In an article published in the New York Times, author Bari Weiss collected some honest feedback from podcast pioneer Joe Rogan regarding his reported $100 million dollar Spotify deal. His reaction to becoming "weirdly richer" was that he "feels gross." For context, Rogan qualified his statement given the current social climate. "Especially right now, when people can't work."

It's that sort of candor that has made "The Joe Rogan Experience" the kind of platform worth nine figures. If anyone really needed to quantifiable proof, you could reference the 190 million downloads the podcast earns every month. (You read that correctly - EVERY MONTH.) What's particularly impressive is that just a couple of weeks prior to his mega deal, Rogan was working, resuming his role as a vital color commentator for the return of the UFC - the first major sporting event post-pandemic.

The article would go on to align Joe Rogan to the world of podcasting, in much the same way Howard Stern transformed radio. It has taken nearly 1500 episodes of JRE, but in that time Rogan has become a household name; no small feat for a comedian that doubles as a MMA analyst. Judging by the fact that Spotify added nearly $2 billion dollars to their market cap in the 30 minutes after the announcement certainly reiterates that this move was far from gross.