Original Story from Radar
Radar Online
Rachael Maddow’s massive $30 million deal is $5 million more than disgraced Matt Lauer was earning, making her other stars at NBC very uncomfortable.
“There is no way a cable network can pay Rachel this amount of money. She is earning more than Savannah Guthrie and Hoda pick up on NBC, with is making both of The Today Show hosts very uncomfortable,” sources tell Radar.
Rachel’s new package through 2024 comes with a great deal of power. She has always been the boss of MSNBC but now she might be taking over NBC too.
“Part of Rachel’s deal is producing more shows and appearing more on NBC. It is NBC that has the real money, clearly, for the amount of money she is making, there will be much more cross-over,” adds an insider.
“Savannah started her career as the White House correspondent and still thinks of herself as a political reporter. She has deep sources in DC and being best friends with George W Bush’s daughter, Jenna, is no coincidence. Savannah isn’t going to hand over the political beat to Rachel without a fight. These two are already distant. It’s only going to get worse now that Rachel makes more money.”
Rachel’s new deal came after months of extensive negotiations between the anchor and the network. Prior to her signing on the dotted line, sources claimed she was ready to leave MSNBC after 13 years.
Insiders claimed Rachel was tired of hosting a nightly show and wanted to spend more time with her family. She hired Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and President Mark Shapiro to represent her in the contract talks with MSNBC. Eventually, the parties were able to hash out a deal where Rachel worked less but was paid more.
The television source said Rachel was interested in pursuing podcast offers and wasn’t necessarily headed towards another network.
The new deal has Rachel doing a weekly show instead of a nightly and will allow her to work on other passion projects under the NBC umbrella. The terms make sense given Rachel has been the highest-rated host on MSNBC for some time.
