How a Reddit and YouTube star earned its owners $100m in two years

Grumpy Cat is two-and-a-half years old, cost her owners nothing  - and yet earns more in a year than Cristiano Ronaldo.

Real name "Tardar Cat” – but now answering to "Grumpy” – the distinctively peeved pet has earned 28-year-old Tabatha Bundesen and her Arizona family a reported $100 million (£64 million).

It is now generally accepted that a photo posted to Reddit, Twitter or Facebook can launch an internet sensation. What is more remarkable, though, is the way Grumpy has been carefully transformed into a miserable-looking money-making machine.

Her earnings from merchandise, advertising and other revenues beat the estimated £27.1 million earned this year by Ronaldo. Forbes put Gwyneth Paltrow’s income for 2013 at just over £12 million.

Grumpy’s owner told the Express: "What she’s achieved in such a short time is unimaginable and absolutely mind-blowing.

"I was able to quit my job as a waitress within days of her first appearance on social media and the phone simply hasn’t stopped ringing since.”

The business of making Grumpy a millionaire is complex, and as such she has an agent. Ben Lashes, a self-proclaimed "meme manager”, has translated the public's thirst for videos of animals doing daft things into cold hard cash. His clients also include Keyboard Cat and Nyan Cat, as well as non-felines from Doge to Ridiculously Photogenic Guy.

(independent.co.uk)

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