MSNBC’s Joy Reid & Stephanie Ruhle Reportedly Offered Pay Cuts to Keep Jobs

The shake-ups continue at MSNBC as new reports claim that Joy Reid and Stephanie Ruhle have been offered pay cuts so that they remain in their anchor chairs moving forward.

According to the Ankler newsletter, the news network has been negotiating with Reid and Ruhle on new deals at reduced salaries. This comes after the same publication recently reported that star anchor Rachel Maddow took a $5 million annual pay cut from her reported $30 million annual package to remain with MSNBC.

Reid, who hosts the nightly 8:00 pm show The ReidOut, is currently said to be earning $3 million a year, per the Washington Free Beacon, while Ruhle, who hosts The 11th Hour at 11:00 pm weeknights, is said to make $2 million a year.

The Ankler also reports that Jonathan Lemire, who was recently moved to a permanent co-host slot on Morning Joe‘s 9 am hour, has been offered a new contract at a reduced salary.

The changes come after MSNBC’s parent company, Comcast, announced plans to spin off its cable properties — MSNBC will join CNBC, Oxygen, E!, Syfy, and the Golf Channel as part of a new company called SpinCo. According to the New York Post, this led to panic behind the scenes as on-air reporters and staffers worried about potential layoffs.

This comes amid ratings controversy for MSNBC, which has seen some of its shows mark record lows since Donald Trump‘s presidential election win last month. Alex Wagner Tonight, Inside with Jen Psaki, and The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell all recently hit record lows.

That said, Inside with Jen Psaki aired its most-watched telecast since the election on Monday, December 9, averaging 832,000 total viewers. This was up +17% versus the prior-4-week average.

Elsewhere, Morning Joe has seen backlash after hosts Joe Scarborough and Mike Brzezinski met with Trump after his election victory. Critics slammed the hosts and the show for sucking up to the president-elect and trying to appease the incoming administration. Scarborough hit out at his critics in a 20-minute rant on the December 5 episode.

While Morning Joe saw a drop from 839,000 total viewers to 680,000 total between the episode where the hosts discussed their meeting with Trump and the episode after, the show has remained relatively steady since.

The show averaged 691,000 total viewers during the week of the Trump meeting announcement, which was only a 1.7% decline from the previous week’s average of 703,000. That said, both weeks were down significantly from the show’s previous quarter average of 1.14 million viewers.