Harry and Meghan's last surviving media deal is their £81m Netflix one
Meghan only has Netflix left: £81m deal with streaming service is last surviving major deal in her media empire after Spotify dropped plans for a second series of her podcast
- Meghan’s Archetypes podcast was scrapped by Spotify after only one series
Meghan Markle was today dealt a crushing blow after bosses at streaming giant Spotify announced they were axing her Archetypes podcast after just one season.
The move is expected to see Meghan and husband Prince Harry losing the full £15million ($20million) payout after the show failed to hit production level targets – following a sluggish start.
In a statement, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex insisted the split was a ‘mutual’ decision between the couple and the streaming giant.
But the ditching of the podcast now means the royal pair’s last major surviving deal is the £81million ($103.6million) with Netflix.
The cancellation might prove a significant stumbling block in any ambition by the Sussexes’ to set up their own $1bn media empire, say experts, after their acrimonious split with the Royal Family, which this year saw Prince Harry bearing all in his explosive memoire, Spare – that earned him a staggering £16million.
Since quitting their royal duties in 2020 and jetting off to California to live in their new $14million nine-bedroom mansion, the couple have been building a complex network of ‘entertainment’ companies to help promote ‘their truth’.
Now MailOnline has delved into all the firms and media deals the couple have been linked with since starting their new life in America – as well as the other organisations still under the Sussexes’ umbrella.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry now have just one major media deal left with Netflix following the cancellation of the Duchess of Sussex’s Spotify podcast, Archetypes. Pictured is a clip from Harry & Meghan on Netflix, released last year
But the royal tycoons have created a complex network of companies based in the tax haven Delaware since they moved to America. Meghan is pictured on the couple’s Netflix documentary
Some of the 11 companies linked to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, which help in overseeing their media empire
Netflix – the last major mega deal left for Harry and Meghan:
Since ‘Megxit’, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had signed lucrative deals said to be worth more than £100million with Netflix and Spotify, as well as Prince Harry’s three-book deal with Penguin Random House.
READ MORE: Why Harry and Meghan’s brand could come crashing down: Experts warn Sussexes could lose up to $10m in deals after Spotify parted ways with royal pair – but Duchess could build an empire like Gwyneth Paltrow or the Kardashians
Netflix reportedly paid the lion’s share of the huge cash injection, reportedly shelling out a whopping £81million for Harry and Meghan’s bombshell docuseries ‘Harry & Meghan’ last December as part of a multi-year deal with the firm.
The series became Netflix’s second-highest ranked documentary ever – behind The Tinder Swindler.
Harry and Meghan are now believed to be in talks to front their latest documentary with the global streaming titan, which will see them meeting communities in South Africa, sources have claimed.
The Sunday Mirror reports Prince Harry, 38, and Meghan, 41, will be shown helping to build houses in the villages they will visit with the series thought to take a ‘humanitarian’ focus as Meghan brings awareness to safe birthing practices.
A source told the newspaper: ‘The cameras will follow [The Sussexes] as they visit compounds and share medical education’.
They added the production will be a combined project from Netflix and the couple’s Archewell Foundation.
The source revealed: ‘Meghan is particularly keen to share information about giving birth safely with the women she meets.’
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, pictured at the Nyanga Township in Cape Town in 2019, took Prince Archie on their royal tour of South Africa. It’s now thought their latest Netflix documentary will focus on their time in South Africa
Netflix reportedly paid more than £80million for Harry and Meghan’s bombshell docuseries as part of a multi-year deal with the streaming giant
Harry and Meghan’s reported project in South Africa will be their third in conjunction with Netflix, following their bombshell six-part docuseries in December 2022 and their ‘Live to Lead’ series, which aired on New Year’s Eve in 2022.
It will document the couple’s ‘return to South Africa’, according to the source, following their royal tour which saw them visit the nation in 2019.
During the tour, the couple met with community members in townships around Cape Town while travelling with Prince Archie, and were pictured smiling and laughing as they danced with locals.
Reports of the Sussexes’ new series come as the Duchess signed with a new talent agency, William Morris Entertainment (WME) .
Meghan and Archewell will be represented by the firm, which also lists Serena Williams and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as clients, Variety reported – although it is understood the former Suits star will not be focusing on acting.
The Royal couple’s Archewell Foundation
Archwell is Harry and Meghan’s media and charitable foundation, set up following to their move to the US.
The Foundation, created by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after they stepped down as senior royals in 2020, has been helping to fund charitable causes across the globe.
Based in the US, tax records released this year show it gave out about £2.5million ($3million) in grants and raised £10million ($13million) from wealthy benefactors.
Its understood the charity is mostly propped up by two wealthy philanthropists who contributed a combined $13million, while taking in a meager $4,470 (£3,480) from the public for their work.
The Archewell Foundation’s 2021 tax filings reveal it was mostly propped up by two philanthropists whose contributions make up the majority of the charity’s $13million revenue
The Sussexes launched Archewell in April 2020 after applying to trademark the name a month earlier
A handout by Archewell shows Prince Harry taking part in a Q&A with the San Francisco-based company BetterUp, which provides coaching and mental health services to businesses and individuals in 2021
In total, Archewell received a total $13,005,660 – with $10million coming from an individual donor as DailyMail.com first reported, $3million from another, and $4,470 from other ‘contributions and grants. The remaining $1,190 came from ‘investment income’, documents obtained by DailyMail.com reveal.
Prince Harry’s explosive memoir Spare netted him a small fortune
As well as the couple’s massive contract with Netflix, Prince Harry also bagged a lucrative book deal to produce his tell-all memoir Spare – which netted £16million.
The royal’s bombshell autobiography became the fastest-selling non-fiction book since records began in 1998, publishers claimed, selling more than 3.2million copies worldwide in its first week.
While in the UK, it notched up more than 750,000 sales during the same period, according to publishers Transworld, the UK division of Penguin Random House.
It’s understood that Prince Harry has donated a sizeable amount of the money made from the publication to charity, with the father-of-two expected to give somewhere in the region of £1.6million to good causes.
Since ‘Megxit’, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have signed lucrative deals said to be worth more than £100million with Netflix, Spotify, and Penguin Random House
The Duke and Duchess’s ‘entertainment’ firms in Delaware tax-haven
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have set up a complex network of ‘entertainment’ firms all based in the opaque tax haven state of Delaware – despite living and doing business in California.
Meghan’s longtime lawyer and business manager have incorporated 11 companies and a trust for the couple since April 2020, state filings reveal, including a firm apparently set up for Harry’s multi-million-dollar memoir book deal.
A further two, Cloverdale Inc and Riversoul. were added by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex earlier this year to their growing business empire.
Names for the companies include an intriguing Japanese term for deal making, a reference to Meghan’s freckles in Spanish, a South American river, and a possible allusion to a $44,000 ‘babymoon’ getaway the couple took in 2019.
The firms are all headquartered in the Beverly Hills offices of attorney Richard Genow, who has worked with the Duchess for years.
Also appearing on company filings for all 11 firms is her business manager Andrew Meyer, a well-connected money guru whose clients have included Jon Chu, Anna Kendrick, Adam Driver, Kathryn Hahn, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ellen Pompeo.
One of the couple’s companies is named for a Japanese term meaning the informal process of quietly laying the foundation for a project
Among the companies inked by Meyer and Genow are two publishing firms. The first, Peca Publishing LLC, was set up in September 2020 and used by Meghan to hold the rights for her kids book The Bench. Peca is Spanish for freckle, and appears to be a reference to a book Meghan wrote in eighth grade titled A Face Without Freckles… Is a Night Without Stars
In September 2020 Orinoco Publishing LLC was incorporated– though it didn’t register its status in California until December 22, 2021. It is unclear what the couple will use Orinoco for, though it is likely it was set up to hold the rights for Harry’s blockbuster book deal with Penguin Random House for his memoir, due for publication later this year
The 1,400 mile Orinoco River flows through Colombia and Venezuela. Its name is derived from a Warao term for ‘a place to paddle’
Among the companies inked by Meyer and Genow are two publishing firms. The first, Peca Publishing LLC, was set up in September 2020 and used by Meghan to hold the rights for her children’s book The Bench.
The same day a second company was incorporated, Orinoco Publishing LLC – though it didn’t register its status in California until December 22, 2021.
It is unclear what the couple will use Orinoco for, though it is likely it was set up to hold the rights for Harry’s blockbuster book deal with Penguin Random House for his memoir, due for publication later this year.
The word ‘peca’ means freckle in Spanish, and appears to be a reference to a book Meghan wrote in eighth grade titled A Face Without Freckles… Is a Night Without Stars, a copy of which currently sits in the Congressional Library.
Harry’s company Orinoco Publishing LLC may be a reference to one of his mother’s favorite songs.
In an interview for the 2017 ITV documentary Diana: Our mother, Her Life and Legacy, the prince recalled a fond memory of sitting in the passenger seat while his mother drove her BMW with the top down, listening to popular 1980s artist Enya.
One of her hits was called Orinoco Flow.
Its chorus includes the repeated refrain ‘sail away’, and one line even mentions his new home of California: ‘From Bali to Cali, far beneath the Coral Sea.’
Orinoco is also the name of a South American river, which flows through Venezuela and Colombia.
Some of the Sussexes’ Delaware firms were set up to hold the trademarks for their charity Archewell and its associated companies.
Meghan’s podcast with Spotify was axed after just one series. She is pictured on the podcast
Prince Harry and Meghan have a number of ‘entertainment’ firms that are based in the tax haven state of Delaware in the US. Harry and Megan pictured in 2020 at the UN Nelson Mandela Prize award ceremony
In a complicated structure, Harry and Meghan set up Cobblestone Lane LLC as the holder of the Archewell logo, but lodged another trademark filing for a second logo, with just the letters ‘AW’ on top of each other, under a different Delaware firm, IPHW LLC.
Cobblestone Lane LLC was incorporated in Delaware in February 2020 and five days later was used as the applicant to file for the Archewell trademark.
Though both Archewell and Cobblestone are based in California, there were no filings for the LLC registered with the California Secretary of State.
On January 2, 2022 the company filed an ‘application to register as a foreign limited liability company’, noting it was incorporated on February 27, 2020 in Delaware. Unlike Harry and Meghan’s other companies, it shares a business address with the British Consulate-General in Los Angeles, rather than being based at Genow’s offices.
Delaware-based IPHW did register with the California Secretary of State on July 16 2021.
Companies that have already drawn international attention over the Sussexes’ high-profile entertainment deals with Netflix and Spotify include Archewell Audio LLC and Archewell Productions LLC.
But Meghan’s money men also incorporated Baobab Holdings LLC in February last year, writing in company documents that the firm was for ‘investments’.
The baobab is a distinctive tree native to Africa and Australia.
Harry and Meghan are understood to be launching a new series with Netflix which follows their journey in South Africa
The companies are all headquartered in the Beverly Hills offices of attorney Richard Genow (left), who has worked with the Duchess for years. Also appearing on company filings for the firms firms is her business manager Andrew Meyer (right), a well-connected money guru
Meghan thanked her now-estranged father Thomas in her book A Face Without Freckles…Is A Day Without Stars, written when she was in eighth grade
Harry and Meghan had a getaway weekend at Heckfield Place Hotel in Hampshire, England, just before son Archie was born. It could be the inspiration for naming one of their companies Hampshire LLC
Two ‘entertainment’ companies founded by Genow and Meyer in January last year were Bridgemount LLC and Hampshire LLC.
The latter’s name may be a reference to Harry and Meghan’s memorable holiday at a Hampshire five-star 18th century Georgian mansion where they had a three-night stay in the final weeks of Meghan’s pregnancy in Spring 2019.
The distinctive baobab tree is native to Africa and Australia
A friend told the Sun at the time: ‘Meghan is only a couple of weeks away from giving birth, so Harry really wanted to treat her.’
Nemawashi Holdings, LLC was set up September 2020 and was described only as a ‘holding company’ by Genow and Meyer. Nemawashi is a Japanese term meaning the informal process of quietly laying the foundation for a project.
Another company set up a month earlier is called RPV Holdings, LLC.
Genow told the Hollywood Reporter in November that he has known Meyer professionally and as a friend for more than 15 years.
Meyer, a certified public accountant and founder of Beverly Hills entertainment wealth management firm Freemark Financial, lives with his wife Stephanie in a $6million, six-bed, 6,000 sq ft property in the exclusive neighborhood of Holmby Hills, Los Angeles.
Even before 2020 Meghan’s financial team already discreetly made a significant move involving the Duchess’s company Frim Fram Inc – the firm behind her popular lifestyle blog The Tig.
According to Delaware business records, on December 30, 2019, Frim Fram Inc was registered as a new corporation in the state.
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