Hoda Kotb sent shockwaves through Today show viewers after calling it quits following five years on air. While Kotb, 60, publicly cited family as the reason for her departure, a Puck report published Friday, September 27, suggested that there may have been financial factors contributing to her exit. The outlet reported that a source with direct knowledge of her salary said Kotb was making more than $20 million in her role, and NBC proposed a pay cut.
“This is the age of the great resetting of TV news contracts,” a media executive told Puck . “Everyone is getting their pay cut or their jobs eliminated.” According to the outlet, NBC executives were finding it hard to justify the salary given the TV industry’s decline, despite the co-anchor’s value to the network.
( Today averages 2.8 million viewers versus 5 million viewers a decade ago.) Us Weekly has reached out to Kotb’s rep for comment.
Live on air, Kotb announced she was leaving the Today show on Thursday, September 26. “I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new. This is the right time for me to move on,” she tearfully revealed.
She added that her daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 4, were motivations for her decision to walk away. At the same time, a letter written by Kotb was shared on Today’s website. “As I write this, my heart is all over the map,” Kotb wrote.
“I know I’m making the right decision, but it’s a painful one. And you all are the reason why.