Hoda Kotb Quit ‘Today’ Rather Than Accept Offer Below $20 Million

Hoda Kotb reportedly quit hosting the Today show after executives proposed a pay cut in her salary. Puck reports that Kotb had been earning more than $20 million a year—a price that networks are increasingly reluctant to pay in a time when ratings for morning shows like Today and Good Morning America have dropped from around 5 million viewers a decade ago to around 2.8 million currently. While co-host Savannah Guthrie also earns more than $20 million (and Matt Lauer was raking in $25 million before he was fired) it is widely expected that an economic realignment is coming to morning television. That is also likely to be the case over at ABC, where Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan cost the company a total of $75 million a year. A source close to Kotb however told the Daily Beast that “Salary played no role in Hoda’s decision.”