PAY STORM EVANS QUITS BBC
» £1.6m star gets £400k rise to join Virgin... and will make millions more » Move comes just a year after Beeb chiefs’ bid to make him pay more tax
CHRIS Evans is quitting Radio 2 for Virgin Radio in a £2million deal, a year after his BBC salary row.
The Beeb had revealed his pay, cut it to £1.6million and wanted to up his tax.
It will leave the £50million star free to strike lucrative commercial deals. But a pal insisted: “Money was not a factor.”
CHRIS Evans yesterday insisted his move to Virgin Radio represented a new challenge as he leaves behind 15million listeners a week for just 413,000 at the digital-only station.
But the £2million deal will also land him a handsome pay rise from his £1.6million BBC Radio 2 salary as well as the chance to make millions more from commercial opportunities.
Evans yesterday announced he was quitting after eight years at the helm. It came just a year after the backlash over his mega-money salary at the Beeb, when he had to take a £600,000 wage cut and high-earning stars such as him were ordered to pay more tax.
But he told listeners on his breakfast show: “Some of us are mountain climbers and, if you get to the top of your favourite mountain, you become a mountain observer, so I’ve got to keep climbing. I’m going to on a new adventure.” Evans, worth £50million, hosted a breakfast show on Virgin Radio, from 1997 to 2001, and claimed it was “my spiritual home”.
A pal added: “He is moving to a station with a comparatively small audience for a new challenge. If you are working for the BBC there are lots of commercial opportunities you can’t do. Money was not a factor in terms of what he got paid and will get paid now on air, but opportunity is a factor in terms of what he can do for Virgin and outside commercially.”
It was announced last year Evans, 52, was the BBC’s highest earner on £2.2million when salaries of its biggest stars were revealed to a furious nation.
His pay cut to £1.6million was down to him quitting as Top Gear presenter, but he was still the Beeb’s second best paid personality after Gary Lineker.
Bosses also announced plans to tax stars at source at the full 45% PAYE rate for salaries of £150,000-plus. Until then, they enjoyed self-employed status, meaning salaries were routed through personal service companies so they pay only 20% corporation tax.
Evans, who is expecting twins with wife Natasha, told listeners his final Radio 2 show will be in December.
Zoe Ball and Sara Cox are among the favourites to replace him.
He is moving for a new challenge. Money was not a factor
FRIEND ON EVANS’ RADIO MOVE FROM BBC TO VIRGIN
SO Chris Evans is leaving the BBC a year after it emerged that he might be taxed like any normal employee.
We wish him well in his new job at Virgin Radio but the Beeb is right that top-earning stars should pay the top rate of tax.