LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Conan O'Brien is reportedly close to reaching an agreement to depart from the Tonight Show in exchange for a $32.5 million dollar payout from NBC, TMZ is reporting.
The structure of the rumored deal stipulates that Conan can't immediately jump into a new show until September of 2010 and if Conan does find a new gig within the next year, the proceeds from any new deal would be offset against NBC's obligation.
TMZ reported that Conan is also taking care of his staff at the Tonight Show and that NBC is paying severance to them as well, bringing the total price of the compensatory payout to about $40 million.
One snafu for O'Brien – NBC may have intellectual property rights to characters Conan developed on his shows such as Triumph the Comic Dog and the Masturbating Bear, meaning that Conan won't be able to bring them to any new show, TMZ said. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
