Rachel Maddow Rejected $40 Million Offer From SiriusXM in 2021

thewrap.com:

Vanity Fair profile, the host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” and her new team at Endeavor Talent Agency were actively seeking new opportunities for her career as recently as last year.

Maddow and Endeavor president Mark Shapiro were reportedly taking meetings with the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Spotify, Showtime, CNN and others through summer 2021, ultimately turning down offers from the likes of CNN’s then-president Jeff Zucker and a lucrative opportunity with SiriusXM.Per Vanity Fair: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.) The idea was that she could do a weekday talk show and still pursue all of her other creative projects.

This wouldn’t free Maddow from the daily grind, but it was a tempting proposition.But, of course, Maddow re-upped with NBCUniversal in a multiyear deal that would allow her to host “The Rachel Maddow Show” on a weekly basis while pursuing other projects and mediums across documentaries, streaming specials, movies, books and more.

Such projects would fall under her own production company – called Surprise Inside, the profile revealed – while NBC would maintain first right of refusal.Maddow was “legally restrained from discussing the terms” of her contract for the profile, other than to dispute her reported salary of $30 million.