MSNBC hosts Ruhle and Reid taking pay cuts following major ratings slump: report
If they want to remain with their network, then MSNBC hosts Joy Reid and Stephanie Ruhle may have to take pay cuts.
According to news site, The Ankler, MSNBC has been looking to negotiate new deals and both Reid and Ruhle have been reportedly asked to reduce their salaries.
Ruhle, who hosts "The 11th Hour" at 11 p.m. weeknights, currently makes $2 million per year, while Reid earns $3 million per year for hosting "The ReidOut" on weeknights at 8 p.m.
News of the salary negotiations have come during a period of major shake-ups for the liberal channel.
Ratings have slumped, MSNBC’s parent company, Comcast, has announced it will spin-off the channel into another company named SpinCo. and employees are reportedly panicking about potential layoffs.
According to a report from The New York Post from last month, "panic engulfed" MSNBC headquarters after the announcement of MSNBC’s new home.
During a meeting led by NBCUniversal chairman Mark Lazarus, who is set to lead SpinCo., shared "Staffers fearing looming layoffs peppered him with questions about whether the network will need to change its name, logos and headquarters after reports surfaced that the new entity could be cut off from the reporting muscle of NBC News," The Post’s sources said.
One MSNBC source told the outlet, "Everyone is in a panic because everything is up in the air."
MSNBC'S JOE SCARBOROUGH UNLEASHES ON MEDIA STILL OUTRAGED OVER TRUMP MEETING: 'GROW UP!'
MSNBC "Morning Joe" hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski also stirred up drama following Trump’s win by having a face-to-face meeting with the president-elect at his Mar-a-Lago residence in November to "restart communications" between the two parties.
The meeting ginned up a major backlash among liberals, with "Morning Joe" viewership plummeting an additional 17 percent in addition to the already 35 percent drop in their total viewership this year.
Reid, who has been with the channel since 2011 and has had a primetime slot since 2020, has experienced a massive ratings drop since Trump’s election, losing nearly half of her entire audience since then.
The far-left MSNBC anchor has shed 47% of her total audience, averaging just 759,000 viewers after averaging 1.4 million viewers throughout 2024 leading up to Election Day, according to Nielsen Media Research.
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Ratings have dropped for several of the channel’s biggest stars, like "All In" host Chris Hayes, who lost 56 percent of his key demo viewers in the 8 p.m. ET time slot Tuesday through Friday following Election Day.
"Last Word" host Lawrence O'Donnell also took a hit with his audience, averaging just 930,000 total viewers since the election and 78,000 in the key demo, losing more than 40% in each metric.
Maddow, whose show airs on Monday nights only, lost 43 percent of her viewers. Like Reid and Ruhle, Maddow has also taken a pay cut.
The Ankler reported last month that Maddow would take a $5 million per year "pay cut" and would now make $25 million per year for the next five years.
MSNBC did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital's request for comment.