Report: Josh Wants Matt's Job On 'Today'

Josh Elliott

Matt Lauer had better watch his back — The NY Post is quoting 'sources' as saying ambitious former “GMA” star Josh Elliott is after his job as host of “Today.”

Elliott told ABC News chiefs on Sunday that he would be leaving the popular “Good Morning America” to work for NBC Sports after months of tense contract negotiations.

Page Six exclusively revealed that Elliott had demanded $8 million to stay at “GMA,” while ABC’s top offer was $4 million.

A well-placed source tells us, “Josh made it clear that if he was going to stay at ‘GMA,’ he wanted $8 million a year, and he wanted George Stephanopoulos’ job now. ABC chiefs made it very clear that this was not going to happen — he would never knock George off the top spot.

The NY Daily News is reporting Elliott was asking to be paid $10 million a year. ABC had counter-offered with $5 million annually to stay on the morning show, a source close to the situation said, adding that ABC News brass had believed their offer was a "generous increase" over his current $1 million salary.

“Now Josh is going to NBC Sports,” our source said. “He can’t work for the NBC News division for six months because of the non-compete terms of his ABC contract. But he is still pushing hard , aiming for Matt Lauer or Bob Costas’ job.”

Deborah Turness, NBC News President, insisted Josh would not unseat Matt. She told Page Six, “We have the best anchor of the Today show, and that’s Matt Lauer. We want him in that job for a long time to come…There is nobody I would rather have in the anchor chair than Matt.”