Ryan Seacrest Focused on ‘Path to Becoming a Billionaire’ as He Continues to Dominate TV

Ryan Seacrest is under pressure to prove himself as a worthy successor to Pat Sajak on the long-running game show Wheel of Fortune, but a source exclusively tells Closer he’s way more focused on money than anything else.

“Ryan has pretty completely moved on from idolizing and emulating the late Dick Clark and seems fixated on the kind of mogul status that one of his other idols Merv Griffin built in the ’70s and ’80s,” says an insider involved in the WoF transition, adding that Ryan’s at work on many other lucrative projects in addition to the Wheel of Fortune gig.

“Ryan’s covered all the Merv-style bases: cable, primetime, game shows and talk shows,” the source points out.

At 49, the television personality has quite an extensive résumé. Ryan cohosted and served as executive producer of Live With Kelly and Ryan in addition to hosting American Idol, American Top 40 and On Air with Ryan Seacrest. He has received multiple Emmy nominations, winning one for being executive producer on Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.

He also became cohost of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve in 2005 before transitioning to the sole host following Dick’s death in 2012.

“The thing that’s been a little more elusive for him is synthesizing it all into one big empire that keeps creating long-running shows,” the source explains. “To use a sports metaphor, Ryan has hit a lot of home runs, but he’s never won the World Series and still has to prove he’s worthy of the Hall of Fame.”

That’s where Wheel of Fortune comes in, says the source, explaining it’s the reason “why Ryan felt it was worth departing” Live With Kelly and Ryan.

“First of all,” the source says, “Wheel has a bigger audience, and it stretches into sub-categories like computer and mobile games, merchandise and even Las Vegas slot machines. It’s everywhere in a way that a syndicated daytime talk show can never be.”

“It’s also one of the most stable franchises on TV and an extremely consistent moneymaker,” the insider continues. “Money is incredibly important to Ryan, and there is a master plan at work — he’s not hiding that.”

Now that Ryan finally took center stage during the season 42 premiere episode of Wheel of Fortune on September 9, he is already looking toward the future.

“The long-term goal for Ryan is to produce something as durable and exportable as Wheel himself,” the source says. “That is the path to becoming a billionaire, and the best way for Ryan to learn how to do that is to embed himself inside this franchise and learn from it from the ground up.”

Despite mixed fan reactions to Wheel of Fortune‘s new changes, Ryan has already brought viewership up.

During his debut week as host, Wheel of Fortune saw its largest premiere week audience in five years, per Nielsen. The premiere week averaged 8.31 million viewers, and the game show cemented itself as the No. 1 show in syndication. Week 1 earned the long-running program a 4.88 household rating.

The season 42 premiere episode was Wheel of Fortune‘s highest-rated season premiere audience in nine years. A whopping 9.63 million total viewers watched Ryan take the stage with letter-turner Vanna White for the first time.