from the election.
Instead of getting a new cable news or TV job, he started a Substack page where he mostly rails against Donald Trump and his administration.
Acosta's Substack has amassed 282,000 subscribers, more than 10,000 of whom have paid access, which is on pace to earn him well over $1 million.
Paid plans available include a monthly one for $8 and an annual for $80. An option billed as a 'Founding Member' plan - also lasting a year - is available for $240.
Substack only takes a 10 per cent commission on earnings through its platform, so even if 10,000 subscribers chose the yearly plan, he would net $720,000 a year.
This may already be more than his CNN salary, which was never publicly available but believed to be between $700,000 and $2 million.
The Jim Acosta Show includes daily hour-long podcasts, which he said get 150,000 to 200,000 views each, plus other content that is paid-only.
Jim Acosta's new Substack has amassed 123,000 subscribers in just a matter days, as cable news continues its decline. The development comes days after CNN reported one of its worst ratings months in history, weeks after a round of layoffs that affected almost 200
A line seemingly deleted from the page previously boasted about having 'thousands of paid subscribers'. However, many of the subscribers are not paying ones - with the specific statistic difficult to discern due to the nature of the platform. Available plans are seen here
Each offers access to all of Acosta's posts and the ability to post comments within '[Acosta's] community', with no differences specified between the 'Founding Member' and lower-tiered 'Annual' plans.
He ran a 'virtual town hall' on Wednesday to interact with his paid subscribers, and has a feed where he writes Twitter-style musings and re-shares other content.
That includes disgraced ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's own Substack, after interviewing him about Trump's golf skills, among other topics.
Other recent guests include JFK researchers Larry Sabato, Congressman Brendan Boyle, Voice of America journalist Steve Herman and Elise Labott, and former New Orleands mayor Mitch Landrieu.
Acosta says he is par of the 'independent media revolution', despite being a longtime cable news anchor and not even knowing what Substack was before he quit CNN.
He is using the first personal computer he owned in 20 years, after he handed back the CNN-issued machine on his way out the door.
'The great Status newsletter by Oliver Darcy notes my Substack already taking off,' Acosta wrote a little after 11 am. '123k subscribers so far and we are just getting started folks. More to come. About an hour before, he promoted the page to his 2million followers on X
Acosta left CNN days after it reported one of its worst ratings months in history, weeks after a round of layoffs that affected almost 200.
He was spared, though a lineup revamp saw him stripped of his usual 10 am hour.
Despite efforts to set him up with a new one, the anchor made clear on the set of CNN Newsroom that he was going his own way.
Within hours, he was advertising his Substack offering paid subscriptions.
