Matt Lauer Departure Rumors Lead To Rumors Of $25 Million/Year Contract Talks

Yes, he can

Two days after a rumor that Meredith Vieira will leave the Today Show this year, another one popped up about Matt Lauer leaving the show when his contract is up at the end of the year! But TMZ claims that Lauer is just taking advantage of NBC's desperation to keep the top morning talk show team in place and wants $25 million/year, up from his current $17 million/year.

The Today Show is a cash cow for NBC—it generated $454 million in advertising revenue last year (Reuters reports that second-place Good Morning America earned $314 million for ABC).
Media company Optimedia's chief broadcast buyer Maureen Bosetti told the Hollywood Reporter, "We're concerned that having two hosts leave at the same time is very jarring. It would be very concerning especially as we're about to put a lot of money on that show... When there is uncertainty about ratings you ask how much investment do you want to make. It will impact some of the decision-making we have to do in the next month or so." In other words, NBC better get a handle on this, press releases be damned!

Lauer has been with the Today Show since 1997—before that, he was with WNBC 4.

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By Jen Chung in Arts & Entertainment on April 8, 2011 11:48 AM

Comments [rss]

splicernyc

Hey, Matt. I'm sure you can talk your contract negotiations over with the couple of dozen people who work behind the scenes who might get a 2% raise this year if the company is feeling generous enough. But please enjoy your $25 mil -- that $17 mil was such an insult to a scary talent like you.

Peanut_Butter

Good, time to get a hot chick back in there.

Spirit of 76

Let him go. With $25 million, NBC could do one hell of a nationwide talent search for the new hosts. There have got to be a ton of good actors and actresses out there who just need a decent break and would do it for less than seven figures per year.

Politburo

Sure, but from NBC's perspective, there's this... Morning for many people is a routine. You get up at the same time, put on the same morning show, do your shower/etc. in the same order, etc. etc.. If your morning program changes hosts, that breaks the routine and then maybe you try a different morning show. Now you're not watching NBC.

Now maybe that's not worth $25 million to you or me, but the Today Show is #1 and NBC might want to spend $25m to keep it that way.

GothamExtremist

A good actor or actress does not make a good talk show host, lets nip the butt on this one shall we?

Spirit of 76

Sorry, wrong. Actors have a long and distinguished history in morning shows. You can go back to David Hartman when he helped make Good Morning America number 1 for a decade. Gary Collins in Hour Magazine. Another very popular morning personality is one Kelly Ripa, who is a soap opera actress. Lauer's colleague, Willard Scott, got his break as Bozo the Clown and then the original Ronald McDonald. All it takes is someone comfortable in front of the camera, who's affable, personable, easy on the eyes and quick with a quip. Morning shows have gone through a lot of hosts in the last 40 years. They'll go through many more before they're done. Sooner or later, Lauer will leave. They can try to hang onto him with a ridiculous salary, but he'll threaten to leave again in another few years. Or they can look for his replacement now.

Bx_VonW

and let's get our cliches correct, it's "nip it in the bud" extremist

GothamExtremist

You must be from the midwest.

Bx_VonW

why, because I know the correct term originates from pruning?

i'm not, but nice try.

Smith Corona

KABAM! The ultimate insult.

Guest

I love that these are the same people that act appalled at the bonuses that Wall Street executives take home. $17 (or 25) million a year to host a morning talk show is RIDICULOUS!