Conan O’Brien to Receive $45 Million in NBC Buyout | Breaking Tweets Entertainment

Conan O’Brien to Receive $45 Million in NBC Buyout

Posted by Rowena Li on 1/21/10 • Categorized as Celebrities, Television

NBC confirmed this morning on “The Today Show” that “The Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien will receive $45 million for his exit from the show, reports MSN.

“In the end, Conan was appreciative of the steps NBC made to take care of his staff and crew and decided to supplement the severance they were getting out of his own pocket,” Gavin Polone, O’Brien’s manager, told The Wrap.

Of the $45 million, O’Brien will pocket $33 million and his staff of more than 200 will be receiving the rest as severance. The deal has been forthcoming since O’Brien stated on Jan. 12 that he would not continue as the host of “The Tonight Show” should it be pushed back to 12:05 a.m. in order to give his 11:35 p.m. timeslot to a program hosted by Jay Leno. His announcement came after NBC announced plans to rearrange its late-night television schedule.

O’Brien has been the host of “The Tonight Show” for seven months. The position will return to Jay Leno, who hosted the program for 17 years before introducing “The Jay Leno Show” in September 2009. O’Brien’s final show, featuring guests Tom Hanks, Will Ferrell and Neil Young, will air Friday.

Under the deal, O’Brien will be allowed to return to TV as early as September. Leno is not slated to return to “The Tonight Show” until March 1.

The Twitterverse was alive with conversation about the deal and with speculation about where O’Brien may go next:

  1. francisca manso
    cisca222 45 mil for conan to go? damn obrien way to go but we’ll miss you
  2. Etienne Giroux
    barichnikov Conan being a jerk with NBC’s money with silly sketches http://www.popeater.com/2010/01/21/bugatti-veyron-mouse-conan-obrien/
  3. Dr. Recruiter
    Dr_Recruiter Could you imagine Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, AND Conan OBrien back to back to back? That could be epic #TeamConan
  4. Brock Gill
    brockgill Am I reading this right? Conan obrien will do his last show tmrw night?
  5. nick hendricks
    The_Real_Nick_H no more Conan O’Brien till atleast september! :( dumb nbc!
  6. FoodFashionFolly
    fffolly EFFING BRILLIANT RT @baratunde Chinese news explains Leno v Conan battle perfectly http://post.ly/Jfyy
  7. Travis Rex Miller
    TravisRexMiller Fuck you Jay Leno. You’re not funny, and you never were. R.I.P. Tonight Show with #Conan. I hope you have a new show starting sept. 1st!
  8. diego
    diegofilezinho RT @JackieK09: Wow. RT: @GiulianaRancic It’s finally over. Conan gets 45 mil to leave NBC.
  9. Rich Fetter
    CHIEFetter Sad to see Conan go, NBC has no clue what they just lost..glad to see Conan got his cash though..we will see him on TV soon for sure
  10. Faustina Boa
    CymplyChic awww poor Conan obrien…at least he cares about his staff enough to fight for them
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  • I hope Conan gets more support from his next network.
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