Matt Lauer wants a crazy amount of money to stay on the “Today” show crew. Lauer’s contract is up in December and it’s assumed that he will be leaving the show unless he gets the millions he is demanding. Find out how much he is asking for after the jump.
We’re told negotiations are now ongoing — but if NBC agrees … Lauer could score as much as $30 MILLION a year.
As for why the change of heart — there are two schools of thought according to network sources. Some say Lauer changed his mind when network execs made it clear they were extremely interested in tapping Ryan Seacrest as Matt’s replacement — in other words, he got a little jealous.
But there’s another school of thought — that Lauer has wanted to re-sign all along and just played the “I’m leaving” card to score a bigger pay day.
As for whether Lauer is worth $30 mil … to put it in context, “Today” makes roughly $450 million a year for the network … more than any other show on NBC.
