By Youssef El Kaidi
Morocco World News
Fez, May 23, 2013
After retiring from politics, a number of former presidents and government officials turn giving highly paid speeches into their newly found career.
Over the past two decades, speaking for money has been a very lucrative business for many ex-presidents and government officials. After leaving office, these officials embark on extensive travels around the world giving paid speeches and racking up fortunes of millions of dollars in speaking fees. Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush Senior, Bush Junior and Bill Clinton have all reportedly resorted to paid speeches to find financial security after leaving presidency.
Former US president Bill Clinton has surpassed all his predecessors and become among the most popular top-tier speakers around, commanding up to $450,000 for his oratory skills.
However, a recent report on Sky News Arabic TV channel placed the American businessman Donald Trump’s fees on top of the highest speaking fees ever paid. He was reportedly paid $1.5 million for each speech he delivered between 2006 and 2007.
In 11 years as a citizen, former president Bill Clinton is said to have delivered 471 paid speeches and earned an average of $189,000 per event. In the same period, he has reportedly increased his wealth with more than $90 million. The highest fee ever paid to Bill Clinton was $750,000 following his speech in Hong Kong to Swedish-based telecom giant Ericsson.
The same report ranks former British Prime Minister Tony Blair third after Donald Trump and Bill Clinton. Tony Blair earned $616,000 in two speeches of thirty minutes each in the Philippines in 2009 (one speech was entitled “The Leader as Nation Builder in a Time of Globalization” for which he earned $308,000); that is to say, $10,000 per minute.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton who left office on February 1, 2013 has recently joined her husband Bill Clinton in The Harry Walker Agency which is the World’s Leading Speakers’ Agency. Hillary Clinton will be under demand as a speaker for her insights and political experience and will consequently be paid $200,000 per two hours; which is more than her annual net income ($186,000) when she was a Secretary of State.