Good grief, great luck: How Charles Schulz built one of the most lucrative countries in history ahead of Snoopy and Charlie Brown

It has been 25 years since Charles Schulz died, but the world that he was pious, a round-headed boy, a Schelmischer Beagle and a gang of lovable outsider-War has never been more alive. The Peanut's course has occurred in almost every corner of global culture: in mueslian boxes and sneakers, in Metlife commercials and Apple TV+ shows, on backpacks in Japan and roller coats in California. What started in 1950 as a calm four-panel comic strip has turned into one billion-dollar kingdom-one of the most constant and profitable intellectual properties of all time.

This empire still pays off. Schulz himself earned an estimated $ 1 billion in his life. But surprisingly, his death in 2000 was not the end of the peanut happiness – it was the beginning of his second act. In the years since then, Schulz has earned hundreds of millions of dollars of license fees, merchandising license fees, syndication deals and animated content partnerships. In a typical year, Schulz's heirs earn more than the combined goods of cultural titans such as John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and Elizabeth Taylor.

How did that happen? How did a shy cartoonist from Minnesota built an empire of a few scribbled children and a dog with dreams of size? And how did his creation continue to make money for a quarter of a century after his death? This is the story of how peanuts became one of the most powerful posthumous brands in the world – and how Charles Schulz became one of the richest dead celebrities of all time.

From St. Paul to the funny sides

Charles Monroe Schulz was born in 1922 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Like his future figure Charlie Brown, his father was a hairdresser, his mother a housewife, and his childhood was characterized by calm self -observation. As a boy, Schulz was obsessed with drawing – especially Popeye – and is subject to his school newspaper and local magazines from the high school, even though he was little success. He skipped two classes in primary school, which gave him younger and socially isolated. His grades were not great, but his ambitions were clear: he wanted to be a cartoonist.

After the high school, Schulz wrote down in a correspondence art course and soon found work in a Catholic magazine who pulled cartoons from a family with quirky pets. But his plans were interrupted when he was collected into the Second World War. It served in Europe with the 20th Panzer Division and finally reached the rank of Sergeant of the staff. After the war he returned to Minnesota and resumed his dream of Cartoon, taking on freelance work while developing his own concept.

In 1949 Schulz began publishing a strip called Li'L people in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. A year later, United Feature Syndicate offered to syndicate his work nationally – on one condition: the name had to change. Schulz loathed the replacement title peanuts and called it “completely ridiculous”. But he accepted the deal.

The very first “Peanuts” cartoon was released on October 2, 1950, a month after Charles turned 28. In his first year of syndication, only seven national papers agreed to operate the cartoon. Sigh. The syndication increased a little next year, and Schulz managed to earn 90 US dollars a week in license fees, which corresponds to around $ 1,200 per week in today's dollar ($ 62,000 per year). Until 1953 Peanuts was a hit and Charles earned $ 30,000 a year, corresponds 360,000 US dollars Today.

A billion dollar cartoon

Within a few decades, the strip was translated into over 2,600 newspapers, translated into 21 languages ​​and read daily by hundreds of millions. But the real assets came from licensing.

Peanuts became a merchandising juggernach. Schulz licensed his characters to Hallmark, Mattel and endless consumer goods. Snoopy appeared in Macys parades, on lunch boxes, wristwatches and pajamas. In the 1980s, Schulz deservedly earned 95 million US dollars today. From 1990 until his death in 2000, he entered 40 million US dollars annually and corresponds to around $ 80 million a year in $ 2025. At that time he made him the best paid entertainer in the world.

The most impressive, wrote Schulz and pulled all the individual peanuts themselves – a total of 17,897 – to the end. When he died of colon cancer on February 12, 2000, the last strip ran in newspapers the next day. In his will, Schulz insisted that no new Peanuts comic strips are drawn after his death -a rare act of artistic control in the world of syndicated comics.

At the time of his death in February 2000 at the age of 77, Charles Schulz was 200 million US dollars. That is the same as around $ 375 million in today's dollar. But that was just the beginning …

A posthumous rich

After Schulz's death, the Peanuts brand did not fade. If at all, it got stronger. Between 2001 and 2024, Schulz earned an average of $ 30 to 40 million per year. Here is a sample of the annual income of the estate:

• 2001–2005: 20 million USD to 35 million US dollars Annually from licensing, syndication and classic TV specials
• 2010: A crucial year. United Feature Syndicate, which had distributed peanuts since 1950, sold the IP to a newly formed joint venture called Peanuts Worldwide LLC. The buyer was a partnership between the Iconix Brand Group, which acquired 80% for $ 175 million and the Schulz family, which kept 20% owners, ongoing license fees and final creative approval about the use of the characters.
• 2015: The Peanuts Movie breeds $ 246 million worldwide and dissolves a sales storm $ 40m+
• 2016: Schulz 'estate achieved with an all -time high with $ 48m in income
• 2020–2024: Thanks to the new Apple TV+ series and the specials, the property deserves between $ 30 million and $ 40 million yearly

Everything told Schulz's estate has earned almost 1 billion US dollar since his death– More than most celebrities earn in their lives. Even today, Schulz is regularly one of the five best death celebrities every year.

Who owns peanuts today?

In 2010, United Feature Syndicate sold the Peanuts IP to Iconix Brand Group, which formed a new company called Peanuts Worldwide LLC. Schulz 'family kept a 20% share in the newly formed peanuts worldwide. Then, in 2017, Iconix sold his 80% division to the Canadian media company DHX Media (now called Wildbrain) for 345 million dollars.

In 2018, the Japanese Riese Sony Music Entertainment from Wildbrain acquired a 39% participation in peanuts and left the current property structure behind as follows:

• Wildbrain: ~ 41%
• Sony Music (Japan): ~ 39%
• Schulz family: 20%

The Schulz family – your company Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates – still benefits enormously. You have veto power for certain creative decisions and earn license fees for both property and license agreements. Schulz 'son Craig was very involved in the recent Peanuts productions and business decisions.

Charles' five children competed on the red carpet at the premiere of “The Peanuts Movie” in 2015. From left to right in the photo below are: Jill, Craig Schulz, Meredith, Monte and Amy Schulz.

Still draw dividends

A quarter of a century after his death, Charles Schulz 'Reich is still strong. New peanuts show stream to millions of Apple TV+ subscribers. Snoopy goods lines shelves made of Tokyo to aim at them. Vacation by “A Charlie Brown Christmas” will continue to enchant new generations – and calculate in license fees. What started as a modest comic strip has become one of the most durable commercial jugailers in media history.

It is easy to admire Schulz for his artistic discipline – for writing and drawing almost 18,000 stripes by hand because he refused to continue someone after his death, to build up the strip to build a world that has built up so emotionally that he survived it after decades. But it is also noteworthy to recognize the business behind the beagle: the license prospect, real estate management, the way in which peanuts have developed without ever refusing from the vision of his creator.

While Charlie Brown may never win a baseball game and Lucy never lets him step into this football, Schulz's legacy is anything but a drop of bitterness. In fact, it is a Blochead Level Blowout one billion dollar memory that Snoopy is still sleeping on the dog house even in the hereafter, Woodstock still chirs with joy and still deserves enough to hold the kite in the money tree.