In Contract Talks With Fox, Megyn Kelly’s Looking To Pull In Over $20 Million a Year

According to the Wall Street Journal, Fox News is in talks with arguably its biggest star to extend her contract. And it looks like they’re going to have to shell out a whole lotta cash to keep her.

Megyn Kelly, who has been all over the news these past 24 hours due to her on-air altercation with Newt Gingrich where he accused her of being “fascinated with sex,” currently makes $15 million annually and is in the last year of her contract.

In contract negotiations with Fox News, Kelly is now seeking to up that by more than $5 million per year.

For the final year of her current deal, Ms. Kelly is set to receive about $15 million, people familiar with the matter said. The people said she is seeking an average annual salary north of $20 million for her next contract—which would put her on par with Fox host Bill O’Reilly.

Mr. Murdoch said money isn’t an issue in the talks.

Ms. Kelly declined to comment.

The networks seen as most likely to make an aggressive play for Ms. Kelly are CNN, where she could go up against Fox News in prime-time, and ABC, where TV executives say she might fit well on “Good Morning America” or in an evening newsmagazine. CNN and ABC declined to comment.

Kelly’s program, The Kelly File, is the second highest rated show on cable news, ranking behind just The O’Reilly Factor.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona

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