Rachel Maddow 'is considering leaving MSNBC when her contract ends next year' after telling of personal toll of hosting nightly show since 2008
Rachel Maddow is considering leaving MSNBC when her contract expires early next year, according to reports.
Six people familiar with the situation told The Daily Beast that Maddow, 48, is seriously mulling her MSNBC exit.
She has previously spoken about the personal toll of hosting a nightly show for more than a decade.
'The Rachel Maddow Show' started in 2008, and Maddow quickly became one of the network's highest-profile figures. Her show has been in the 9pm slot for 12 years.
She's not likely to take a job with a rival network, insiders told Daily Beast; instead she would look at opportunities in streaming and podcasting.
That would give her more time to be with her family.
Rachel Maddow, pictured here interview then-Secretary Hillary Clinton in MSNBC's New York City studio on May 1, 2019, is mulling her MSNBC departure
Rachel Maddow, pictured here leaving from her guest appearance on 'The View' in March 2017, has run a successful cable news show for more than a decade
A spokesperson for Endeavor, which represents Maddow, acknowledged The Daily Beast's report in an email to DailyMail.com.
The spokesperson said Mark Shapiro - president of Endeavor - and Ari Emanuel - Endeavor's CEO - are involved in the negotiations.
Shapiro said in a statement, 'Nothing has been decided. We are deep into it with NBCUniversal and Rachel has an excellent relationship with them.'
Maddow is reportedly making an annual salary of about $7million a year, according to E! News.
Sources told The Daily Beast that MSNBC is taking 'major steps' to keep their prized on-air talent aboard and are preparing to offer her a significant contract extension, which would put the ball in her court.
Then it becomes a personal decision for Maddow: How much longer does she want to keep working at this pace?
During her Monday night show, she told viewers that a two-week break that she took earlier this month was the longest vacation that she’s taken, The Daily Beast reported.
She made a similar comment about balancing quality of life and work in a New York Times profile of her in October 2019.
'I’m realizing now—10, 11 years into this—that it’s fine to work long days,' she told the Times. 'But it’s not good for you to work incessant long days, five days a week, 50 weeks a year for 10 years.'
Rachel Maddow had the only non-Fox cable news show in the top five in terms of audience in the second quarter
The 'Rachel Maddow Show' was the most watched cable news show in the first quarter of 2021, with an average total audience of 3.604 million viewers, Forbes reported.
That was likely due to the January 6 insurrection of the Capitol and Joe Biden winning the election.
Her ratings dipped in the second quarter - as did MSNBC's - and her show became the fourth-most-watched show on cable news, TVNewser reported.
Fox dominated the second quarter, with 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' and 'Hannity' leading the way.
'The Rachel Maddow Show' was the only non-Fox show in the top five.
All the networks have seen a major drop off in viewership after Biden took office.
Between June 2020 and June 2021, MSNBC was down 36 percent, Fox was down 42 percent and CNN fell 57 percent, according to Deadline.
DailyMail.com left a message for comment with MSNBC, which said in a statement to the The told Daily Beast that it doesn't comment on employee matters.
Maddow has become a celebrity and appeared on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' in November 2019