The Murdochs have decided Bill O’Reilly’s 21-year run at Fox News will come to an end. According to sources briefed on the discussions, network executives are preparing to announce O’Reilly’s departure before he returns from an Italian vacation on April 24. Now the big questions are how the exit will look and who will replace him.
Wednesday morning, according to sources, executives are holding emergency meetings to discuss how they can sever the relationship with the country’s highest-rated cable-news host without causing collateral damage to the network. The board of Fox News’ parent company, 21st Century Fox, is scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss the matter.
Sources briefed on the discussions say O’Reilly’s exit negotiations are moving quickly.
Right now, a key issue on the table is whether he would be allowed to say good-bye to his audience, perhaps the most loyal in all of cable (O’Reilly’s ratings have ticked up during the sexual-harassment allegations).
Fox executives are leaning against allowing him to have a sign-off, sources say. The other main issue on the table is money.
O’Reilly recently signed a new multiyear contract worth more than $20 million per year.
When Roger Ailes left Fox News last summer, the Murdochs paid out $40 million, the remainder of his contract.
Fox News host Bill O’Reilly is out of his job, according to a statement from the cable channel’s corporate parent Wednesday.
The host of the top-rated cable TV news show, “The O’Reilly Factor,” was let go amid allegations of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior, sources said.
“After a thorough and careful review of allegations against him, the Company and Bill O’Reilly have agreed that Mr. O’Reilly will not return to the Fox News Channel,” said a statement from 21st Century Fox Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch and his sons, Lachlan and James Murdoch.
“This decision follows an extensive review done in collaboration with outside counsel.”
More than 50 companies publicly announced they wouldn’t advertise on “The O’Reilly Factor” following an April 1 New York Times report about how O’Reilly and Fox News paid about $13 million to settle complaints from five women who had worked for him or appeared on his show.
In a statement to the Times, O’Reilly said that “no one has ever filed a complaint about me with the Human Resources Department, even on the anonymous hotline.”
He never addressed the controversy on “The Factor” before announcing on April 11 that he was leaving for a long-planned family vacation.
A Wednesday photo by the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, showed O’Reilly shaking hands with Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square.