The network believed salaries in that range are no longer justifiable due to declining broadcast ratings, Puck News reports

Hoda Kotb may have had no choice but to say goodbye to Today. According to an insider, the news anchor, 60, was allegedly asked to take a pay cut to her $20 million salary before making the decision to leave the morning show after 26 years.

Hoda Kotb, a fixture at NBC for more than two decades, says she will leave her morning perch on the “Today” show early next year, telling staffers “it’s time.” In a memo to her team — and later in an emotional on-air reveal Thursday — Kotb said her 60th birthday this summer helped trigger the departure: “I saw it all so clearly: my broadcast career has been beyond meaningful,