Dan Brown Net Worth - Pulptastic

What Is Dan Brown’s Net Worth?

Dan Brown, the American author, has a net worth of $160 million, according to reports. He is most famous for his 2003 best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code, which has sold over 250 million copies worldwide. Two films based on the book starred Tom Hanks.

Dan Brown’s Early Life and Education

Dan Brown was born in 1964 in Exeter, New Hampshire. His father was a math teacher and his mother was a church organist. Brown developed an interest in puzzles and science from working on crossword puzzles and anagrams with his siblings. His father would design elaborate treasure hunts for holidays and birthdays, which inspired a chapter in “The Da Vinci Code”.

Brown attended Amherst College and graduated in 1986 with a degree in English and Spanish. He was part of the Psi Upsilon fraternity, played squash, sang in the glee club, and studied under novelist Alan Lelchuk. He also spent a year studying art history in Seville, Spain.

Dan Brown’s Career as a Writer

Dan Brown briefly explored a music career and formed his own record company called Dalliance. He took up teaching Spanish at Beverly Hills Preparatory School and met his love interest Blythe Newlon. In 1993, he decided to become a writer of thrillers, starting with Digital Fortress and co-writing a humor book with his wife under the pseudonym Danielle Brown. He quit teaching to become a full-time writer and went on to write Angels and Demons and Deception Point. His masterpiece, The Da Vinci Code, was an instant bestseller and made the New York Times’ Best Seller List in its first week. His other works include The Lost Symbol, Inferno, and Origin.

Legal Battles Over Plagiarism Claims Against Dan Brown

Author Lewis Perdue unsuccessfully sued Dan Brown in 2005 over alleged similarities between Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” and Perdue’s novels “The Da Vinci Legacy” and “Daughter of God.” In 2006, Brown’s publisher Random House won a copyright infringement case against Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, who claimed that Brown stole ideas from their book “Holy Blood Holy Grail.” The Court of Appeal of England and Wales rejected Baigent and Leigh’s claims and ordered them to pay nearly $6 million in legal fees. Author Jack Dunn also sued Brown twice for allegedly plagiarizing a part of his book “The Vatican Boys,” but neither lawsuit was allowed to go to a jury trial.

Philanthropy

Dan Brown and his siblings donated $2.2 million to Phillips Exeter Academy in 2004 to establish the Richard G. Brown Technology Endowment. The endowment provides equipment and computers to students in need. Brown also created a scholarship fund to commemorate his 25th reunion from Amherst College. The scholarship fund is permanently endowed and has a preference for incoming students interested in studying writing. In 2016, Brown donated $337,000 to the Ritman Library in Amsterdam for the digitization of ancient books.

Brown and Newlon’s Legal Battle

Dan Brown and Blythe Newlon were married for 21 years before getting a divorce in 2019. During the last part of their marriage, there were allegations that Brown had committed infidelities. In the summer of 2020, the former couple was involved in a legal battle.