Before everyone starts writing goodbye notes and throwing farewell parties for Megyn Kelly, keep in mind something important: Kelly has a $6 million book deal with Rupert Murdoch’s HarperCollins. FoxNews and Harper Collins are corporate cousins.
The publisher very likely had the chance to top any bid that came in on Kelly’s book, as Random House’s Crown Publishers was the underbidder last February according to reports.
While Kelly may have teased Variety with the hopes of getting a raise on her next FoxNews contract, something tells me she’s cemented into the Murdoch empire. I don’t see her writing a book for HarperCollins with a $6 million advance with a chapter called “How I Left Fox News for CNN.” Call me crazy.
And also, really, the history of talent migrating from Fox to CNN is not as good as the opposite. Paula Zahn ring a bell? But Greta van Susteren, Bill Hemming– they went to Fox from CNN.
But Kelly could be signalling something. It’s possible she’ll pack up and go. But it’s more likely she’d wind up on ABC News, where Barbara Walters is done, and Diane Sawyer is in semi-repose. Kelly would be a killer on ABC World News Tonight.