What Is Barack Obama Doing Now? Wall Street Speech May Fetch Former President $400,000

Former President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak at a Wall Street conference later in the year, according to a report Monday by Fox Business Network.

As Obama made his first public appearance since leaving the White House in January — at an event in the University of Chicago — the network cited people familiar with the matter saying he would appear at the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald LP’s healthcare conference in September. And according to the sources, Obama will be paid $400,000 to be the keynote speaker for one day at the event hosted by the company. The amount is nearly twice the money paid to fellow Democrat and the 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Read: Former President Barack Obama To Make First Public Appearance

While it is believed the former president has signed a contract for the speech in New York already, the firm is yet to make a formal announcement as it is in the process of coordinating with Obama.

The report surfaced just as the former president returned to Chicago to be a part of his first public event after months out of the limelight. As President Donald Trump took office in January, the Obamas set off for a vacation, and had been enjoying their retirement ever since.

During the event in Chicago, Obama refrained from mentioning President Trump or commenting on his policies in office. Instead, he focused on his message for the youth.

“There’s a reason why I am always optimistic, even when things look like they are sometimes not going the way I want,” Obama said at the conference about youth participation. “And that’s because of young people like this.”

“The single most important thing I can do,” he told the students, is to “help in any way I can prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton and to take their own crack at changing the world.”