In a surprise news, one of the biggest stars of Fox News Channel is leaving the network this week to host a couple of shows on NBC News. Words have it that this move would make Megyn Kelly the highest-paid female news anchor.
Megyn Kelly will exit "The Kelly File" on Fox News this Friday. The program that airs at 9PM every weekday is the second-most watch program among all cable news, according to Deadline, bringing in some 2.7 million viewers. Reports say that Kelly already earns about $15 million a year with Fox. Given that, speculations abound as to how much NBC News would be paying her.
The details of Megyn Kelly's contract with NBC News are kept confidential, so there are no confirmed details as to how much she would be earning after her transfer. But according to Forbes, Fox was willing to pay her up to $20 million, which apparently was not a successful offer to keep Kelly.
NBC had previously admitted that they can't match Fox's offer to Megyn Kelly, but she being "an exceptional journalist and news anchor, who has had an extraordinary career," as NBC put said, the network might have come up with something really close.
While NBC's salary offer for Megyn Kelly is lower than Fox's, the former is said to provide the host a better working condition. But that would perhaps depend on how Kelly would be able to balance her time now that she would be hosting a daytime news and talk show, a Sunday night news, and other special programming such as political coverage and big-ticket events.
Estimates suggest that Megyn Kelly might be receiving around $18 million to $18.5 million pay from NBC. That is still lower than Matt Lauer's $25 million ("Today") and Bill O'Reilly's $18.5 million "The O'Reilly Factor"). The current highest-paid female news anchor is Robin Roberts ("Good Morning America"), who earns $18 million a year.
Megyn Kelly currently has a net worth of $15 million, with a base salary of $270,000 in an annual package of $9 million, according to Notjustrich.com.
