Hoda Kotb, who is of Egyptian descent, began her career in 1986 as a news assistant for CBS News in Cairo, Egypt. But it wasn’t long before she became an anchor and general assignment reporter to WQAD-TV and ABC Moline, Illinois. In 1998, she moved to NBC and was the national correspondent for the NBC News and contributing anchor and correspondent for Dateline NBC. Eventually, Today got her to be the 4th-hour co-host with Kathie Lee Gifford, where she received a Daytime Emmy Award in 2010.
Kotb earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism in 1986 at Virginia Tech. In 2008, she was the keynote speaker for the 2008 Virginia Tech graduation and was elected to the Virginia Tech Alumni Association Board of Directors in 2010.
Molly Qerim – $100k
Molly Qerim had a start on her career by covering college football, the NCAA Tournament, National Signing Day, and the U.S. Open. She was also a studio anchor and hosted SEC Tonight, SEC Tailgate Show, Full Court Press, and MaxPreps Lemming Report. Qerim hosted NFL Network’s weekday morning show NFL AM and NFL Fantasy Live. She has also covered the UFC with ESPN, FS1, and Versus (now NBCSN) and even co-hosted the annual World MMA Awards.
By 2008, Qerim served as the interactive host for College Football Live on ESPN and ESPN2. In mid-July 2015, she was the interim host of ESPN2’s First Take and eventually replaced Cari Champion after the latter was promoted to the network’s flagship show. Qerim became the permanent host of First Take on September 2015.
Shepard Smith – $10m
Shepard Smith has a quite a long career in journalism, signing his first TV contract in 1986 in Florida. He even joined Fox News Channel when it first started in 1996. He used to host Fox News’ The Fox Report with Shepard Smith and Studio B, which were eventually replaced by Shepard Smith Reporting in October 2013. It aired in the 3 p.m. ET time slot, finishing ahead of his competitors.
Smith’s hard work has paid off in which he was tied for second, along with Peter Jennings and Dan Rather, in the 2003 TV Guide poll as the most trusted news anchor on both cable news and network. Currently, he is also Fox News’ chief news anchor and managing editor of the breaking news division.
Nancy Grace – $3m
Nancy Grace was a former prosecutor in a local district attorney’s office in Atlanta, Georgia but after prosecutorial misconduct, she was given an offer to do a legal commentary show alongside Johnnie Cochran. When he left the show, Grace hosted Trial Heat from 1996 to 2004 and later, Closing Arguments from 2004 to 2007. In 2005, she hosted the legal analysis show Nancy Grace on HLN. She has appeared on other news shows including The View, Extra, and Good Morning America.
Grace is known for her outspoken style that has received both praise and criticism from viewers. Her interviewing style mixed vocal questions and multimedia stats displays. She has also written the book Objection!: How High-Priced Defense Attorneys, Celebrity Defendants, and a 24/7 Media Have Hijacked Our Criminal Justice System.
Billy Bush – $3m
Billy Bush, a member of the Bush family, is known for being a correspondent for the daily entertainment newsmagazine, Access Hollywood. He started in December 2001 and left in 2016. Bush began his TV work on a short-lived NBC show called Let’s Make a Deal and later, he became a correspondent for WNBC-TV’s Today in New York morning show. After which, Access Hollywood came, and in three years, he became a primary anchor. When he left Access Hollywood, he became a co-host in the third hour of Today.
But in 2016, he got involved in a controversy when a recording of him and presidential candidate Donald Trump having an indecent conversation was discovered. This led to him being fired from Today.