Logo

NY Post

Report: Lester Holt Wants Brian Williams Money to Take Over Brian Williams’ Job

Jun 11, 2015  •  Post A Comment

Lester Holt, who appears poised to take over as permanent anchor on “NBC Nightly News,” wants the $10 million annual salary that his predecessor, Brian Williams, has been making, according to a report in the New York Post.

It’s looking increasingly unlikely that Williams will reclaim the job. The report says Williams, who has been on suspension after being caught in a series of exaggerations about his war coverage and other exploits, “will not return to ‘Nightly News’ following an internal investigation.” We reported earlier this month that NBC is exploring the option of keeping Williams at the network in some other capacity.

“Holt’s agents want to quietly renegotiate his contract with NBC as the network tries to reach a resolution over Williams,” the Post reports, adding: “But insiders tell us it’s Holt who’s got the upper hand as NBC News has no backup anchor plan.”

Holt has reportedly been receiving about $4 million a year for his role as weekend anchor on “Nightly News” and other assignments.

The report quotes an inside source saying: “Lester’s team feels that if he gets half of what Williams was making, the message to him and the newsroom is he’s half the anchor Brian was.”

The Post adds: “To make Holt happy, we hear NBC News could offer him what Williams was making before he signed his huge $10 million-a-year, five-year contract in 2014.”

Unfortunately, the Post article never mentions how much Williams was making before he signed his current deal.

All of this continual discussion about Brian Williams’ salary led us to question whether the press really knows how much he makes. Please click here to read that story.

nbc nightly news-logo

2 Comments

  1. He deserves every penny of it, especially if the network wants to take the tarnish off their news division from the Williams debacle. Lester is one of the hardest working people in news.

  2. Good Grief !!!
    $10 million a year? NBC News has no backup anchor plan?
    How hard can it be to find a reasonably priced script reader?
    It’s not as if either of them are real journalists.

Your Comment

Email (will not be published)