“Today” show host Matt Lauer will be sitting in the anchor chair for a few more years.
Lauer has extended his contract with NBC through 2018 for a reported $20 million a year. The contract was inked a few months ago, according to the New York Post.
His multi-year, multi-million dollar deal was last renewed in 2014.
NBC News would not comment, and Lauer’s agent did not return a call seeking comment.
This would come as a vote of confidence from NBC brass given his much-criticized handling of the Commander-in-Chief forum back in September, when he didn’t challenge then presidential candidate Donald Trump on his position on the Iraq war. But Lauer has weathered far worse, including the bungling of Ann Curry’s departure from the anchor chair.
Lauer first joined “Today” in 1994 as news anchor, and became co-anchor in 1997. This extension would bring his reign atop the morning show to 24 years.
NBC also re-signed Willie Geist to a new deal at the end of summer or early fall, according to people familiar with the matter.