Jay Leno is on the free agent market and all are paying attention. One year from now, Leno will be leaving NBC, handing over the reigns of The Tonight Show to Conan O’Brien. This leaves companies bidding for the services of Leno.
Leno is already making $25 million a year, but could be set to make much more.
David Letterman, his late night rival, pulls in $40 million per year.
The biggest suitor would be ABC, who has the ability to give Leno the same time slot that he had with The Tonight Show.
Fox is also a possibility as they could give Leno a start time at 11:00 p.m., which could allow him to garner more viewers due to the earlier time.
The other option is for NBC to keep Jay Leno around, even though they have promised the show to O’Brien.
NBC could turn Leno into a Regis-type character.
As of Nov 1, 2009, Leno will be a free agent.