Gayle King recently celebrated her 10th anniversary as an anchor with CBS News. But, behind the scenes, King was subjected to a “bidding war” after rumors claimed she was leaving the network once her contract expires in May, according to several outlets.
However, it now appears no battle for King’s services will occur after CNN’s Brian Stelter and contributing sources confirmed the 67-year-old had renewed her contract on Thursday and will remain as an anchor for CBS Mornings, TV Newser reported.
Though the network hasn’t acknowledged the contract renewal, anything could happen until all involving parties sign the contract. Keeping King would reflect as a significant win for CBS. The network’s president, Neeraj Khemlani, rebranded the morning show last fall to revolve around King.
As Sis2Sis previously reported, King strongly considered moving to the West Coast. While her family and best friend, Oprah Winfrey, reside in California, the journalist said she wanted to be closer to her loved ones out west.
King reportedly earns $9 million per year working for the network. So if she decided to part ways with CBS, the winner in the bidding war would have had to pay a pretty penny.
“Gayle’s contract is up at CBS in a few months, and the networks are gearing up for a bidding war for the ages,” said an insider to the outlet.
The source also stated that if King remained on the East Coast, she would possibly take over as host Rachel Maddow’s show on MSNBC or join the Today Show with Hoda Kotb.
“The question is, does Gayle want to carry on the morning show in New York when her whole family and best friend are on the West Coast? ABC could give her the third hour of ‘GMA’ to host from Los Angeles or a different daytime show,” said the insider.
No updates have been made at this time.
