Conan O'Brien Receives $45 Million Settlement

The late night tv host Conan O'Brien has reached a $45 million settlement with the televison network NBC. O'Brien will get a severance of $32.5 million whether he gets another hosting job or not. NBC will also pay $4.5 million to the executive producer. O'Brien has agreed to not have another hosting job until at least September of this year. His last show will be on Friday.

Singer R. Kelly Finalizes Divorce

The singer R. Kelly is now officially divorced from his wife of 11 years, named Andrea Lee. They had filed for divorce in 2006 and Lee is reported to have received more than $50 million in the divorce settlement. They will share joint custody of their three children. This is after Kelly was acquitted of child porn charges this past summer.

Singer Madonna Settles Divorce

The singer Madonna has settled the divorce with her ex-husband Guy Ritchie for more than $76 million. The settlement is in the range of $76 million to $92 million as apart of the divorce agreement. This amount includes their country home in western England. The couple's west London pub would also go to Ritchie. The couple is supposedly worth around $525 million and most of that belongs to Madonna. Richie's worth is about $35 million. The couple have two children together. Madonna also has a child from previous relationship and a child that she had adopted from Malawi in 2006.

Wesley Snipes Sentenced to Prison

The actor Wesley Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday for not filing income taxes that he claimed he never had to pay. He gave the federal government three checks for $5 million that was delivered while in court. Prosecutors didn’t want to accept the checks at first but by the end of the day they did. After that he was still sentenced to three years in prison to made an example out of to warn other people what could happen if they don’t file their taxes.

Google’s Mission to the Moon

Google is offering $30 million dollars to the first private company that can land a robotic rover on the moon and beam back a gigabyte of images and video to Earth. Google has partnered with the X Prize Foundation for this contest and it is open to companies around the world.
Whoever fills the requirements of the contest by the end of 2012 gets $20 million dollars. The winner must be able to have a successful landing and have high-definition video and still cameras. The rover must also be able to trek at least 1,312 feet on the moon and send self-portraits, panoramic views, and near-real time video back to Earth that will be streamed on Google’s website. The participants must create a secure launch vehicle for the probe by building it themselves or contracting with a private rocket company.
If there is no winner, the prize will drop to $15 million dollars until the contest ends in 2014. There is a $5 million dollar second-place prize and a $5 million dollar bonus to the teams that go beyond the minimum requirements.