“Good Morning America” co-host Josh Elliott is leaving the ABC morning show for NBC Sports, and ABC has immediately replaced him with Amy Robach.
Elliott was in a down-to-the-wire negotiation with ABC as his contract ran out. He’d been making about $1.2 million a year, but wanted $8 million, Page Six previously reported.
Sources said Sunday night that Elliott had wanted even more in his first year of the deal, $10 million, but that ABC was offering $5 million.
Other sources close to Elliott’s NBC Sports deal — which is expected to be announced next week — say Elliott will be involved with coverage of the Olympics, Sunday Night Football and Triple Crown races.
In a memo to staffers Sunday night, ABC News president Ben Sherwood announced Robach would replace Elliott, and further said, “As many of you know, we have been negotiating with Josh these past several months. In good faith, we worked hard to close a significant gap between our generous offer and his expectations. In the end, Josh felt he deserved a different deal and so he chose a new path.” Sherwood added: “I want to thank Josh for his many contributions to GMA and ABC News. Later in the week, we will bid him farewell.”
Of Robach, he wrote: “Amy has become a familiar face on [‘GMA’] filling in for Robin Roberts for many of the 174 days that Robin spent recovering from her bone marrow transplant.”
Robach also made headlines when she battled breast cancer last year and underwent a double mastectomy, which she revealed on “GMA.”
Sherwood said in the memo obtained by Page Six: “We always knew that Amy was special and we have all been especially inspired to watch her battle breast cancer with grace and determination. Indeed, she thrilled us with two weeks of memorable dispatches from Sochi anchoring our Olympic coverage — all between chemo treatments. Amy will be a fierce and formidable full-time addition to our GMA team.”
Last week, “GMA” finalized a deal with Lara Spencer to remain with the show with Roberts and George Stephanopoulos.
Following “Good Morning America” on Monday, Elliott tweeted about how much he would miss his co-stars.