He has sold out for the amazing price of $56.5 million.

But wait, there’s more!

The company, Chatsworth-based Ronco Corp., has also gone public and is set to expand.

“I ran the business like an entrepreneur, not like a businessman,” Popeil said. “I had about 170 employees, but I never really got involved. I hate the day-to-day stuff.”

Popeil’s inventions and infomercials have become such a part of pop culture that the Smithsonian Institution placed one of his most famous products, the Veg-O-Matic, in its collection of artifacts of American life. But now, at 70, he wants to spend more time with his two young daughters, aged 3 and 5½ (he has three adult daughters from previous marriages).

The new company plans to develop more products, bring Popeil’s brand into more retail stores, reach into ethnic markets and expand online sales – all avenues that other direct sales companies have taken in recent years.

Popeil will consult on inventions and continue to appear in television spots. His deal includes a three-year consulting agreement that will pay him $500,000 a year and a percentage of gross profits for products he promotes. Additionally, he will receive $10,000 for every guest appearance on TV or at a retailer, $50,000 for every infomercial produced and $50,000 for each appearance on Home & Garden Television, according to the company’s prospectus.

“Ron tests all his products in his home. His kitchen is his own lab,” said Gilbert Azafrani, the company’s general counsel. “Every time I’ve been to his house, for every meeting, he’s cooking and wants you to taste something. He’s constantly inventing and testing some kind of spatula or utensil.”

In his blood
Popeil became a salesman as a teenager, hawking kitchen products that his father had invented. He developed his demonstration techniques at a Woolworth’s in Chicago.

Popeil skipped college and after some success selling in department stores and on state and county fair circuits, he moved to television in the 1950s. He produced his first 60-second commercial for $500 for the Ronco Spray Gun, a garden hose attachment invented by his father.

In 1964, he started his own company, Ronco Corp., and sold the Chop-O-Matic and Veg-O-Matic, two kitchen utensils invented by his father, exclusively on television. He went on to invent some 30 different products, including the Pocket Fisherman, a folding fishing pole, in 1972.

But Popeil has had his share of failures. In 1987, he filed for bankruptcy, blaming his bank that he said had been in financial trouble. The bank demanded payment on debt by taking control of Ronco’s assets. Popeil had to buy back his assets for $2 million.