Gary Lineker’s sudden BBC departure will shake up the corporation’s rich list – and save the licence-fee payer approaching £1million in 2026, MailOnline can reveal today.
The 64-year-old footballer turned broadcaster hosts his final Match of the Day tonight after being axed for sharing an anti-Semitic Instagram post.
Lineker had been expected to front coverage of the FA Cup and 2026 World Cup but will now step down from the BBC on Sunday.
He will leave without a pay-off from his £1.4million-a-year salary, which made him the corporation’s top earner.
One BBC insider told MailOnline that they believe moving on Lineker early will save the corporation between £800,000 and £900,000 over the next year.
‘With Huw gone and Gary on his way the rich list next year is going to look different – and the overall bill for our stars will be cheaper’, the added.
Lineker is going to concentrate on his podcast business Goalhanger – makers of The Rest is History, The Rest is Politics and his Rest is Football show with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.
And he won’t go hungry without his BBC salary because his podcast empire, founded in 2019, recorded a staggering £1.4million profit last year, accounts published in February revealed.
Assets jumped over the last 12 months with accounts filed at Companies House showing its retained earnings rose from £590,000 in 2023 to £2.03million last year, a £1.4m rise. Cash in the bank also rose from £560,000 to £2.7million.
Lineker is one of three big names at the top of the BBC’s rich list last year to exit.
Zoe Ball – who was second on the most recent list with a pay packet of £954,999 – stepped down as host of the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show last year.
And BBC bosses will save hundreds of thousands of pounds by swapping her for incoming replacement Scott Mills who will be paid significantly less.
While Ball, 53, will stay at the channel, her decision to leave it’s most prominent presenting slot to ‘spend more time with her family’ was bound to have consequences for her remuneration.
And Huw Edwards, who will not be returning to our TV screens after being convicted for possessing indecent images of children.
These moves suggest Radio 1 breakfast host Greg James could be set to become the BBC’s highest paid star on £419,999 – although Ball’s replacement Scott Mills is likely to enjoy a substantial bump to his current salary of £319,999.
James moved up the list earlier to become the fourth highest paid star at the BBC, up from seventh in 2023, with his pay jumping from up to £399,999.
The 38-year-old came to prominence after taking over the Radio 1 drivetime slot from Mills in 2012.
He went on to host Radio 1 Breakfast after switching shows with Nick Grimshaw in 2018.
He has also hosted a number of TV shows for the corporation including Sun, Sex and Holiday Madness and Unzipped, both on BBC Three.
James is followed on the BBC’s talent pay figures for 2024 by Question Time and BBC News presenter Fiona Bruce and Radio 5 Live presenter Stephen Nolan who are in joint fifth position and earn up to £409,999 apiece.
Desert Island Discs and 6 Music host Lauren Laverne, who was paid up to £399,999, is in sixth and is one of four women in the top ten.
Alan Shearer, without a major international football tournament on in 2023, saw his pay drop from up to £449,999 to as much as £384,999, putting him seventh on the list.
Lineker jumped down his steps as he left his home last week after it was announced he was leaving the BBC earlier than planned
Zoe Ball was another BBC star to reveal a major career update after she stepped down as host of the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show. She was replaced by the cheaper Scott Mills (left)
Huw Edwards is another of the BBC’s top earners for 2024, but he will not be returning to our TV screens after being convicted for possessing indecent images of children
Radio 1 breakfast host Greg James could be set to become the BBC’s highest paid star on £419,999
BBC Director General Tim Davie was the highest paid executive, but his pay did not rise last year
In joint ninth, with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme presenter Nick Robinson, was BBC Breakfast host Naga Munchetty, whose pay went up slightly to £349,999.
The salary figures also show that most of the presenters listed had posted pay rises between 2023 and 2024, with BBC News presenter Reeta Chakrabarti getting a huge increase in the region of £55,000 to up to £274,999.
Ball’s pay deal had been the focus of anger from licence fee payers – in 2020, it was revealed that she was earning £1.36million, and the resulting outcry led her to take a voluntary £380,000 pay cut.
The BBC said at the time that she felt it was inappropriate to earn so much in the middle of the pandemic.
Sources say that BBC bosses have recently become determined that the days of high six- and even seven-figure presenter salaries at the BBC should come to an end.
So when £950,000-a-year Zoe – currently their best paid radio star – floated that she was thinking of moving on, they made minimal efforts to persuade her to stay.
In the latest BBC pay rankings BBC Breakfast host Naga Munchetty was joint ninth, after her annual earnings from the corporation went up slightly to £349,999
That position in the pay scale was shared by the BBC’s former political editor Nick Robinson who is now one of the main presenters of Radio 4’s Today programme
BBC News presenter Reeta Chakrabarti was given an increase in the region of £55,000 to up to £274,999, according to the latest annual figures
Lauren Laverne, soon to return to presenting Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4, was paid up to £399,999 – putting her in sixth place in the pay table and as one of four women in the top ten
Currently Scott Mills, 52, earns a comparably modest £315,000 each year.
A BBC source told MailOnline: ‘Scott will get a bump in his salary for taking on the breakfast gig, that’s the flagship role and it’s very demanding so he deserves it – but it won’t take him anywhere close to the money Zoe has been getting.
‘The truth is, even though she is very well liked by the management and a real BBC stalwart, any opportunity to save some serious money has to be snatched at these days. This could save something close to half a million quid every year.
‘Despite having previously taken a pay cut Zoe’s money had come under renewed scrutiny lately because it’s right up towards the top of the published salaries list – next to the likes of Gary Lineker who is leaving too.
‘She would have been the corporation’s biggest salary if she had outstayed him.
‘When Scott starts his money will be hundreds of thousands of pounds less per year than Zoe’s was, so they’re pretty pleased that next time they have to report their presenter pay it will look a lot less excessive.’
Despite the high pay for its biggest names, the corporation revealed last month plans to cut a number of shows as part of a savings drive.
