how much was alex honnold paid for taipei 101
Alex Honnold has not publicly revealed an exact dollar amount for his Taipei 101 climb, but multiple reports say his Netflix fee was in the “mid–six figures” (roughly somewhere in the hundreds of thousands of dollars).
Did anyone report a specific number?
No reliable outlet has published a precise figure like “$300,000” or
“$500,000.”
Instead, they all repeat the same line from coverage of his New York Times
interview:
- His compensation is described as a “mid-six figures” payment.
- Honnold himself called it an “embarrassing amount” when compared to big-league sports contracts.
So if you’re asking “how much was Alex Honnold paid for Taipei 101,” the most accurate answer so far is: a mid–six–figure sum, not publicly broken down any further.
Why is it called “embarrassingly small”?
In interviews around the January 2026 Netflix “Skyscraper Live” event:
- Honnold compared his fee to Major League Baseball players signing contracts around $170 million , saying that made his own pay look tiny.
- He also said it might be his biggest single payday for a climb, but still less than his agent had hoped for.
- He emphasized he would “do it for free” because the main draw for him was the challenge, not the money.
That’s why coverage and forum discussions frame it as both a huge amount for a climber and oddly low relative to the risk and to mainstream sports TV money.
Quick HTML fact list (for “Quick Scoop” section)
| Fact | Details |
|---|---|
| Event | Free solo climb of Taipei 101 for a live Netflix special (“Skyscraper Live”). | [1][2][7][3]
| Height of Taipei 101 | About 1,667 feet (508 meters). | [2][7][9][3]
| Exact pay disclosed? | No, the contract amount has not been made public. | [7][9][1][3][5]
| Reported range | Described by major outlets as a “mid- six figures” fee. | [9][3][5][7]
| How Honnold described it | Called it an “embarrassing amount” compared with major sports salaries. | [1][3][5][7][9]
| Motivation | He said he would do it for free; the main motivation was the climb itself, not the paycheck. | [5][9]
Forum / “latest news” angle
Recent articles and discussion threads in January 2026 are all circling the same talking points:
- Headlines highlight that he was paid an “embarrassingly small amount” for such a dangerous live stunt.
- Commenters debate whether a mid–six–figure check is fair for a one-off, ultra-risky climb broadcast worldwide.
- Many point out the contrast between:
- Honnold’s life-on-the-line performance, and
- Athletes in established leagues earning nine-figure contracts.
So as of now, if you’re writing or posting about this, the honest, up-to-date formulation is:
Alex Honnold’s exact Taipei 101 paycheck isn’t public, but major outlets report that Netflix paid him a mid–six–figure sum, which he’s called “an embarrassing amount” compared to big sports salaries.
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.