What is Michael Bay's Net Worth and Salary?
Michael Bay is an American director and producer who has a net worth of $450 million. Bay is most famous for directing huge blockbuster movies like "Bad Boys I & II" (1995; 2003) "The Rock" (1996), "Armageddon" (1998), "Pearl Harbor" (2001), and the "Transformers" series (2007–present). He has producer credits for most of the movies he has directed as well as a string of classic horror movie remakes, such as "Friday the 13th" (2009), "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (2010), "The Amityville Horror" (2005), and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (2003). Michael has also produced the television series "Black Sails" (2014–2017), "The Last Ship" (2014–2018), "Billion Dollar Wreck" (2016), "Jack Ryan" (2018–present), and "The Purge" (2018–2019), and he has appeared in "Armageddon," "Mystery Men" (1999), "Coyote Ugly" (2000), "Bad Boys II," and "Bad Boys for Life" (2020).
Bay's biggest career success has been directing the "Transformers" series with Steven Spielberg as producer; as of 2020, Michael has directed and produced five films in the series for a combined worldwide box office gross of approximately $4.37 billion. His star power as a director has enabled him to negotiate partial ownership of the movies he directs or produces, giving him a generous cut of the profits. Hasbro, owners of the Transformers franchise, even granted him a hefty percentage of merchandise sales, on top of the box office receipts. This has earned him upwards of $200 million of his $450+ million net worth.
Early Life
Michael Bay was born Michael Benjamin Bay on February 17, 1965, in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in a Jewish household with adoptive parents Jim (an accountant) and Harriet (a child psychiatrist and bookstore owner) and sister Lisa. Michael attended Santa Monica's Crossroads School and got his start in the movie industry as a teenager, interning as a storyboard filer for George Lucas during the making of 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark." After high school, Bay majored in Film and English at Wesleyan University, graduating in 1986, then attended graduate school at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design.
Career
Shortly after earning his post-graduate degree, Bay began directing music videos and commercials for Propaganda Films. He won a 1992 Clio Award for his first national commercial, a Red Cross ad, and in 1993, he directed the popular "Got Milk?" ad campaign, which earned him a Grand Prix Clio Award for Commercial of the Year. Michael's music videos caught the attention of Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, who hired him to direct a film they were producing, 1995's "Bad Boys." The movie grossed $141.4 million against a budget of $19 million, and Bay followed it with the even more successful "The Rock" (1996), which brought in $335.1 million at the box office. Michael then founded his own production company, Bay Films, and directed and co-produced (with Bruckheimer) the 1998 blockbuster "Armageddon," which grossed $553.7 million worldwide and earned four Oscar nominations. He teamed up with Bruckheimer again to co-produce and direct 2001's "Pearl Harbor," which won an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing and earned $449.2 million at the box office.
Bay then directed 2003's "Bad Boys II," which brought in nearly twice as much as the original with a worldwide gross of $273 million, and 2005's "The Island," his first film that Bruckheimer didn't produce. In 2007, Michael directed and produced the first entry in the "Transformers" franchise. "Transformers" grossed $70.5 million on opening weekend and went on to earn $709.7 million by the end of its theatrical run. Michael has directed and produced four massively successful "Transformers" films since: 2009's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" ($836.3 million), 2011's "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" ($1.12 billion), 2014's "Transformers: Age of Extinction" ($1.10 billion), and 2017's "Transformers: The Last Knight" ($605.4 million). Bay also produced and directed the 2013 true crime film "Pain & Gain," 2016 action thriller "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi," and 2019 Netflix movie "6 Underground." Michael has produced several movies that he did not direct, including "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (2014), "A Quiet Place" (2018), and "Bumblebee" (2018).
(Photo by Francois Durand/Getty Images)
Production and Effects Companies
In 2001, Bay co-founded production company Platinum Dunes with Andrew Form and Brad Fuller, and in 2006, he acquired Digital Domain, James Cameron's struggling digital effects company, and sold it to Galloping Horse in 2012. In 2001, Michael co-founded The Institute for the Development of Enhanced Perceptual Awareness with Scott Gardenhour and directed and produced commercials for Victoria's Secret, Budweiser, and other popular brands. Bay and Doug Nunes co-founded 451 Media Group, which includes an interactive publishing division, in 2014, and in 2016, Michael joined production studio/technology company The Rogue Initiative.
Personal Life
Michael lives with his dogs in Miami and Los Angeles, and he was previously in a relationship with sportscaster Lisa Dergan. Bay has owned a Gulfstream G550 jet (worth $50 million) as well as many expensive cars, such as a Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Bentley as well as two Camaros that were featured in the "Transformers" films. Michael has been accused of exhibiting sexist behavior toward actresses Megan Fox, Kate Beckinsale, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and in 2009 and 2011, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists nominated him for the Sexist Pig Award.
Awards and Nominations
In 1995, Bay won a Directors Guild of America award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials, and he earned a Best Director Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for "Armageddon" in 1999. Michael received MTV Movie Awards for Best Action Sequence for "Armageddon" in 1998 and "Pearl Harbor" in 2001 as well as Best Movie and Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet for "Transformers" in 2007. He also won a Filmmaker's Award from the Motion Picture Sound Editors in 2008, a Music City Film Critics' Association Award for "A Quiet Place" in 2019, a ShoWest Vanguard Award for Excellence in Filmmaking in 2009, and an Action Movie Director Award from the World Stunt Awards in 2002. In May 2017, Michael was honored with a handprint ceremony in front of Hollywood's TCL Chinese Theatre (formerly known as Grauman's Chinese Theatre).
Real Estate
In 1999, Michael paid $5.16 million for a 7,919 square foot home in Bel Air, and he put it on the market for $13.5 million in late 2013, selling it in April 2014. In 2012, he sold a Santa Barbara home for $4.9 million, and in 2009, he paid $10.9 million dollars for a Bel Air home and tore it down to build a 30,000 square foot mansion with a theater, movie prop museum, and spa. Michael also bought a 17,500 square foot home in Miami for $17 million in 2007.
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