Rachel Maddow reportedly turned down a lucrative deal from SiriusXM, instead, opting for less money to stay at MSNBC.
In a new Vanity Fair profile, Maddow, host of The Rachel Maddow Show, explained that a few years ago she was shopping around for a career change in hopes of having more time to work on outside projects.
During this period, according to Vanity Fair, SiriusXM came knocking with a $40 million dollar offer along with a first-look deal on any podcast or book she wanted to develop:
There was a much bigger opportunity on the table: SiriusXM was poised to offer Maddow closer to $40 million plus a first-look deal, sources told me. (Sirius had no comment.)
Maddow would eventually re-up her contract with MSNBC in 2021, in a unique deal that would have the anchor only hosting her show one night a week. The contract, reported by The Daily Beast, would land Maddow a $30 million dollar salary, a full $10 million less than the SiriusXM deal.
Maddow disputed the $30 million payday to Vanity Fair. The outlet says, although she
While airing The Rachel Maddow Show one night a week began earlier this year, the extra time has afforded Maddow to develop new projects, including a podcast set to premiere this fall under her new production company, Surprise Inside.
The podcast is set to be a nonfiction, historical- narrative, set in WWII.
Maddow’s other projects include another podcast, another book, “two potential movies and two potential TV shows.”