He’s on the rise.
Craig Melvin, 45, will be taking over for “Today” anchor Hoda Kotb when she steps down.
The move will give him a big salary bump, as Us Weekly reports that he’ll make about $5 million to $6 million in his new role. He allegedly makes $3 million per year now.
Melvin became an anchor on “Today” in August 2018. Five months later, he was named a permanent co-host on the third hour of the show alongside Al Roker, Sheinelle Jones and Dylan Dreyer.
Kotb, 60, shared the news that Melvin would be her replacement on Thursday, Nov. 14, while also confirming her last day on the show will be Friday, Jan. 10.
“I am beyond excited and grateful,” said Melvin on the show. “I’ve enjoyed just a lifetime of blessings and this is the latest in a long line of blessings.”
Kotb told Melvin that he was “literally made for this job.” She added, “You have all the things this job needs. You are the right person for it.”
Kotb announced her exit from “Today” after 26 years in September.
She shared the news in person with her co-anchors, including Melvin and Jenna Bush Hager.
“I have spent 26 years at NBC. I just turned 60, and it was such a monumental moment for me, because I started thinking about that decade. I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60 and to try something new,” she said at the time.
“I decided that this is the right time to move on,” Kotb shared, adding that she wants to spend more time with her daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5.
“Obviously I had my kids late in life and they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have,” she went on. “With all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world.”
“Craig is so awesome, people were cheering when they got the staff email,” a source told Us Weekly.
“He’s the best — everybody is so excited for him.”
Another insider shared, “He is truly one of the nicest, most humble, generous people. People are overwhelmingly happy for him. The good guy won.”
“He has been steady Eddie for 7 years — alongside Savannah and Hoda,” the first source said, referring to Savannah Guthrie.
“It was the right choice, the clear choice, the choice that everybody could get behind. He is so beloved.”
The source added that Melvin and Guthrie are “good friends” who’ve “hung out together with their spouses …They’ve always had a tight brother-sister friendship. Savannah adores Craig.”
In an interview with E! News last month, Kotb opened up about whom she’d like to replace her on “Today.”
“The person who I want is someone who has beautiful chemistry with Jenna [Bush Hager],” she shared. “That’s all I want. Because it’s never about either anchor, it’s about what’s between. So bring the chemistry.”
The Post reached out to “Today” for comment.
