Megyn Kelly will leave Fox News for NBC
News anchor Megyn Kelly is leaving Fox News to join NBC, where she will have a wideranging role. The move was announced Tuesday by NBC News chairman Andy Lack, who personally handled the negotiation to lure Kelly away from the cable channel that has been her professional home for 12 years.
“Megyn is an exceptional journalist and news anchor, who has had an extraordinary career,” Lack said in a memo sent to staffers. “She’s demonstrated tremendous skill and poise, and we’re lucky to have her.”
Kelly will host a daytime talk program and a Sunday night news magazine show and will have a role in its political and event coverage. The daytime show is likely to be a morning program that will follow the fourth hour of the “Today” show. No launch date has been set.
Kelly, 46, has been with Fox News for 12 years and is the anchor of its second mostwatched prime-time program, “The Kelly File.” Her contract, which currently pays her $15 million a year, is up in July.
Kelly was said to have an offer in the range of $20 million to remain at Fox News as she has long been a favorite of Lachlan and James Murdoch, who run parent company 21st Century Fox. People familiar with the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity said NBC did not match the Fox offer. But Kelly had made it clear in interviews and private conversations that money would not be the sole determining factor in deciding on her future.
In a statement on her Facebook page, Kelly said, “While I will greatly miss my colleagues at Fox, I am delighted to be joining the NBC News family and taking on a new challenge. I remain deeply grateful to Fox News, to Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch, and especially to all of the FNC viewers, who have taught me so much about what really matters.”