Lisa Wilkinson was paid more than Karl Stefanovic ‘for six years’

Lisa Wilkinson says if she did earn more than Karl Stefanovic at first, it “didn’t last long”. That depends on your definition of the word “long”.

Lisa Wilkinson was paid a higher salary than her former Today co-host Karl Stefanovic for more than half of their time on-air together, according to Nine Network insiders.

There’s been plenty of debate from both camps over the details surrounding Wilkinson’s sudden departure from Nine in 2017, which she first laid bare in her upcoming autobiography, It Wasn’t Meant To Be Like This.

At the time, and in her memoir, Wilkinson claimed she had been axed from the network after demanding a salary increase to close a significant “gender pay gap” between herself and Stefanovic.

In a twist last week, news.com.au reported that she had actually been poached from Seven to host the Today show in 2007 with a salary offer which was “more than double” Stefanovic’s.

News.com.au understands that when Wilkinson first signed with Nine in 2007 she was earning more than $700,000. The fresh-faced Stefanovic, who joined Today after returning from a reporting stint in Los Angeles, earned less than half that amount for years as the TV couple co-hosted Nine’s breakfast TV program.

Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson at their first photo shoot in 2007, as published in Wilkinson’s upcoming autobiography.

Wilkinson hit back at these reports in an interview with The Sunday Telegraphtoday, claiming the fact she was initially paid more was “news to me” – and that if that had been the case, “you can be sure it didn’t last long”.

However, Nine insiders say her salary actually remained higher than Stefanovic’s for the majority of their partnership – more than six of the 10 years they co-hosted the show.

According to the source, Wilkinson was given two three-year contracts that saw her earn more than Stefanovic. He was eventually offered a new $2 million deal, which saw his salary jump in front.

Wilkinson’s management has been contacted for comment.

The former co-hosts are no longer in contact with each other.

The Telegraph pointed to Wilkinson’s position in 2007 as an “established TV host and experienced journalist” as reasoning for why her salary had been so much higher than Stefanovic’s.

At the time she was poached to join Nine, Wilkinson was two years into a hosting gig alongside Chris Reason on Weekend Sunrise, while Stefanovic had spent a similar amount of time on the Today desk, five days a week, alongside Tracy Grimshaw and then Jessica Rowe.

Reports amid her departure from Nine in 2017 claimed that Wilkinson stood to secure a $700,000 pay rise, with her take home pay rising from $1.1 million to $1.8 million.

The Nine Network’s then chief executive officer, Hugh Marks, hit out at Wilkinson in The Daily Telegraph at the time, publicly claiming she was offered a $1.8 million salary package but wanted $2.3 million – which would have pushed her well above Stefanovic’s annual salary of $2 million.

“I went to an incredible amount of trouble to build that [$1.8 million] package for her. She wanted $2.3 million. It wasn’t a $200,000 shortfall to [Karl’s] $2 million magic number. It was $500,000,” Marks said at the time.

Wilkinson has now rubbished that figure, telling The Sunday Telegraph that Marks’ comment was “completely untrue” and that the figure he named “is not even remotely close” to what they had discussed.

“I didn’t dream anything. I simply asked that since Karl and I had recently taken the Today show to number one in 2016, that there be a more equal share of the greatly increased spoils of the show’s success, especially once I knew the extent of the gender pay gap that existed between us,” she said.