Rachel Maddow Reportedly Taking Massive Pay Cut At MSNBC As Worries Loom Over Shake-Up
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has reportedly agreed to take a “far lesser amount” than her current $30 million a year as worries loom among MSNBC staff after parent company Comcast revealed its plan to spin off several NBCUniversal channels — including that network — into a new company.
Maddow, who has been with MSNBC since 2008, renegotiated her deal with the network and is set to make $25 million annually for the next five years, a $5 million per year pay cut, The Ankler reported Thursday.
Executives told the outlet that Maddow has been “ratings Viagra” for MSNBC and the network “needed to keep her” amid an uncertain time.
“No one else can do what she does. You can’t build a brand like it overnight,” one unnamed executive told The Ankler.
MSNBC did not immediately respond to a HuffPost request for comment.
Comcast’s plan, which is set to take about a year, would create a company called SpinCo to house a number of assets including MSNBC, CNBC, E!, Golf Channel, Oxygen and Syfy. The assets set to move to SpinCo generated $7 billion in revenue for the year ending Sept. 30, according to Comcast.
The news of Maddow’s pay cut comes as MSNBC staffers are “in a panic” over the network’s future, sources told The New York Post earlier this week.
NBCUniversal Chair Mark Lazarus — in a meeting that included Maddow along with on-air talent such as Chris Jansing and Katy Tur — told staffers he wasn’t sure if MSNBC would have to change its name or headquarters due to the planned spin-off, according to The Post.
“People don’t really know what’s going on. They had the election, holidays are coming up. People are tired and just trying to get through,” one source said.
An unnamed NBC News producer — in remarks to TheWrap — said staffers are “in the dark” over what the shake-up means for their outlet’s relationship with MSNBC moving forward, adding that they expect the ties to be “cut off.”
There have been concerns over changes for on-air talent, too, as MSNBC’s total daily viewership has sank significantly since Donald Trump won the election.
“Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough — who has faced backlash along with co-host Mika Brzezinski this week for deciding to “restart communications” with Trump — awkwardly joked Wednesday that “we could all be fired a year from now” while addressing a Wall Street Journal report on Comcast’s plan.
