Did Gayle King recently let the terms of her mega-contract with CBS slip during a chummy office ritual that involved the Mega Millions? Hey, you never know.
The “CBS Mornings” co-host re-upped her lucrative deal to remain at the Tiffany Network in January following heated speculation that she was weighing other options. At the time, neither King’s new salary nor the length of her commitment were revealed.
King’s previous contract was reportedly paying her $13 million a year, and insiders told The Post that she was able to negotiate even more money in her new agreement.
Meanwhile, a source with knowledge told The Post that King may have spilled the beans about the length of her new contract late last month –after she bought “CBS Mornings” staffers lottery tickets.
According to the insider, King has a tradition of buying more 100 lotto tickets every time there’s a big drawing, and she “personally hands them out.”
This time, when the most recent Mega Millions jackpot totaled an eye-popping $1.28 billion, King was overheard telling staffers: “If anyone wins, you’d better share with me, otherwise, I’m going to be here another 3 years.”
“Gayle is very clever and she’s very genuine,” said a source with knowledge of the conversation. “I am not sure if she let it slip intentionally, but she’s very smart.”
Shortly after she inked her new deal, King teased on her SiriusXM show that she would be at the network for a “bit longer,” causing sources to speculate that she had signed an extension of no more than two years.
“I officially signed on the dotted line,” King said at the time. “So I will be with CBS a little bit longer.”
Prior to that news, King’s fate had been a major source of stress at the embattled network, which has lately weathered a tumultuous restructuring under CBS News co-president Neerak Khemlani that sparked a slew of layoffs, anchor changes and a rebranding of King’s show.
“She doesn’t need the money, but she’s loyal to her people,” the source said, noting that even though the network is in third place, she has emerged as the face of CBS News and has a plum gig.
“We feel we won the lottery with Gayle,” a CBS rep told The Post, declining to comment on the specifics of her contract. King didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The 67-year-old King, who has become CBS News’ biggest star, was reportedly being pursued by CNN to take over the 9 p.m. time slot that has been vacant since the firing of Chris Cuomo late last year.
Prior to inking her new deal, there was also rampant speculation that King might move to the West Coast to be closer to her grandson who was born last year. King quickly shot those rumors down on her SiriusXM show earlier this year.
“You know, there’s lots of speculation about ‘what Gayle’s gonna do, where is she gonna go? Is she being courted?’” King said. “The answer was yes.”
She continued: “‘She has a grandchild, does she wanna move to California?’ The answer is no,” she said. “I mean, I don’t know why people thought that just because you have a grandchild now all of a sudden you just want to give up your career and go sit in California.”
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
